Since starting as dean, I’ve been asked quite often: “What do you want to do with the school?” I find these to be awkward interactions as the question somehow suggests that the school is a thing that one does whatever one wishes with, as if it belongs to a single individual, as if the school was a tool. This doesn’t seem like the right way to think about our school. The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture belongs to the students, faculty, and staff. It belongs to the ideas and designs that are created and debated. It belongs to an incredible legacy of pedagogical experimentation. It belongs to the hope that architecture can do better and be better. And importantly, it belongs to the discipline of architecture as one of our deepest cultural acts.
 
To draw an analogy with Ursula K. Le Guin’s framing of fiction as a “carrier bag,” the proper understanding of the school’s mission and ethos is not as a tool, but as a vessel, a basket, a bag that holds and sustains the multiple collective realities that make up culture. How we do this requires a commitment to architectural design as the root of our agency to affect change in the world. Cooper has done this throughout its history and will carry this forward in the years to come.
 
But I still need to address the sentiment asked above.
 
And my response is simple, “Keep it weird.”
 
At one level, the necessity of the strange is a demand for uniqueness from architectural designers. But this is not nearly enough given the stakes. The pressures being put on architecture, on art, on the humanities, on higher education are immense and unrelenting. If we are to protect and defend them, we must use all the possible ways that architecture can both critique and offer hope for a different future environment. The weird can be an act of resistance in these times of normalization.
 
Defending the agency of architectural design to provide and provoke alternatives also requires change. A series of new initiatives and events are in the works for the fall of ‘26 that build on the school’s legacy while offering us new directions. As I saw recently posted on a streetlamp in Astor Place, are we “strange enough to change?” Given how innovative the students’ work is this year, the answer is a resounding “Yes!”
 
I want to congratulate students, faculty, and staff for an extraordinary year of provocative, inspiring, and beautiful architecture. The school’s studios and seminars produced incredible design speculations developed from deep and meaningful research. The level of engaged discussion at final reviews was a testament to our students and their development as architects. I hope that everyone has a chance to visit the End of Year Show and see the work for themselves.
 
I also want to thank and honor Acting Dean Ben Aranda. His stewardship of the school was an act of total commitment that allowed us to thrive this year. I am also in debt to his care in ushering me into this role in the smoothest possible way. Equally important and exciting to announce is Mersiha Veledar’s promotion to associate dean. Her support of and dedication to the school are fundamental to its success, this year and for years to come.
 
We also welcomed Dr. Irene Cheng this semester as a full-time faculty member in History, Theory, and Criticism of Architecture. Dr. Cheng is an architectural historian, critic, and educator whose research explores the entanglements of architecture, culture, politics, and the environment in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Her contributions to the school’s pedagogy and discursive culture are already having a tremendous impact. 
 
The school held several significant lectures and discussions this year through a wonderful series of events helmed by Ted Baab and Kayla Montes de Oca and organized by Mauricio Higuera. The inaugural “Go Your Own Way” award in honor of alumni Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto’s son Zeke was given to filmmaker Jim Jarmusch in an event at Anthology Film Archives. Other engagements brought exciting organizations to Cooper, including the World Monuments Fund annual lecture and awards event honoring Brinda Somaya. 

The Third Floor Hallway Gallery showcased three outstanding exhibitions this semester, organized by Chris Dierks. The Edge of Practice showcased the work of Adrian Phiffer, Robert Gwathmey Chair in Urbanism; Ten Mat Buildings displayed analytical student work from the Design IV studio of Brennan Buck, Feltman Chair in Architecture; and lastly, architect Karolina Czeczek and photographer Anna Morgowicz exhibited Public Pools, their research and speculations on New York City’s pool system.
 
We’re excited to announce the completion of a major renovation to the school’s Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery. With new mechanical systems, lighting, and finishes, the gallery is now the one of the largest museum quality architectural exhibition spaces in New York City, behind The Met and MoMA. The first exhibition in the renovated gallery—Once in Awe: Drawings of Growth and Decay—memorialized the work of Alexandra Kiss AR’05 and was co-curated by Steven Hillyer along with her husband Amir Shahroki AR’05, Laila Seewang AR’05, and Sony Devanhaktuni AR’03. I can’t think of a better way to have the gallery reopened than with this exhibition, both stunningly beautiful and deeply moving.
 
This year also saw the launch of not one but two issues of Foundation, a new student-led publication from the School of Architecture. The project was entirely designed, written, edited, and illustrated by students working under the guidance of Matt Shaw and Chris Dierks, with support from Steven Hillyer. The results are two fantastic issues that mark a new chapter in how the school engages media, writing, and publishing.
 
A wholehearted congratulations to our graduating classes of B.Arch and M.S.Arch students! You have done exceptional work, and I’m excited to see where you go and what you do next. Your thesis projects, presentations, and discussions were incredible. Wherever your time at Cooper situates you in your next endeavors, know that we are here to support you every way we can. As a faculty, we’re proud of the architects you have become and of the citizens that you are in the world. 
 
Lastly, I want to thank Monica Shapiro and Shervin Jamali. All that happens within the school is built on their efforts, commitment, and brilliance. I’m in awe of what they do every day to foster the School of Architecture’s success.
 
I wish everyone a great summer; I’m humbled by the office that I now sit in and hope that I can meet the legacy established by those who have come before. Trust that we’re cooking up exciting plans for 2026–27, and I look forward to the next academic year!

—Michael Young, Dean