Alumni Insights Lecture: “A Moving Target”

Join us for a GSD Alumni Insights and ChinaGSD Alumni Lecture from Calvin Tsao MArch ’79 & Zack McKown MArch ’79 of Tsao & McKown.

It will be followed by a discussion with Prof. Jorge Silvetti, Nelson Robinson Jr. Professor of Architecture at Harvard GSD, Guo Boya MDesS ’17, and Emerald Wu MArch ’18.

Both graduates of the GSD, Calvin Tsao and Zack McKown are the principals of the NewYork-based design firm Tsao & McKown. Calvin and Zack will share with us their over 30 years of professional experience after graduating from the GSD, and practice insights of working in historically/politically sensitive context in China, including the rebuilding of Jingfu Palace Museum in the heart of the Forbidden City, Beijing. 

Calvin Tsao and Zack McKown are recognized and leading voices in contemporary architecture whose work draws from a lively engagement with a variety of art forms. Their public and professional services include the Board of the American Academy in Rome, the Architectural Leagues of New York, Design Excellence of the AIA New York chapter, Design Trust for Public Space, Scenic Hudson and the Visiting Committee to Harvard GSD. In 2012, Calvin Tsao received a Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) Legacy Award, and in 2009 the cooper Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Award for Interior Design, along with Zack McKown.  They have taught at the Harvard GSD, the Cooper Union, Syracuse University, and at Parsons The New School for Design.