After many years as an active member, the KPF Principal steps into a leadership role for the oldest and largest chapter of the organization.
Yesterday, the AIA New York named Hana Kassem, AIA, LEED AP, to the Chapter’s Board of Directors. An active member of AIANY, Kassem served as co-chair of the AIANY Global Dialogues Committee for three years, during which time the committee was awarded the AIANY VP Citation for Public Outreach. She initiated and continues to organize an annual panel for women in architecture and construction entitled Leaning Out, now in its seventh year. Kassem is also co-editor of the collection of essays Architect d.b.a | On Re‐defining the Roles of the Architect Today, published through a grant by the AIANY.
At KPF, Kassem leads design teams on projects of varied types and scales both domestically and internationally. She has developed particular expertise in designing for the unique needs of research, academic, and institutional projects, with a focus on how to foster community through the built environment. Kassem is also passionate about the professional community, and participates in the training and professional development of young female architects through the firm’s mentorship program. She fosters dialogue and exchange on design at KPF, where she initiated Show & Tell, a bimonthly, in-house exhibition of current firm projects, as well as the KPF Design Cloud, which hosts short anonymous design competitions open to all KPF employees globally.
Kassem is a member of the Van Alen Institute’s Board of Trustees, chairing the Nominating Committee. Over the years, Kassem has served as guest critic at Pratt, Parsons, RISD, The Cooper Union, Columbia University, and Yale, and as guest lecturer at Cornell University, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania. She also teaches part-time at Parsons School of Constructed Environments.
For more detail, please read the AIANY’s announcement here.