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The Gensler Family AAP NYC Center

The City as Pedagogical Space

Students at AAP NYC learn by immersion. New York City's natural and built environments drive topics for studios, classes, workshops, lectures, and extracurricular activities that engage with urban histories, buildings, infrastructure, and institutions.
A group of people listen to someone speak outside of a building among trees and greenery.

From historic urban plans that define street patterns to landmark zoning that prescribes building envelopes, to technological innovations that push skyscrapers to new limits, to land-use policies that transform public space, to cultural institutions that shape public life and raise provocative questions about the fabric of society, the New York City experience is essential for students seeking to understand the built environment. Engaging with neighborhoods and communities across the five boroughs, students learn how to analyze complicated site conditions, access and map data, comprehend local politics, conduct outreach, form partnerships, and more. Studios, electives, and seminars across the disciplines use the city as a source of reference and inspiration.

Student Experience

AAP NYC studios and workshops center around local urban conditions from multiple perspectives. Faculty incorporate site visits, walking tours, meetings with community groups, and visits to local resources such as archives, museums, and fabrication shops in their curricula. Student work encompasses direct observation, community engagement, analysis, and speculation, integrating real-world scenarios with innovative modes of practice.

  • A person presents a small architectural model to a group of seated people.
  • People explore a field that is adjacent to high rise buildings.
  • A person looks closely at a large architectural model.
  • Three people attach their architectural drawings to a wall.
  • Person viewing work in a gallery space.
  • People on an urban street corner observing a mural
  • People run through a field.
  • A person stands in an audience to ask a question with a microphone.
  • A person looks inside an architectural model encased in glass at a museum.
  • Two people attach renderings of maps to the wall.
  • A group of people standing in front of a sign the reads
  • People walking across a footbridge with the New York City skyline at rear
  • Two people present a series of architectural drawings.
  • People explore an architectural model encased in glass at a museum.

Architecture faculty Florian Idenburg and Karilyn Johanesen review projects for their option studio titled Rewilding, Reworlding.

bStudents in the urban design studio on a site visit at Montauk Cutoff, an abandoned railway in the Long Island City Industrial Business Zone.

M.S. AUD program director and Associate Professor of Architecture Jesse LeCavalier examines the studio’s scale model of East Harlem.

From left: Students Tarjanee Manan Soni, Noah Gear, and Xinyi Huang (all M.S. AUD ’25) prepare for final studio reviews at AAP NYC.

Design Tech Open Studio Exhibition 2025 on display at Cornell Tech in New York City, featuring work by Design Tech faculty, Design Tech Innovation Fellows, and the inaugural cohort of Design Tech master’s students. photo / Jesse Winter

Students from the M.R.P., M.S. RS, and M.A. HPP ’26 programs meet with Dariella Rodriguez, a community organizer from The Point Community Development Corporation, to learn about The Bronx is Breathing campaign for zoning that limits commercial expansion and supports cleaner air for residents.

B.Arch. and M.Arch. students traverse Field Work, an ecological project located in a wild meadow at the center of their studio site, Sky High Farms, in Pine Plains, New York.

Liam Anthony (B.S. URS ’25) raises a question at the 2024 Cornell Real Estate Council (CREC) conference. photo / Jasmina Tomic Photography

Yuhan Li (M.Arch. ’24) visits the Skyscraper Museum, which is dedicated to the architectural history and real estate of New York City, as part of the AAP NYC option studio titled Infrastructure By Other Means.

From left: Students Nandini Mohan (M.S. AAD ’24) and Chenxi Li (M.S. AAD ’25) prepare for final reviews to wrap up their summer studio at AAP NYC.

Lauren Wang, Director of Climate Programs at Trust for Governors Island, leads a walking tour for CRP students and faculty.

Students head toward Nobuho Nagasawa’s Luminescence on a walking tour of Hunter’s Point South and Long Island City led by AAP alum and faculty member Hobum Moon (M.R.P. ’14, M.L.A. ’16) and Robert Balder, Executive Director of the Gensler Family AAP NYC Center.

Gina Wei and Cynthia Kuo (both M.Arch. ’24) present their housing project Subtraction/Addition in SHoP’s 360 VR room for the fall 2023 NYC option studio led by visiting architecture faculty Dana Getman and Steven Garcia.

CRP students met with WE ACT for Environmental Justice in Sugar Hill, Harlem, to learn about the organization’s work in their community.

From left: students Jesus Mayen, Jose Ortega, and Jonathan Wilmers (all B.Arch. ’26) visit Materialized Space: The Architecture of Paul Rudolph at the Met.

Career Development

Working closely with AAP’s Career Development team, AAP NYC organizes events that help students prepare for the job market, whether perfecting their portfolios, researching firms, or connecting with Cornell AAP alumni. Activities include studio visits, portfolio reviews, mentorships, alumni engagement, networking opportunities, and more.

  • Headshot of Sam Carney

    Sam Carney

    Director of Career Development

    Admissions and Student Services

  • Headshot of Madelynn Hollis

    Madelynn Hollis

    Assistant Director of Career Development

    Admissions and Student Services

Guest Lecturers

Fall and Spring Lecture Series

AAP NYC organizes fall and spring lecture series at the center that are free and open to the public. Lectures enrich the curricula, allowing students to connect with notable speakers and expand their inquiry beyond the classroom. Past speakers include: Rosetta S. Elkin (Pratt Institute, Harvard GSD), Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu (Neri & Hu), Malkit Shoshan (FAST), Marina Otero Verzier (Columbia GSAPP), Jing Liu (SO – IL), Dana Getman, Steven Garcia, and Chris Sharples (SHoP); Laura González Fierro (Studio Fierro), Justine Shapiro-Kline (ONE Architecture), Vishaan Chakrabarti (PAU), Reinhold Martin (Columbia GSAPP, Buell Center), Esra Akcan (Cornell AAP), Claire Zimmerman (University of Toronto), María González Pendás (Cornell AAP), Jed Walentas (Two Trees), Joshua Ramus (REX), Jared Della Valle and AJ Pires (Alloy), Florian Idenburg (SO – IL), Sebastian Mendez (Tankhouse), Dan Kaplan (B.Arch. ’84, FXCollaborative), Miriam Harris (MTA), and others.

Annual L. Michael Goldsmith Lecture

AAP NYC also hosts the annual L. Michael Goldsmith Lecture Series, established in 2009 by alumnus Michael Goldsmith’s (B.Arch. ’72) family to honor his memory. Past speakers include: Chris and William Sharples (SHoP), Gerald Davis (B.Arch. ’84), Craig Dykers (Snøhetta), Charles Renfro (Diller Scofidio + Renfro), William Pedersen (KPF), Michael Van Valkenburgh (MVVA), Jonathan Marvel (Marvel Architects), Blake Middleton (B.Arch. ’78, M.Arch. ’81) and Gary Handel (B.Arch. ’78) (Handel Architects), Michael Manfredi (M.Arch. ’80) and Marion Weiss (Weiss/Manfredi), Dan Kaplan (B.Arch. ’84) (FXCollaborative), Elizabeth Diller (Diller Scofidio + Renfro), Tatiana Bilbao (Tatiana Bilbao Estudio), and Kim Yao (ARO).

Visiting Critics

In addition to the lecture series, the Gensler Family AAP NYC Center regularly hosts distinguished guests to offer insights and productive feedback on student work. Cornell AAP’s broad network of architects, scholars, city leaders, policymakers, real estate developers, scientists, engineers, artists, and practitioners across the disciplines adds to the energy of our classrooms, crit spaces, and community and brings perspectives that challenge and broaden students’ creativity and ambition.