Today, the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) announced that Mark Lee, principal and founding partner of Los Angeles–based Johnston Marklee, will chair its Department of Architecture effective July 1. Lee has taught at the GSD since 2013 and was also recently named professor in practice of architecture.
"Mark deeply understands the contemporary world of architecture," said Mohsen Mostafavi, Intl. Assoc. AIA, dean and Alexander and Victoria Wiley professor of design at the GSD in a press release. "His vision and leadership will enormously benefit our students and our school in the years to come."
A graduate of the GSD, Lee has taught at Princeton University; the University of California, Los Angeles; the Technical University of Berlin; and ETH Zurich. He was also the Frank Gehry International Chair at the University of Toronto and the Cullinan Chair at Rice University. In 2017, Lee and his partner Sharon Johnston, FAIA, served as the artistic directors of the Chicago Architecture Biennial.
“In advancing both the discipline and the profession of architecture, the [Harvard architecture department] has been without parallel," Lee said in the same release. "I look forward to building upon the formidable achievements of my predecessors and this deeply-rooted tradition of excellence. We stand on the threshold of a very challenging, but exciting, future. I feel confident that architecture’s best days lie ahead.”
Lee is replacing K. Michael Hays, who has served as interim chair of the architecture department since 2016, and has taught at the GSD since 1988.
