Less than a month after The Architectural League of New York hosted a festive, open-to-the-public block party complete with a drumline, tamales, and roving climate scientists to celebrate the conferral of its coveted President’s Medal to outgoing executive director Rosalie Genevro, her successor has been named: Jacob R. Moore.

As announced today by The League, Moore, a writer, editor, and curator who currently serves as associate director of the Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), will replace Genevro beginning in September. Genevro, an urbanist and architectural historian, has led the 142-year-old nonprofit in the role of executive director since 1985. Moore, 38, was selected to succeed Genevro via an extensive national search process.

“It’s a true honor, and I'm really humbled and excited to be taking this on,” Moore told RECORD, referring to The League as a “dynamic organization with wide reach and a lot of possibility.”

“I feel really lucky to be invited in at this moment where we’re both excited about change but also building on a lot of incredible work that’s already been done.”

A 2012 graduate of Columbia GSAPP where he received a Master’s of Science in Critical, Curatorial and Conceptual Practices in Architecture, Moore has been with the Buell Center—a separately endowed entity within the school—for just over a decade, beginning as a program coordinator; he has served as associate director since July 2019. During his tenure, he shepherded numerous heralded public programs, many with a focus on the relationship between the built environment and social justice, climate change, and racial equity, including “The Green New Deal: A Public Assembly,” “Unbroken Windows,” and “Democracy in Retreat: Master Planning in a Warming World.” At the Buell Center, he also helmed the curatorial teams behind exhibitions such as Living in America: Frank Lloyd Wright, Harlem & Modern Housing, a collaboration with Columbia’s Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art, and House Housing: An Untimely History of Architecture and Real Estate. 

“Jacob brings tremendous passion and a deep knowledge of the most important forces and issues impacting the built environment today,” said Mario Gooden, president of The League’s Board of Directors, in a statement. “His vision for the future of The League and his commitment to equity, spatial justice, and the environment make him the ideal person to shape our next chapter.”

“The League, and Rosalie in particular, has been absolutely focused on that,” Moore said of the “interconnected” issues of equity, injustice, and climate. “If you're not talking about these things these days, no one’s listening—and rightly so.”

Prior to the Buell Center, Moore was an associate editor at Princeton Architectural Press and served with the United States Peace Corps as a municipal development advisor in Tacaná, Guatemala. 

As a writer, editor, and publisher, Moore, a founding editor of the GSAPP-published online journal the Avery Review, has both co-edited and co-authored numerous works, including Green Reconstruction: A Curricular Toolkit for the Built Environment and The Art of Inequality: Architecture, Housing and Real Estate. Among the publications that he has contributed to are Artforum International and The League’s Urban Omnibus, which was launched under Genevro’s leadership. Speaking about his own relationship with the League, he referred to that publication as an “an important piece in The League puzzle” and noted his “respect for the voice that it has in the field.”

“The League’s prizes and the mentorship program have played really important roles for all kinds of people over the years,” added Moore. “I'm excited thinking about how that work can continue and grow.”