After an extensive search, Lee Bollinger, president of Columbia University, announced on August 12 the appointment of Amale Andraos as dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). Those who had been following the process were caught off guard—Andraos had been on the school’s search committee, which does not usually consider its own members as candidates. Yet, as Bollinger explained, her contributions to the discussion convinced him that the future dean was right in front of him.

Andraos, whose father practiced architecture, was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and has lived in Saudia Arabia, France, Canada, and Holland. She attended McGill University before receiving her M.Arch. from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, later working for the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in Rotterdam. Andraos founded the New York–based WORK Architecture Company (WORKac) with Dan Wood in 2003. Though she has taught in a number of architecture schools throughout the northeastern United States, she is still a relatively young practitioner—age 41—with a modest body of work. record recently spoke with Andraos about the current direction of the school and of the architectural discipline.