by Center for Architecture
The Center for Architecture is excited to announce several new leadership transitions. Following six and seven years of service to the Board of Trustees, respectively, Annie Tirschwell, Partner at Type A Projects, and Joseph Tortorella, President of Joseph Tortorella, will be stepping down. After three years of service as Treasurer of the Board, Alexander Lamis, FAIA, Founder of Lamis Architect, will also be transitioning, with Julia Murphy, AIA, LEED AP, Partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), taking his place.
The Board is excited to welcome three new members in 2026:
Justin Den Herder, PE
Vice President and Principal, TYLin
Justin Den Herder’s love of trees and poetry has informed his career as a structural engineer at TYLin. He cares deeply about the impact of the built environment on the natural world and leads the firm’s sustainability, mass timber, and computational design communities of practice. He also oversees the firm’s Building Equity Initiative which offers pro-bono design services for public and non-profit programs. He has collaborated on more than 500 projects and is especially fond of the challenges associated with adaptive reuse projects and takes pride in designing public projects—libraries, museums, and other civic institutions. His class at Cooper Union at the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, titled ‘Structural Poetics’ explores the creation of efficient, elegant, equitable structures.
Julie C. Geden
Senior Principal, Zubatkin Owner Representation, A Cumming Group Company
Julie Geden is a Senior Principal with Zubatkin Owner Representation, A Cumming Group Company. A lifelong design advocate, her work focuses on leading multi-disciplinary teams to successfully deliver visionary and technically complex construction projects on behalf of not-for-profit institutions and private development clients.
Over her 20-year career, Geden has served as a trusted advisor to the Park Avenue Armory, Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, American Museum of Natural History, Brooklyn Museum, Sarah Lawrence College, Rockefeller University, Horace Mann School, Saint David’s School, Success Academy, Jamestown, LP, and Goldman Sachs. She is recognized by her clients and peers for her leadership skills, strategic approach, and collaborative management style.
Outside of her work at Zubatkin, Geden maintains involvement in a variety of industry organizations, including serving on the Board of Directors for Non-traditional Employment for Women (NEW). She is also passionate about engaging with young professionals advancing their professional careers in the A/E/C industry and has been responsible for growing the firm’s mentorship and internship programs.
Michael Samuelian, FAIA
Director of Campus Planning and Sustainability, Cornell Tech
Michael Samuelian is the Founding Director at the Urban Tech Hub at the Jacobs Institute and Director of Campus Planning and Sustainability at Cornell Tech, where he leads groundbreaking work at the intersection of technology, urbanism, and climate innovation. From the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan and the creation of Hudson Yards to the activation of Governors Island; he’s helped plan, design and develop some of the most transformative projects in New York City.
Samuelian received a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Architecture from Cooper Union. Samuelian is a Fellow of the AIA, on the Advisory Board of ULI New York and served a decade on the New York State Board for Architecture. His honors include the John Q Hejduk Award from Cooper Union and he has been recognized as a “Power Player in Climate, Energy, and Sustainability” by NYPolitics.com and acknowledged as a Notable LGBTQIA+ Leader by Crain’s New York.