January 21, 2022
by Center for Architecture
Guess A Sketch 2022

On Thursday, March 10, architects, designers, architecture enthusiasts, and young professionals will gather at the Center for Architecture for Guess-A-Sketch, an architecture-themed, pictionary-style tournament to support the nonprofit’s K-12 education initiatives, now celebrating its tenth year! Hosted by Jerome W Haferd, Partner, BRANDT : HAFERD, who will join us as the evening’s Master of Ceremonies, four architects will live sketch iconic buildings from around the world on stage as competing teams guess to win. Audience members are also invited to guess, with the opportunity to win a selection of items generously donated by our prize sponsors.

Try your luck at Guess-A-Sketch >>

Meet this year’s four honoree sketchers:

Photo of Tonja Adair.

Tonja Adair, AIA, NOMA, Principal, Splice Design

Tonja Adair is an architect and urban designer endeavoring to enhance how we experience and interpret the environments we inhabit. She believes architecture that pays attention to different viewpoints, specific context, the aesthetics of material and form, and the role of sustainability has the power to form meaning and provide relevance. Adair is a founding principal at Splice Design, a NYC-Atlanta-Austin practice working across scales, from interiors to mixed-use buildings and community anchors to urban design strategies. This year, Splice Design is celebrating its ten-year anniversary.

Adair explores the role of design in creating joy and providing active and innovative social spaces. She balances building her practice with engaging in NOMA and AIA to elevate the voices of designers and architects.

 

Photo of Alexandra Barker.

Alexandra Barker, FAIA, LEED AP, Founder and Principal, Barker Associates Architecture Office

Alexandra Barker, FAIA, LEED AP, is the Assistant Chair and founding member of the Graduate Architecture and Urban Design Program, as well as Associate Professor with Certificate of Continuing Education (CCE), at Pratt Institute, a nationally-ranked Master of Architecture and post-professional architecture program. She has been the recipient of several national, regional, and institutional grants to develop architectural pedagogy that strengthens connections between practice and the academy, creates integrative course structures that combine building technology and design, and brings innovative approaches to design education to beginning designers in underserved communities. This work has been presented through national and international conferences and papers.

Barker is also the founder and principal of Barker Associates Architecture Office (BAAO), an award-winning New York-based practice with a focus on multivalent spatial and material approaches that adapt to the evolving relationships between diverse inhabitants and the built environment. BAAO engages with the public and private sectors on a range of projects and scales that include cultural, institutional, retail, and residential work as well as speculative and community outreach projects.

Barker received her M.Arch from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and her BA in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard College. 

 

Photo of Matthew Bremer.

Matthew Bremer, AIA, Founder and Principal, Architecture in Formation

Matthew Bremer founded Architecture in Formation to celebrate the rich, rigorous, and messy collaborative process of making architecture that is impactful and positively transformative. Bremer is engaged as creative director in each project from start to finish, working closely with public- and private-sector leaders, clients, and developers to refine their needs and aspirations and find hidden opportunities and strategies to approach design questions. The studio is committed to deploying innovative strategies that enhance community, address climate, and serve those most in need.

Bremer will serve as President of AIA New York in 2023. He holds Architecture degrees from Rice and Yale.

 

Black and white photo of Calvin Tsao.

Calvin Tsao, FAIA, FAAR, Co-Founder, Tsao &McKown Architects

Graduating from UC Berkeley before receiving his Master of Architecture from Harvard University, Calvin Tsao forged his own path by founding Tsao & McKown in 1985 with his partner and fellow visionary Zack McKown. He has orchestrated built environments across a variety of scales and locales. Notable projects include the Sunbrella Headquarters in Burlington, NC; Sangha, At One Hotel in Suzhou, China; the renovation of the Jewish Museum’s permanent collection in New York, NY, Brower Park Library in Brooklyn, NY; Jianfu Palace Museum in the Forbidden City, Beijing, China; Suntec City in Singapore; as well as a lipstick case for Shu Uemura.

Tsao envisions his role as that of a cultural mediator striving to harness global experience and technology to express the essence of local cultures and contexts. He has taught at the Harvard GSD, Cooper Union, Syracuse University, and Parsons School of Design, and sits on the the board of directors for the Municipal Art Society of New York. He is also a trustee of the American Academy in Rome, former Vice President for Design Excellence at AIA New York, and President Emeritus of the Architectural League of New York. Tsao is a recipient of the National Design Award from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and the Legacy Award from the Museum of the Chinese in America.