- Monica
Ponce de Leon Ponce
de Leon was born in Venezuela and is now living in the
United States. She received a Bachelor degree from the
University of Miami in 1989, followed by a Masters Degree in
Architecture and Urban Design from the Harvard Graduate
School of Design in 1991. She is an Associate Professor at
Harvard Graduate School of Design and has also taught at
Northeastern University and the University of
Miami. Office
dA is a Boston based firm whose principal partners are
Monica Ponce de Leon and Nader Tehrani. The firm's work is
diverse in scope and scale ranging from the broader scale of
urban design and infrastructure to architecture and
furniture design. At once preoccupied with the evolution of
the city and it's urbanism, Office dA is also keenly
involved in problems of construction, detail, and new
manufacturing technologies. Currently,
Office dA is working on a new 140 unit apartment building in
South Boston, as well as a 300 bed dormitory for the Rhode
Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. The
Tongxian Art Center, consisting of gallery spaces, studio
spaces and housing is currently under construction in
Beijing, China. Recent completed renovation projects include
Mantra, a restaurant in Downtown Boston. Office
dA has received numerous Awards and Honors for Urban Design,
Architecture and Furniture design. The American Academy of
Arts and Letters awarded Office dA with an Academy Award for
Architecture in 2002. The Mill Road House, Casa La Roca, The
Zahedi House, The Toledo House, the Master Plan for the Town
of Wayland and The Tongxian Art Center have all won Awards
in the annual Progressive Architecture Awards Competition.
I.D. Magazine awarded the firm with two Awards for the
ORO/Lazslo Furniture line and the Northeastern University
Multifaith Spiritual Center in June of 2000. In 1997, Monica
Ponce de Leon and Nader Tehrani both received a Young
Architect's Award from the Architecture League of New York.
In 1999, they received two Young Architect Awards from the
Boston Society of Architects. CWA series of Rockport
Publishers has published a monograph of Office dA's work
with an introduction by Rodolphe el-Khoury. Cafes,
Restaurants and Bars, published by Links International
features Office dA's designs for Mantra and Upper Crust.
Most recently, Office dA's Witte Arts Building received a
design citation in Architecture from the 50th Progressive
Architecture Awards Competition, and the firm was awarded
the 2002 Harleston Parker Award for the Northeastern
University Multi-faith Spiritual Center. Office
dA's work has been exhibited extensively. Currently,
"Intricacy" is on exhibit in the ICA in Philadelphia. Office
dA's proposal for "A New World Trade Center" was exhibited
at the Max Protech Gallery in New York, and at the 2002
Venice Biennale in Italy. The show titled "Fabrications: The
Tectonic Garden" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York
City, received rave reviews from the New York Times, among
other publications. The firm's work has also been exhibited
at the Center for Fine Arts in Miami, Princeton School of
Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design and Rhode
Island School of Design. The principals have also lectured
widely at numerous Universities and Colleges throughout
North America, South America and Europe.