The Weitzman School of Design welcomes four new members of the associated faculty in the Department of Architecture for the Spring 2026 semester.
Stephen Kieran, Founding Principal, KieranTimberlake
David Eugin Moon, Partner, N H D M
Kazuyo Sejima, Co-founder, SANAA
James Timberlake, Founding Principal, KieranTimberlake
Moon is teaching and coordinating the second-semester studio in the first year of the Master of Architecture program. The other appointees are teaching a third-year studio in the program.
All four architects have existing relationships with Penn. Kieran and Timberlake are graduates of the Master of Architecture program and making a return to the faculty after a decade. They were responsible for the renovation and expansion of Stuart Weitzman Hall, the School’s first major capital project in 58 years, completed in October of 2025. Moon previously taught a studio at Penn in the fall of 2023, and Sejima was honored with the 2024 Kanter-Tritsch Medal in Architecture. The Medal recognizes an architect or firm that has changed the course of design history.
Stephen Kieran, FAIA, and James Timberlake, FAIA (Professors of Practice) are founding principals of KieranTimberlake, a Philadelphia-based architecture and planning firm established in 1984. Graduates of Penn’s Master of Architecture program, they are recipients of the Rome Prize (Kieran 1980-1981, Timberlake 1982-1983) and served as inaugural Benjamin Latrobe Prize Fellows (2001-2003), which directly led to the publication of their seminal manifesto Refabricating Architecture (2004). Their research-driven practice interrogates contemporary architectural discourse through material innovation, environmental performance, and advanced fabrication methodologies. Their work demonstrates rigorous integration of building information modeling, environmental analysis, and materials science, fundamentally redefining the architect's role in building design and construction. Notable projects include Loblolly House, an investigation in off-site fabrication; Cellophane House™, exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and SmartWrap™, a mass-customizable building envelope. The Embassy of the United States in London (2018) advances sustainable diplomatic architecture through innovative energy reduction strategies. Recent institutional commissions include the John A. Paulson Center at New York University (2022), a vertical campus establishing a new gateway to Greenwich Village, and the Folger Shakespeare Library renovation in Washington, DC (2024), which reimagines a Beaux-Arts landmark with a transformative below-ground addition that enhances public accessibility and cultural engagement.
David Eugin Moon (Associate Professor of Practice) is a partner of N H D M, a New York-based practice for design and research in architecture and urbanism. The work of N H D M has been recognized through numerous grants and awards, including the 2023 Architectural League Emerging Voices award, 2023 and 2019 Graham Foundation Grants, Architectural Record’s 2020 Design Vanguard, Domus 100+ Best Architecture firms of 2019, the 2018 AIANY New Practices New York award, an ASLA award, and four AIANY Design Awards. The firm’s work has been presented at global venues, including the 14th, 17th, and 18th Architectural Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, the 5th and 6th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, and Storefront for Art and Architecture, among others. The work of the office includes the Nam June Paik Art Center, the Bergen Arches, the transformation of a mile-long abandoned rail in Jersey City, and Migrating Futures, exhibited in the 2023 Venice Biennale. Moon has previously taught at Columbia University, Cornell University, Yale University, and the University of Michigan. Moon holds a master’s degree in architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, and a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Michigan.
Kazuyo Sejima (Cret Professor of Practice) is the co-founder of the award-winning, Tokyo-based architecture and design firm SANAA with Ryue Nishizawa. Comprised of international architects and staff working on projects ranging in scale from residential and interior design to large complex buildings and urban planning schemes, as well as product and furniture design, SANAA approaches each project with a fresh perspective, believing that each design arises from conditions particular to the site and program. Each project is special and is closely followed by the two founding principles, as well as partners Yoshitaka Tanase, Yumiko Yamada, Rikiya Yamamoto, Lucy Styles and Francesca Singer. SANAA works internationally and major works include 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa in Japan; New Museum and Grace Farms in the USA; Rolex Learning Center, EPFL in Switzerland; the Louvre-Lens and La Samaritaine in France; Bocconi University New Urban Campus in Milan, Italy; and Sydney Modern Museum in Sydney.
The appointees join Miller Professor and Chair Rossana Hu, co-founder of Neri&Hu Design and Research Office, and the other members of the faculty in the Department of Architecture.
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