Jorge Otero-Pailos is Professor and Director of the Historic Preservation programs at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. An architect, artist, and theorist, his work explores experimental approaches to preservation at the intersection of art, architecture, and cultural heritage.
He is the founder and editor of Future Anterior: Journal of Historic Preservation History, Theory, and Criticism, published by the University of Minnesota Press. His books include Historic Preservation Theory: An Anthology: Readings from the 18th to the 21st Century (2023), De-scribed Fragments / Fragmentos De-escritos (2022), Experimental Preservation (2016), Architecture’s Historical Turn (2010), and Spain on Spain (2009).
His artistic work has been commissioned and exhibited by institutions including the British Houses of Parliament and Artangel, the Venice Art Biennale, the Victoria and Albert Museum, SFMOMA, the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, the National Museum of American Diplomacy, and the Fund for Park Avenue, Hong Kong’s Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts, Frieze London, and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Recent solo exhibitions include Treaties on De-Fences at the Onera Foundation and Analogue Sites at the Jay Heritage Center.
His work has been recognized by the UNESCO Eminent Professional Award, the ArtsWestchester Artist Award, the American Academy in Rome, the Graham Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts/New York Foundation for the Arts, the Fitch Foundation, and the Canadian Centre for Architecture. His collaborative preservation work on Eero Saarinen’s former U.S. Embassy in Oslo received the City of Oslo Architecture Prize, the Docomomo US Award of Design Excellence, the OMA Award for Transformation Project of the Year, and the Sundt Prize.
