Kim Yao

Kim Yao, AIA, is a Principal at Architecture Research Office. Founded in 1993, Architecture Research Office is a 24-person New York City firm that has earned a reputation for elegant, innovative and imaginative architecture born out of relentless exploration and engagement.

Yao holds an undergraduate degree in architecture from Columbia College: Columbia University and a Master of Architecture from Princeton University. She was Adjunct Assistant Professor of Architecture from 2001-2011 at Barnard College: Columbia University and also taught at the School of Constructed Environments, Parsons, the New School for Design. She has lectured in the United States and abroad. As Vice President of Public Outreach, she serves on the executive committees and boards for the New York City chapter of the AIA and the Center for Architecture.

Architecture Research Office received the 2011 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Architecture, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters honored the firm with their 2010 Academy Award for Architecture. The firm’s work has been exhibited widely and is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.