The AAD Student Committee ensures that AAD students, alumni, and prospective students are connected through events and activities. The role of this important organization is to intellectually engage with others whilst further stewarding possibilities and opportunities that the AAD program has to offer. The AAD Student Committee aspires to further engage as peers through different social media platforms, events, activities, and discussions. The committee’s goal is to enrich, preserve, and build the AAD Legacy.

The Adaptive Re-use and Repositioning Club explores diverse approaches to repositioning and adaptive reuse within the real estate sector, encompassing historical and contemporary perspectives.

By inviting industry-leading guest speakers, organizing insightful site visits, facilitating thoughtful panel discussions, and conducting case studies, the Club aims to expose members to the intricacies of an investment strategy at the forefront of industry innovation and creativity. Additionally, the Club seeks to foster a deep comprehension of how this strategic approach can generate immense value amidst changing times and dynamic economic environments.

Adjacent is focused around the idea that your architectural education can extend into many facets of professional deployment. Adjacent uses discussions, workshops, and social events as catalysts towards open and transparent conversations. Adjacent believes in sharing knowledge and tapping professional networks to gain insight into a variety of professional environments, adjacent career paths, market conditions, and ultimately, how students can take steps towards their dream careers.

The New York Metro Chapter’s Student Representatives Committee (SRC) of the American Planning Association provides a means for Urban Planning students’ interests to be represented within APA and promotes student participation in the organization at the local and national levels. SRC presents a host of networking and professional development opportunities for students at New York City’s five urban planning schools and emerging planning professionals, including conferences, Q&A sessions, company tours, as well as the annual end-of-year APA Student Showcase. All urban planning students are eligible for an APA Student Membership.

The Asia Real Estate Club is an inclusive club bridging the Asia real estate market with Columbia Students. This club Columbia students in the real estate industry by bringing keynote speakers, organizing immersive tours, and providing networking opportunities as well as holding social events. The Asia Real Estate Club is open to anyone, especially those with a passion for the exciting real estate markets and practice in Asia.

ASAPP is a student organization within the GSAPP, to provide a community for students who self-identify as Asian, Asian American, or Pacific Islander and those interested in API area issues. We plan to promote more API students in architecture planning and preservation careers, help the API students speak, organize academic, social, career, and cultural events, and explore opportunities outside of school, aiming to build a strong and supportive API alumni network.

On hiatus 2024-2025.

The mission of the Black Student Alliance at Columbia GSAPP is to support the advancement and improve the experience of students who self-identify as members of the African diaspora by providing community, acting as a source of collegial support, and crafting meaningful, interrogative spaces for the many voices of the black GSAPP community to speak, engage in deliberate, careful, and shared modes of study within the school, and explore forms of exchange beyond the institution. Actively promoting the interests, scholarship, and creative production of black students, alumni, and future students at GSAPP, as well as black faculty, designers, scholars, and practitioners, BSA+GSAPP aims to cultivate a culture that supports affiliation for the development of a robust black alumni network.

The Columbia Entrepreneurial Development Club’s mission is to foster a collaborative community of aspiring real estate developers, providing resources, education, and extensive networking opportunities to empower members in their entrepreneurial pursuits. Through seminars and real-world project experiences, the club strives to contribute to innovative and sustainable development projects. This club’s goal is to create a platform where members can share knowledge, gain practical skills, and build lasting relationships within the real estate industry.

The Design Driven Development Club aims to bring together individuals passionate about architectural design and real estate to foster a holistic, design-centric approach to real estate development. Considering the creative and analytical processes involved in development are integrally connected, this club meets with design-driven developers to study the correlation between design excellence and ROI while also learning how to navigate developer and architect relationships. While developing an understanding of the value of design in the field of development, this club also explores the architect as developer, design-build and developer as constructor business models.

Future Entrepreneurs Club hopes to create a series of open discussions with several guest speakers who have built their businesses from the ground up to give students like ourselves the opportunity to learn from their successes/mistakes as well make meaningful connections.

This club would like to include members to make collective decisions on how this club will look for the rest of the year.

The Global Real Estate Club is an organization dedicated to connecting students who are passionate about real estate development and are interested in pursuing it as a career. The Club welcomes students interested in development who may not yet have a focus but are eager to pinpoint their interest within the industry.

The organization facilitates networking opportunities with alumni and industry professionals in development, project management, asset management, acquisitions, and construction. The Club also aims to provide educational opportunities for members through guest speakers from industry leaders and alumni, a series of career workshops, in-person site visits, mentorship, and social events.

GreenSAPP’s mission is for students to engage with the climate-centered resources and community of Columbia and New York City. The organization gathers interested students across GSAPP for discussion, events, and site visits related to green built environment topics, including climate adaptation, green building, net zero, environmental conservation, and community engagement. GreenSAPP serves as a platform for green student initiatives and leadership as we step into our roles as leaders in shaping the built environment.

The American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) is an independent, nonprofit, student-run organization dedicated to providing unmatched progressive programs, information, and resources on issues critical to architecture and the experience of education. GSAPP AIAS aims to promote excellence in architectural education, training, and practice: to foster an appreciation of architecture and related disciplines, to enrich communities in a spirit of collaboration, and to organize students and combine their efforts to advance the art and science of architecture.

GSAPP GAP brings together students from all programs who are interested in creating a more equitable built environment. It is a platform to bridge critical connections between our work and the communities we impact. In order to accomplish this in a holistic and comprehensive way, we emphasize interdisciplinary collaboration and approach the gaps between our programs as areas of opportunity to explore, expand, and/or connect in new ways.

GSAPP GAP engages in site visits, participate in community events, and host guest lectures to learn from local practitioners who are already implementing this community-oriented intersectionality. GAP fosters opportunities to tangibly work toward a socially-conscious built environment.

NOMA (National Organization of Minority Architects) is an association comprised of designers, architects, and allied professionals involved in creating a more diverse and inclusive design industry. The GSAPP NOMA Student Chapter utilizes professional and social programs to become a more equitable institution and connect students to the greater NOMA community. NOMA’s chapter promotes inclusivity through learning environments, professional development opportunities and social awareness through every design discipline.

GSAPPX+ is a student-run initiative led by womxn that champions learning and unlearning through the power of conversation. GSAPPX+ cultivates a discourse that highlights and amplifies a diversity of voices engaged in the fields of design and the built environment. GSAPPX+ uses a combination of casual meetings and external events to nurture a collective notion of gender equity and individual empowerment to inform an inclusive and collaborative future.

On hiatus 2024-2025.

The Hospitality Development & Investments Club explores topics across market environment, fiscal strategy, and design vision in order to understand how the industry is building with respect to consumer preferences. This club organizes lively events to experience hotels and venues firsthand as well as bring in world-class professionals within the industry to educate us on their insights across GP, LP, operational, and architectural relationships. The Hospitality Development & Investments Club looks forward to your engagement with our wonderful club and its active members!

The Hotel and Hospitality Development Club seeks to explore the contemporary landscape of hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues, and members’ clubs through guided site visits, informal networking opportunities, and dialogues with industry professionals. The club’s goal is to understand the creative and quantitative elements within hospitality development through an understanding of market analysis, the deal-making process, and design execution. The Hotel and Hospitality Development Club will utilize New York as a landscape to dissect changes within the landscape and to gain deep knowledge and appreciation for hospitality development.

By creating opportunities for GSAPP students to engage with and learn from mission-driven professionals whose work has a double bottom line—a quantifiable social impact as well as a financial return—the Impact Investing Club seeks to educate those whose immediate and long-term post-GSAPP professional goals are to become investors and developers with a purpose.

The International Real Estate Investment Club aims to explore the nuances of investing in global real estate markets by harnessing the unique backgrounds of our members and promoting diversity of thought.

Given the diverse backgrounds of all the students in the Class of 2025 MSRED program, The International Speaker Series will aim to give students an opportunity to learn from industry professionals in a global context. This will be a collaborative club where students can bring speakers from their home country to share much valued experiences and insights and allow students to learn more about cultures outside of their own from a real estate lens. The format will be flexible allowing for in-person speakers as well as zoom calls. Given the global context it is anticipated that many will prefer a call given proximity to NYC. Each speaker will be able to speak/present followed by an engaging Q&A conversation.

International Speaker Series hopes that many students will participate as attendees but also by reaching out to speakers in their home countries to help our class gain invaluable global insights.

JSAPP is a demographic based club for Jewish Students to be able to connect and have a space of our own. Our mission statement: JSAPP seeks to create a connected and prosperous Jewish Community within the GSAPP student body. JSAPP will be a means of a represented collective for the minority of Jewish Students at Columbia GSAPP. We seek to further Jewish design excellence within the field of Architecture, Planning, Preservation, and Development while upholding the values of “Tikkun Olam.”

Juice Bar is a quarterly student publication that is interested in articulating, questioning, and altering the value of and relationship between language and design. It is an archive of what we are thinking, doing, and making at architecture school, and a place to talk about it.

LatinGSAPP is an interdisciplinary student organization dedicated to the promotion, discussion and reflection of contemporary issues and ideas in Latin America. We recognize the importance and timeliness of thoughtful practice and research in the region of Latin America and by Latin Americans across the globe. Our primary objective is to raise awareness of this work and encourage cooperative involvement.

The Markets & Coffee Club was born from the need to foster greater confidence and knowledge amongst our students when attending networking events, speaker events, and job interviews. Establishing a casual but educative conversation between the real estate finance theory learned in class and integrated with current events in the market can make the learning process fun and beneficial to students that want to learn more outside the classroom. Professor Munsell and Professor Cohane are the moderators of the club. Both are highly motivated professors that love to teach and certainly inspire students to do better and to want to learn more.

Masaha is a student association that investigates contemporary issues facing the Arab world. Using the historic Saha as precedent, Masaha creates a platform where diverse perspectives coexist to question and redefine the many Arab identities. The association aims to connect creative students across disciplines to contribute to the improvement and development of scholarship that focuses on the Arab world. In an existential time where we are witnessing cities being flattened to the ground, while others ascend vertically and unsustainably, this association offers this platform for people who are interested in learning about our past, present, and future issues that continue to shape our cities and shape us. Masaha is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious professional organization that is open to all GSAPP students.

The Columbia MSRED Industrial Development Club seeks to promote interest and engagement in the development and financing of different types of industrial assets, such as warehouses and distribution centers, airports, and renewable energy.

The club will support education on this sector of development by inviting speakers from different parts of the industrial design and development process, facilitating site visits, and promoting networking opportunities. The club hopes to inspire a deeper knowledge and appreciation of this very important type of development!

PEEL is a digital journal published by students from the MSAAD program. It sets itself to become a platform to discuss architecture as much more than an aesthetic art - to peel away the superficial layers and reveal the core impacts architecture has on our world. As such, and in relation to the AAD curriculum core, PEEL focuses on the notions of what it means to practice architecture and aims to expand the understanding of topics that can be engaged by it.

The Columbia MSRED PropTech Club intends to bridge the gap between the rapidly evolving technology sector and the traditional real estate built environment. Through speaker series, networking opportunities, and company tours, this club will introduce students to the innovative companies that are shaping the landscape and the people behind them. Leveraging the diverse backgrounds of its members, the club will work to understand new ways of improving the current efficiency of our industry by introducing creative ventures and revolutionary ideas. In connecting the current generation of industry leaders with the future generation, the club hopes to foster the interest and exposure of the PropTech sector in the real estate industry.

The Public Interest Development Club is a multidisciplinary student organization at GSAPP that provides a forum for real estate development, urban planning, and architecture students to collaborate, learn, and explore opportunities that could contribute to positive social impact. Topics of discussion will include innovations in affordable housing production and policy, supporting community development initiatives, transit-oriented development, emerging financial mechanisms, and advocating for environmental justice.

QSAPP (Queer Students of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation) is a student organization that seeks to foster both conversation and community among LGBTQ students, their allies, faculty, and alumni of GSAPP. We actively explore contemporary queer topics and their relationships to the built environment through an engagement with theory and practice. Recently, QSAPP explored the problem of LGBTQ homeless youth and its intersection with design which resulted in a publication. This academic year, as part of a mission to support structural change, QSAPP will initiate a project we are tentatively calling Disappearing Queer(s); an exploration of individuals and spaces that have fostered queer activism and have been part of the lived experiences of queer people in New York City, with a particular focus on communities and neighborhoods that are underrepresented in the queer canon. All interested students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend meetings and events and reach out to our organizers for more information.

The purpose of the real estate alternative investing club is to highlight, learn about and discuss real estate opportunities that are not traditional investment properties.

Some examples of alternative real estate investments include:

• RV Parks, Mobile Home Parks, Self Storage
  
• Glamping
  
• Real estate crowdfunding
  
• Mortgage investing
  
• Real estate syndications
  

Alternative real estate investments can be a good option for investors who are looking for higher returns or diversification benefits. However, it is important to do your research and understand the risks involved before investing in any alternative real estate investment.

The club aims to bridge the gap between students and real estate developers through a series of informal networking events. Real Estate Development Handshake Series’ goal is to create opportunities for meaningful connections and learning experiences outside the traditional classroom setting. By organizing events at developers’ offices, cafes, and potential site tours, the club provides a relaxed atmosphere conducive to light presentations and candid conversations. The events may also include cocktail hour style gatherings, further fostering an environment where students can comfortably engage with industry professionals, gain insights, and build valuable relationships.

Join Real Estate Development Handshake Series to expand your network and deepen your understanding of the real estate development field.

The club meetings will focus on entrepreneurship, management, and strategies for managing portfolios of real estate assets, including, but not limited to, real estate developments, real estate equity investments, real estate debt investments (mortgages, mezzanine, and commercial mortgage-backed securities), credit facility strategies, and distressed debt investing. We plan to meet regularly and hold small classroom-like discussions, exploring both practical and theoretical topics, intending to prepare each other for careers as fund managers, whether for a private equity firm, a hedge fund, or to manage our own real estate portfolios in the future.

The Real Estate Private Equity Club, associated with the Columbia GSAPP MSRED program, is committed to bringing accomplished leaders from across the real estate private equity industry to engage with our real estate-focused student body and community.

The Club’s goal is to provide a platform that drives meaningful discussions through dynamic events and speaker series presentations. Through enhancing the knowledge of prevailing market trends, gaining an understanding of current industry practices, as well as building and strengthening relationships, the organization hopes to educate and inspire future real estate private equity business leaders.

The GSAPP Student Council is an elected student body, made up of representatives of every program at the school. Student Council representatives are elected every Fall and serve a full calendar year, until the following Fall semester or until a representative graduates.

The Sustainable Development Club aims to educate and proliferate innovative approaches to environmentally-focused development practices. Subjects covered include energy efficiency and generation, water and resource conservation, environmental resiliency and response to natural disasters, nature conservation, and designing healthier communities. Sustainability topics are covered from a wholistic viewpoint considering the financial, design, legal, and social implications. Club activities include monthly meetings and social gatherings; lectures from industry leaders and innovators; site tours; and educational briefings. The club is open to all members of the greater Columbia University community and welcomes diverse backgrounds and perspectives.

The Capital Formation & Advisory Club aims to bring the forefront of the institutional equity-raising community to GSAPP’s doorstep. As many students hold ambitions in real estate private equity, a pressing question at the genesis of a firm’s viability is posed: how does one raise equity from accredited, institutional investors? A “blue-chip,” sophisticated investor base is the crux of a firm’s reputation.

Through a speaker series of industry leaders at the top of their fields, the Capital Formation & Advisory Club will host a diverse array of guests who can speak to the intricacies of the fundraising process, investor types, project management, sales, relationship building, maintenance and best practices, capital markets, investor appetite and behavior, legal and regulatory compliance, and more.

The question of “how it’s done” will be explored.

An in-person format will always be prioritized, but ultimately the club will accommodate the busy schedules of our guests via Zoom or Webex. Currently, an inaugural speaker with over 20 years of experience in the capital advisory space is bookmarked, with more to follow.

The Capital Formation & Advisory Club welcomes anyone with even the slightest ambitions or curiosity towards private equity or entrepreneurship to join.

The RED Golf Club is a social club that brings together golfers of all skill levels. The club will coordinate tee time with members at various courses in the NYC area, organize groupings at the many simulators in the city, as well as host informal happy hours. Whether you own your clubs or will need to rent, the club will be your resource to learn the game and gain access to consistent outings.

Urban China Network (UCN) is an student organization founded in May 2013 by a group of Columbia GSAPP Urban Planning students with a strong interest in China’s urban issues. UCN aims to bring students, scholars as well as practitioners from various disciplines in the Greater New York area into the discussion of China’s urbanization, and ultimately to facilitate the communication between cities in China and the U.S.

URBAN is a magazine created, edited, and published by students of Columbia University GSAPP’s Urban Planning Program. As a forum for discussion among the students, faculty, and alumni of the program and GSAPP, each semester’s publication opens its pages to all realms of urban planning.

Taking advantage of this diverse city that we are in, Urban Observation Squad hopes to bring together curious individuals from across the GSAPP community to explore different areas of NYC in organized walking trips guided by predetermined themes.

During these trips, participants will be encouraged to produce photos, videos, audio recordings, sketches, or other creative outputs. In this way, Urban Observation Squad hopes to produce a dialogue between different perspectives via the curation of an end-of-semester exhibition, website, or zine. In the academic setting, Urban Observation Squad, as GSAPP students, intimately interact with the built environment, but are limited by the outputs and projects required by our classes. Urban Observation Squad hopes this student organization can be a space that transcends academic disciplinary boundaries and encourages creative dialogue amongst students from different backgrounds.

Mission Statement for Women in Real Estate Development at Columbia University Goal: Empower women at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP) to achieve successful careers in real estate and foster an inclusive industry environment. Women in Real Estate Development at Columbia University will not only support its members’ individual career aspirations, but also hope to inspire change, encourage innovation, and develop a supportive community for women in real estate.
Synopsis: Women in Real Estate Development at Columbia University aims to support the participation and success of women in a historically male-dominated field. This club provides GSAPP women with crucial resources, opportunities, and networks to thrive in various sectors such as private equity, investment banking, and development.
Objectives:
Enhance Opportunities: This club is committed to expanding career prospects for women by facilitating access to internships, job openings, and exclusive projects within the real estate sector.
Networking and Collaboration: Organize extensive networking events and foster partnerships with industry leaders, influential alumni, and professionals. WiRED’s collaboration will extend to other chapters, such as NYU’s Women in Real Estate Development group, to broaden our network and facilitate entrepreneurship between institutions.
Career Development Sessions: Offer interactive sessions on resume development, technical skills and interview preparation, tailored to the strategic positioning of women in the real estate job market.
Educational Lectures: Our “Lunch Box Lectures” series will invite women in the industry to share their journeys, offering insights and advice on navigating the field.
Mentorship Programs: Establish mentorship programs pairing candidates with experienced professionals within Columbia’s network. This initiative aims to provide guidance, support, and valuable industry insights.