Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

The Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University in New York City, also known simply as GSAPP, is regarded as one of the most important and prestigious architecture schools in the world. It is also home to the well-regarded Masters of Science program in Urban Planning, Urban Design, Historic Preservation, and Real Estate Development.Among the school's resources is the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, the United States' largest architectural library and home to some of the first books published on architecture, as well as the origin of the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals.Recent deans of the school have included architect James Stewart Polshek, noted architectural theorist and deconstructivist architect Bernard Tschumi and Mark Wigley. The current dean is Amale Andraos.HistoryThe Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation has evolved over more than a century. It was transformed from a department within the Columbia School of Mines into a formal School of Architecture by William Robert Ware in 1881—making it one of the first such professional programs in the country.