Alumnus, professor and former Head of School Steve Lee Retires after 43 years
S24 Design-Build Studio: the class poses in front of their work.
Alumnus, professor and former Head of School, Steve Lee has had a profound influence on the Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture.
Having served as Head of School for 12 years from 2008 to 2020, he developed many of the programs, opportunities and partnerships that continue to grow today. But the accomplishments during his tenure as Head of School are only the beginning of the impact he has had at CMU.
Steve completed his Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1975 and returned to complete the Master of Architecture in Advanced Building Studies in 1977. He started teaching in the school in 1981. Steve’s teaching activities have resulted in the integration of undergraduate and graduate courses related to design, environment, tectonics and construction. He led numerous student design-build projects on campus, worked with John Folan to establish the (no longer active) Urban Design Build Studio and was the faculty advisor for the school’s Solar Decathlon teams in 2002, 2005 and 2007.
Through these activities and others, Steve shepherded students beyond the design phase of architecture and through the construction phase to see their projects to completion. He strove to impart his students with confidence, practical skills and a comprehensive perspective that he hopes will lead them to make more efficient and sustainable design choices in their practice.
Steve reflects on his guiding principles as an educator: “My goal was to form a balance between formal and conceptual understandings of architecture with the pragmatics of architecture. My belief of the school when I was Head – we have always been and should continue to be a school that graduates expert practitioners. With our emphasis on sustainability, computational design and urban design, this means you don’t only have the basic chops of design and formalism, but you also have the basic chops of how to assemble materials in the context of sustainability and computation.”
Steve sees design-build as a means to cultivate more sustainable designers and laments the waste generated by projects that don’t consider the realities of building construction.
“When I taught Materials & Assembly, I taught students that things are made with standard modular dimensions and it becomes a challenge for the architect. If you are going to make a building out of concrete block, make it work to the block dimensions instead of cutting every block. Tetris – it is like Tetris. It’s a game to figure out how to make the dimensions of the spaces you want work with the dimensions of the materials that come into the job site. Architects who don’t work this way can generate tons and tons of unnecessary construction waste, adding time and money to every project they work on.”
This very issue arose during the construction of the Robert L. Preger Intelligent Workplace (IW), perhaps Carnegie Mellon Architecture’s most well-known sustainability and building performance project – a prominence aided by its location atop Margaret Morrison Carnegie Hall. Steve worked closely with Volker Hartkopf, Vivian Loftness, Azizan Aziz and other core members of the Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics (CBPD) in the early 1990’s to imagine the facility and bring it to fruition.
In 1993, construction began on the IW with materials that had been donated from Germany, including 600mm x 600mm floor tiles. Standard American tiles are either 18” or 24”. In order to avoid cutting the floor tiles to fit the messy conversion (600mm is 23.622”), Steve worked with Greg Motolla (Steve’s former student) to ensure that not a single floor tile was cut for the IW.
In 1997, construction was finished on the IW and the school celebrated its grand opening. Steve moved into his office there, where he stayed until becoming Head of School in 2008.
The IW isn’t the only building on campus that Steve had a hand in building. The Carnegie Mellon Architecture submission to the 2005 Solar Decathlon remained standing and even housed offices for 14 years in Donner Ditch before CMU asked Steve to take it down. Originally designed to last for only two weeks on the National Mall, when Steve, John Folan and team finally disassembled it, they shipped its parts and pieces to Construction Junction to demonstrate material reuse and sustainability.
And if that’s not enough reuse for one structure, the 2005 house was built from salvaged material that Steve saved from the 2002 Solar Decathlon submission.
The Solar Decathlon is a collegiate competition run by the U.S. Department of Energy that challenges students to design and build a house that is as sustainable, affordable, energy efficient and high-performance as possible. Steve advised the Carnegie Mellon Architecture Solar Decathlon teams in 2002, 2005 and 2007.
Solar Decathlon, Donner Ditch, 2002. President Cohon presiding at the completion event.
Solar Decathlon, Washington, DC 2002
Solar Decathlon, Washington, DC 2002
Solar Decathlon under construction, Donner Ditch, 2005
Solar Decathlon, Washington, DC, 2005
Solar Decathlon, Washington, DC, 2005
“TriPod”, Solar Decathlon, Washington, DC 2007
TriPod, Solar Decathlon, Washington, DC, 2007 The Living “Pod”
TriPod after reassembly at Powdermill Nature Reserve, Laurel Highlands, PA, 2019
枯山水, S22 Design/Build Studio, MMCH Plaza, CMU Campus, 2022. Steve helping Kimberlyn Cho learn to use a hole saw.
枯山水, S22 Design/Build Studio, MMCH Plaza, CMU Campus, 2022. Final review.
S23 Design/Build Project, Peace Garden, 2023. Building the deck.
S23 Design/Build Project, Peace Garden, 2023. Steve with Ana, Shay, Abby and Dana.
M&A Masonry Workshop, Monroeville, PA, 2004
M&A Concrete Workshop, Cast-Con, Saxonburg, PA, 2004
M&A Masonry Workshop, CFA Terrace, 2002. Students and Pittsburgh masons working with Danilo Guerri visiting from Ancona, Italy.
48-305 Advanced Construction Studio Entry from Inaugural EPIC Steel Deck Competition. The brief was to design a Folly for Schenley Plaza.
F22 Building Integration Option Studio. Field trip to West Side Market, Cleveland, OH.
Beijing SoA Alumni Event, 2016
Celebrating one year as Head of School, 2010
Steve and Yoko at Sagrada Familia, Barcelona 2014
The Solar Decathlon also sparked the beginning of Carnegie Mellon Architecture’s long and fruitful partnership with PJ Dick. In 2002, the Solar Decathlon team struggled to fundraise for the inaugural competition. They needed to figure out how to ship the house from CMU to Washington, D.C. and then bring it back afterwards. Steve had never met Cliff Rowe, the CEO of PJ Dick, but he knew of him through mutual friends. He reached out to ask for help and Rowe happily obliged, sending cranes, trucks and a crew to transport the school’s submissions in 2002, 2005 and 2007. Cliff Rowe became intimately involved in every aspect of the Solar Decathlon, forming a strong relationship with Steve and the school at large.
And then the partnership grew when PJ Dick made a gift to establish the Architecture–Engineering–Construction Management program. This partnership continues to develop to this day, with the PJ Dick Innovation Fund Faculty Grants Program which was launched earlier this year.
Steve has long standing friendships with many of the school’s partners and benefactors and many of its activities have been shaped by his relationships with these individuals. For example, he was roommates and great friends with Ann Kalla; the inaugural EPIC Metals Competition with David Landis prompted students to design a folly at Steve’s suggestion; and David Lewis and Ray Gindroz were some of Steve’s first bosses at Urban Design Associates.
Steve’s legacy can be traced in the history of the school’s many activities and also in the myriad structures he’s built on campus. He reflects on a serendipitous moment during the Spring 2023 Design-Build course when his students were midway through building a deck and rain garden in CFA’s Peace Garden. Steve received a video of a string quartet playing on the newly completed deck one afternoon. Unbeknownst to him, his class had built a wonderful acoustic space; a suspended wooden platform creates amazing sound quality.
Steve says, “This is the most perfect circumstance for an architect. That somebody discovers something that you designed and built, and they immediately start using it, even though it isn’t ready.”
Steve's Student Days and TAI+LEE Architects
Steve with his maternal grandparents, father and sister.
Steve’s earliest memory is of architecture: sitting on a stack of phone books on a stool at his grandfather’s drafting table, learning how to do lettering, drafting and rendering – and admiring his grandfather’s hand lettering, the best he’s ever seen. His maternal grandfather, a surveyor and draftsman for the Iroquois Gas Company in Buffalo, NY, was Steve’s greatest influence as a young person.
Steve’s earliest memory is of architecture: sitting on a stack of phone books on a stool at his grandfather’s drafting table, learning how to do lettering, drafting and rendering – and admiring his grandfather’s hand lettering, the best he’s ever seen. His maternal grandfather, a surveyor and draftsman for the Iroquois Gas Company in Buffalo, NY, was Steve’s greatest influence as a young person.
Steve painting with his dad learning that it is best not to work below someone else.
Steve also gained an affinity for math, mechanics and tinkering from his father, who was an accountant and handyman.
Steve also gained an affinity for math, mechanics and tinkering from his father, who was an accountant and handyman.
One of many snow caves in Clarence, NY
The pull to space-making began in other ways, as well. A childhood spent in Buffalo, New York comes with snow, and Steve’s family lived in a cul-de-sac where plows piled snow to 10 or 15 feet. He spent many childhood hours digging in and creating multi-level living spaces in the snowbanks.
The pull to space-making began in other ways, as well. A childhood spent in Buffalo, New York comes with snow, and Steve’s family lived in a cul-de-sac where plows piled snow to 10 or 15 feet. He spent many childhood hours digging in and creating multi-level living spaces in the snowbanks.
Donner Hall roommates outside of Skibo
When Steve graduated with his B.Arch, he planned to go work at CannonDesign on Grand Island above Niagara Falls, where he had worked for a summer and over winter break during his undergraduate studies. However, Volker Hartkopf, faculty in the school, secured a full scholarship for Steve to attend his new graduate program, the Master of Advanced Building Studies. So Steve instead went back to CMU for graduate school and upon graduation began working at Urban Design Associates (UDA) in Pittsburgh.
When Steve graduated with his B.Arch, he planned to go work at CannonDesign on Grand Island above Niagara Falls, where he had worked for a summer and over winter break during his undergraduate studies. However, Volker Hartkopf, faculty in the school, secured a full scholarship for Steve to attend his new graduate program, the Master of Advanced Building Studies. So Steve instead went back to CMU for graduate school and upon graduation began working at Urban Design Associates (UDA) in Pittsburgh.
Beaux Arts Ball Chess Set, February 1979. Steve is one of the black bishops.
When it came time to pick his college major, Steve recalls his high school guidance counselor suggested architecture because he was good at math and art. But why Carnegie Mellon? Three reasons: no required gym class; it was a four year program instead of five; and fraternities were not an emphasis of student life.
When it came time to pick his college major, Steve recalls his high school guidance counselor suggested architecture because he was good at math and art. But why Carnegie Mellon? Three reasons: no required gym class; it was a four year program instead of five; and fraternities were not an emphasis of student life.
Early Days of TAI+LEE with Julie Somma in one room at 3114 Brereton.
Steve and Yoko started their firm in 1981. At the beginning, they mainly did cabinet work and architecture for housing projects, including for the Farmers Home Administration in West Virginia, Allegheny County Housing Authority and the City of Pittsburgh Housing Authority.
Steve and Yoko started their firm in 1981. At the beginning, they mainly did cabinet work and architecture for housing projects, including for the Farmers Home Administration in West Virginia, Allegheny County Housing Authority and the City of Pittsburgh Housing Authority.
TAI+LEE, West Penn Pool, Playground & Recreation Center, Polish Hill, Pittsburgh, PA, 1988.
TAI+LEE, Fineview Crest I, Fineview, Pittsburgh, PA, 1992.
The Fineview Crest project, completed in 1989 in Pittsburgh's North Side, was a watershed moment for TAI+LEE Architects when they adopted the notion of contextual architecture.
The Fineview Crest project, completed in 1989 in Pittsburgh's North Side, was a watershed moment for TAI+LEE Architects when they adopted the notion of contextual architecture.
TAI+LEE, Rivertech Centre LTV South Side Works, Pittsburgh, PA, 1996.
TAI+LEE, Crawford Square, Hill District, Pittsburgh, PA, 1995.
TAI+LEE Architects' new office with solar panels, 2008
Steve and Yoko in London, 2010
It was while working for UDA that Steve met Yoko Tai (B.Arch ‘72). In 1981 the United States was in an economic downturn. UDA didn’t have much work, but didn’t do layoffs, so Steve and Yoko would spend their nights moonlighting and then all day at work with little to do. They decided to start their own architecture firm and in 1981 established TAI+LEE Architects together.
Soon after starting TAI+LEE, Carnegie Mellon Architecture came calling: “A week after I announced I was on my own, I got a call from the department head at that time, Louis Sauer. He said, ‘I hear you’re on your own, we really need faculty to teach first year studio. So I said, ‘I’m in.’”
Steve says, “I like working and teaching and watching people as the lightbulb goes off, but I had never thought about an academic career, per se. But I took that opportunity and spent the next 43 years there.”
It was while working for UDA that Steve met Yoko Tai (B.Arch ‘72). In 1981 the United States was in an economic downturn. UDA didn’t have much work, but didn’t do layoffs, so Steve and Yoko would spend their nights moonlighting and then all day at work with little to do. They decided to start their own architecture firm and in 1981 established TAI+LEE Architects together.
Soon after starting TAI+LEE, Carnegie Mellon Architecture came calling: “A week after I announced I was on my own, I got a call from the department head at that time, Louis Sauer. He said, ‘I hear you’re on your own, we really need faculty to teach first year studio. So I said, ‘I’m in.’”
Steve says, “I like working and teaching and watching people as the lightbulb goes off, but I had never thought about an academic career, per se. But I took that opportunity and spent the next 43 years there.”
Home in Oiso, Kanagawa-ken, Japan
As an undergraduate student, Steve was inspired by Gunther Nitschke's documentation of the Shinto shrine rebuilding practices. The inspiration carried through his entire career— Japanese culture, philosophy and building methods have informed his architectural sensibility and interest in sustainability. He likes to give students copies of his favorite book, "In Praise of Shadows." Throughout his life, he spent time working and traveling in Japan, and visiting his in-laws with Yoko and their two children in Oiso, Kanagawa-ken, Japan.
As an undergraduate student, Steve was inspired by Gunther Nitschke's documentation of the Shinto shrine rebuilding practices. The inspiration carried through his entire career— Japanese culture, philosophy and building methods have informed his architectural sensibility and interest in sustainability. He likes to give students copies of his favorite book, "In Praise of Shadows." Throughout his life, he spent time working and traveling in Japan, and visiting his in-laws with Yoko and their two children in Oiso, Kanagawa-ken, Japan.
