For his contributions to architecture as an art, Nader Tehrani was the recipient of the 2020 Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize from The American Academy of Arts and Letters, to which he was also elected as a member in 2021, the highest form of recognition of artistic merit in The United States. Tehrani has been named the 2022 Design Visionary by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Museum of Design for his innovation and impact on the field of architecture. He has also been elected in 2023 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Tehrani is Principal of NADAAA, a practice dedicated to the advancement of design innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and an intensive dialogue with the construction industry.

Tehrani is a professor at and former Dean of The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union in New York where he served as Dean from 2015-2022. He was previously a professor of architecture at MIT, where he served as the Head of the Department from 2010-2014. Tehrani has taught at The Harvard Graduate School of Design, Rhode Island School of Design, The Georgia Institute of Technology, where he served as the Thomas W. Ventulett III Distinguished Chair in Architectural Design, and The University of Toronto’s Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design where he served as the Frank O. Gehry International Visiting Chair. He also served as the 2017-2018 William A. Bernoudy Architect in Residence at The American Academy in Rome.

Tehrani has lectured widely at institutions including the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Harvard University, Princeton University and the Architectural Association. The works of Tehrani have been widely exhibited at MOMA, LA MOCA and ICA Boston. His work is also part of the permanent collection of the Canadian Center for Architecture and the Nasher Sculpture Center.

Tehrani’s work has been recognized with notable awards including an unprecedented nineteen Progressive Architecture Awards. Other honors include: finalist for the 2017 Moriyama RAIC International Prize, nominee for the 2017 Marcus Prize for Architecture, a 2014 Holcim Foundation Sustainability Award, the 2007 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award in Architecture, the 2007 United States Artists Award, USA Target Fellows AD award, and a Harleston Parker Medal. NADAAA has consistently ranked as a top design firm in Architect Magazine’s Top 50 U.S. Firms List, ranking as first three years in a row.