The Polish Hill Civic Association and Staffski would like to extend congratulations to Polish Hill’s own Stephen Lee on his appointment as the head of Carnegie Mellon’s School of Architecture. Tai + Lee continues to be an integral part of Polish Hill; we are lucky to have them in the neighborhood. From the press release —

Lee, who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture from Carnegie Mellon, is the cofounder and principal emeritus of the Pittsburgh architectural firm TAI + LEE and has served as an educator at Carnegie Mellon for more than 25 years. Since the program’s inception, Lee has served as faculty advisor for the university’s U.S. Department of Energy’s interdisciplinary Solar Decathlon teams. His educational pedagogy and professional practice focus on design and systems integration for high performance, sustainable communities and buildings. His work as a sustainable architecture consultant across Europe, Canada and the United States has included institutional and commercial clients such as Alcoa, BP Solar, Public Works and Government Services Canada, the U.S. General Services Administration, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Pittsburgh Green Innovators.

Lee is the recipient of numerous awards through his practice and through his long collaboration with Carnegie Mellon’s Center for Building Performance & Diagnostics, including the Business Week/Architectural Record National Design Award, the AIA National Honor Award for Architecture and the Pennsylvania Society of Architects Design Award.

Lee embodies the phrase, “Think globally — act locally,” bringing his integrated education, research and practice background to more than 30 years of volunteer community service throughout the region.