Michael Arad

Michael Arad is an Israeli-American architect, best known for designing the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City with Peter Walker. He was born in London to Israeli parents and later moved to Boulder, Colorado, where he spent most of his childhood, attending Fairview High School. Arad's family also lived in Jerusalem for a few years, exposing him to the city's unique architecture, including the works of Louis Kahn and Isamu Noguchi.

● Early Life and Education

Arad's early life was marked by frequent moves between United States, Israel, and England, which influenced his interest in architecture, particularly the works of Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Mies van der Rohe. He attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he studied art history and architecture, graduating in 1991. Arad then moved to New York City to work for Kohn Pedersen Fox, a renowned architecture firm, before pursuing his master's degree in architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. During his studies, he was exposed to the works of Eero Saarinen, I.M. Pei, and Renzo Piano.

● Career

Arad's career in architecture began in the 1990s, working for several firms, including Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Kohn Pedersen Fox, on projects such as the Time Warner Center in New York City and the Shanghai World Financial Center in Shanghai. In 2003, he joined the Handel Architects firm, where he worked on various projects, including the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, in collaboration with Peter Walker and Davis Brody Bond. Arad's design for the memorial, featuring two large reflecting pools surrounded by the names of the victims, was selected from among 5,201 entries in a competition organized by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

● Notable Works

Arad's most notable work is the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, which was dedicated on May 21, 2014, and has since become a prominent landmark in New York City, attracting millions of visitors, including Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Angela Merkel. The memorial features two large reflecting pools, each approximately one acre in size, surrounded by the names of the nearly 3,000 victims of the September 11 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The design of the memorial was influenced by the works of Daniel Libeskind, Frank Gehry, and Zaha Hadid. Arad has also worked on other notable projects, including the Fort Worth National Cemetery in Fort Worth, Texas, and the Dresden Museum of Military History in Dresden, Germany, in collaboration with Norman Foster and Santiago Calatrava.

● Awards and Recognition

Arad has received numerous awards and recognition for his work, including the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Honor Award and the National Design Award from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. He has also been awarded the Presidential Design Award for his design of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, which was presented by Barack Obama in 2012. Arad has been recognized by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the National Trust for Historic Preservation for his contributions to the field of architecture and landscape design, alongside notable architects such as Frank Gehry, I.M. Pei, and Renzo Piano.

● Personal Life

Arad is married to Melissa Arad, and they have two children together. He currently resides in New York City and is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the National Academy of Design. Arad has been involved in various charitable organizations, including the September 11 Memorial & Museum Foundation and the National Park Foundation, which support the maintenance and preservation of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and other national parks, such as the Grand Canyon National Park and the Yellowstone National Park. Arad has also worked with notable architects and designers, including Robert A.M. Stern, Richard Meier, and Thom Mayne, on various projects and initiatives. Category:Architects