Mónica Rivera has been named the JoAnne Stolaroff Cotsen Professor in the Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. A lecture and reception to celebrate her appointment were held Feb. 28 in Steinberg Hall.
Rivera, who chairs the Sam Fox School’s graduate architecture program, is co-founder and co-director of López Rivera Arquitectos, a Barcelona-based firm that has received numerous international awards for work across multiple scales, from public housing to private residences, schools, hotels, furniture, assisted residences and urban consultancies.
“I think of architecture as an integrative art,” Rivera said. “It’s critical for students and designers to connect how our actions have consequences not only in buildings, but also in cities and in societies.”
The professorship is named for JoAnne Stolaroff Cotsen, a fashion designer and patron of the arts who started her education at WashU. Her daughter and son-in-law, Corinna Cotsen, an alumna who earned master’s degrees in architecture and in engineering in 1983, and Lee Rosenbaum, established the professorship in her honor. “My mother valued teaching above everything,” Cotsen said. “I know that Mónica will be the kind of teacher who uses her experience and influence to help students thrive, and that she will learn much from her students as well.”
Read more on the Sam Fox School website.
