Serica Storytellers: Architecture Serving Neighborhoods & Memories

What makes a place feel like home—and who gets to decide?

Join Billie Tsien, one of the most influential architects of our time and co-designer of the Obama Presidential Center, for an intimate evening exploring how architecture can serve people, preserve memory, and shape the future of our cities. In conversation with Calvin Tsao, a leading voice at the intersection of architecture, art, and culture, this gathering invites you into a rare dialogue on the values that guide the built world around us.

Set in the heart of Chinatown and in partnership with Welcome To Chinatown—a neighborhood layered with history, resilience, and transformation—this conversation moves beyond buildings as objects and into architecture as an act of care. Together, Tsien and Tsao will reflect on the role of design in sustaining communities, the tension between speed and thoughtfulness in an era of rapid change, and the quiet responsibility architects carry in shaping how people live, gather, and belong.

But this evening isn’t just about listening—it’s about participating.

In the second half of the program, attendees will be invited to share a small but meaningful detail from New York City—a material, object, or everyday moment that makes them feel welcome or at home. These reflections will become the foundation for a collective conversation on how “small evidence” can inform architecture that is more human, more responsive, and more enduring.

Expect a thoughtful, engaged audience spanning architects, artists, students, entrepreneurs, and members of the Chinatown community—creating a space where professional insight meets lived experience. Delicious local bites, wine, and beverages will be provided to all guests to enjoy throughout the event.

Agenda:

5:30–6:00 PM Arrival, light refreshments, networking

6:15–7:00 PM Billie Tsien in conversation with Calvin Tsao

7:00–8:00 PM Audience Q&A + community engagement activity

Admission is open to the public with a suggested donation of $1 or more, ensuring the evening remains accessible while supporting Serica’s mission to convene meaningful conversations across communities.

Come for the ideas. Stay for the exchange. Leave seeing the city a little differently.

About Billie:

Billie Tsien is a New York-based architect, mentor, and leading voice in the design and broader cultural community. Her approach to architecture is rooted in the spirit of collaboration with a portfolio imbued with a sense of optimism, warmth, texture, and serenity. She is a founding partner of Studio Tsien with recentcommissions including Ana Mari Cauce Welcome Center at the University of Washington and the New Humanities and Social Sciences Building at the University of New Mexico. She is also a founding partner of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects whose notable projects include the Asia Society Hong Kong, the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, and theObama Presidential Center in Jackson Park, Chicago.

In parallel to her architecture practice, Billie teaches at Yale University and is a devoted participant in many arts organizations. She was appointed the first Woman and Asian-American Chair of the Commission of Fine Arts by President Biden in 2021. Billie is an active board member at the Architectural League of New York, The Academy of Arts and Letters, Rural Studio, and the New York Review of Architecture.

This dedication to work and the cultural landscape at large has garnered her numerous awards including the National Medal of Arts from President Obama, the 2013 AIA Architecture Firm Award, and the 2019 Praemium Imperiale presented by the Japan Art Association. As an educator, arts advocate and practitioner, Billie is steadfast in her mission to create a better world through architecture.

About Calvin:

Calvin Tsao, a founding partner of Tsao & McKown Architects, is recognized as a leading voice in contemporary architecture and design. Mr. Tsao’s work draws from lively engagement with a variety of art forms and is dedicated to global interdisciplinary explorations across sectors, regions, and typologies - all in service of an overarching humanistic goal to improve how people live.

In 2009 Mr. Tsao, along with his partner, Zack McKown, received a National Design Award from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and in 2012 Mr. Tsao received a Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) Legacy Award. In 2022, along with his partner, Zack McKown, he received the AIA NY’s highest distinction: the Medal of Honor.

A Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, Mr. Tsao has taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Cooper Union, Syracuse University, and at Parsons The New School for Design; and has served as guest critic and lectured internationally. He served several years as a member of the Visiting Committee to Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and currently serves on the Dean’s advisory council there. He is a former Vice President for Design Excellence of the American Institute of Architects New York.

Mr. Tsao is the Board Chair of The American Academy in Rome and is a board member and President Emeritus of The Architectural League of New York. Mr. Tsao completed his undergraduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley and went on to receive his Master’s of Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, where he was awarded the AIA Henry Adams Gold Medal Award.

Thank you to Chenyan Wang for her careful curation of this event.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

The Serica Initiative thanks the New York State Council on the Arts for the generous grant support. The opinions, results, findings and/or interpretation of data contained therein are the responsibility of the Serica Initiative and do not necessarily represent the opinions, interpretations or policy of the State.