It’s not what I expected – Billie Tsien

About: Billie Tsien along with her partner, Tod Williams, founded their New York City based firm Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | P artners in 1986. Their pr actice is committed to r eflecting the values o f non-pr ofit, cultur al and academic institutions toward an architecture of permanence and enduring vision. A sense of rootedness, light, texture, detail, and most of all, experience, are at the heart of what they design. TWBTA are the winners of the competition to design the ongoing Obama Presidential Centre in Chicago. Over the past three decades, their dedication to this work has been recognized by numerous national and international citations including the National Medal of the Arts from President Obama, the 2013 Firm of the Year Award from the American Institute of Architects, and the 2019 Praemium Imperiale presented by the Japan Art Association. Billie Tsien is a devoted participant in the broader cultural community with longstanding associations with many arts organizations. She currently serves as the President of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, and has been inducted into the National Academy of Design, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. Billie Tsien completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts, from Yale University and Master of Architecture from University of California, Los Angeles, CA.