Biography of Maria Lorena Lehman

Maria Lorena Lehman, Founder

BIOGRAPHY: MARIA LORENA LEHMAN

Maria Lorena Lehman is a visionary architect and theorist who was awarded the Harvard University 2004 Digital Design Prize for the “most creative use of digital media in relation to the design profession”.

Lehman holds a Bachelor of Architecture with Honors (BArch, 1998) from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and a Master in Design with Distinction (MDesS, 2004) from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. While at Harvard University, Lehman’s research focused on the intersection between digital media, architectural technology and neuroscience. Lehman researched within the Harvard Graduate School of Design, House_n. Media Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Neuroscience Department of the Harvard Medical School.

In 2005, Maria Lorena Lehman was invited as a Returning Critic to evaluate student work for Re-visions, a Master and Doctoral level course at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Lehman also served as Instructor for the Digital Media Skills course for Master of Architecture students at Harvard University. Lehman was also an Expert Teaching Assistant for the Digital Media I + II course for Master of Architecture students at Harvard University.

Prior to research in academia, Maria Lorena Lehman was Junior Partner of Boggs & Partners Architects, an award-winning architecture firm located in Annapolis, Maryland. During her six years with Boggs & Partners, she lead design efforts, winning nineteen prestigious architecture awards, on projects such as the Uriah P. Levy Center and Jewish Chapel at the United States Naval Academy, Federal Office Building 8 on Capital Hill, The Advisory Board Commons at the Watergate Building and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington DC.

Maria Lorena Lehman receives numerous honors for her creative designs and thoughtful investigations. She received the 1998 Juris Jansens Memorial Award for Excellence in Design and the 1997 Michelle Currie Memorial Scholarship for Excellence in the Study of Architecture. For each honor, Maria Lorena Lehman was selected from all of the architecture students at Virginia Tech, approximately 550 architecture students. Maria Lorena Lehman was also appointed to the Honorific Committee, representing over 350 architecture students, to evaluate teaching excellence at Virginia Tech.

In 2008, Maria Lorena Lehman founded Sensing Architecture a website and digital platform to share and discuss her area of expertise within the architectural community. In addition to working on other publication projects, Lehman also continues her investigations on the bridge between the human sensory system and technology for architectural design.

You can contact Maria Lorena Lehman at mll@sensingarchitecture.com

Scholarly Publications

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR ARCHITECTURAL THEORY

Written by Maria Lorena Lehman, the paper Interpretation and Evolution: A Scenario was published in the International Journal for Architectural Theory based in Germany. This journal is a trilingual publication in English, German and Russian. You can access the paper by visiting the following link:

• Lehman, Maria Lorena. “Interpretation and Evolution: A Scenario” International Journal for Architectural Theory. Journal Issued: 02/2007. Theory of Interpretation: Vol. 12. No. 2. December 2008.