The Pairing:
Tod Williams, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners
Billie Tsien, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners
Karen Stein, George Nelson Foundation

Cocktail designed by:
Toby Cecchini, Bartender + Author Eben Klemm, Bartender + Author David Moo, Bartender + Author

Andrea Leers, FAIA, Principal, Leers Weinzapfel Architecture
View Leers Weinzapfel's Projects

Andrea Leers, FAIA, Andrea Leers' approach to architecture was shaped by two early experiences - her studies at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Fine Arts, then led by Louis I. Kahn, after her degree from Wellesley College, and her year in Japan as an NEA-Japan U.S. Friendship Commission Fellow. When she and Jane Weinzapfel met in their internship years, they discovered they shared values and the desire to establish a firm with the goal of creating a bold and refined architecture for the public realm. Dedicated to seeking cross-cultural connections, Leers is an internationally recognized leader in urban and campus design, and building for higher education. She is equally known for her expertise in the design of award-winning courthouses.

In parallel with her practice, Leers has had a continuous teaching career. She is former Director of the Master in Urban Design Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design where she was Adjunct Professor in Architecture and Urban Design. Her previous appointments were at Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Virginia. Internationally she has taught at Tokyo Institute of Technology, National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan, and the University of Paris, Sorbonne. Leers was a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome, and she lectures and participates in symposia and design juries throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

She currently serves on the U.S. General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service National Register of Peer Professionals, is a Commissioner for the Mayor’s Boston Civic Design Commission, and is a member of the University of Washington Architectural Commission. She is a former member of the President’s Visiting Committee for MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning, and is a former member of the State Department Architectural Advisory Committee. Leers’ work has earned her the lifetime achievement recognition of the Boston Society of Architects Award of Honor.



Tod Williams, FAIAPrincipal, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners
Billie Tsien, AIAPrincipal, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners
View Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects Projects

Tod Williams and Billie Tsien founded their eponymous New York architecture office in 1986. Their studio is committed to contributing and inspiring their surrounding communities, focusing on projects such as schools, museums, and not-for-profits. Notable projects include The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia and the Asia Society Hong Kong Center. In 2016, they were selected as the architects for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. Over the past three decades, their work has received numerous national and international citations, including the National Medal of the Arts from President Obama and the Firm of the Year Award from the American Institute of Architects. They are deeply committed to making a better world through architecture.

Karen Stein, Executive Director George Nelson Foundation
Karen Stein is an architectural advisor and Executive Director of the George Nelson Foundation. Previously, she was Editorial Director of Phaidon Press and, prior to that, Senior Managing Editor of Architectural Record. She has been a member of the faculty of the Design Criticism program at the School of Visual Arts in New York. She is the author of Aldo Rossi Architecture 1981-1991 (Princeton Architectural Press), a contributor to The Writings of Donald Judd (Chinati Foundation), and 30 Years of Emerging Voices: Idea, Form, Resonance (Princeton Architectural Press). Her writing has also been featured in a variety of publications including: Architectural Record, New York Magazine, a+u, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, and The World of Interiors. A graduate of Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture, she was awarded a Loeb Fellowship in Environmental Studies by Harvard University. Currently, she is a member of the Board of Directors of The Architectural League of New York and The Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas. Stein also served on the jury of The Pritzker Architecture Prize from 2003 through 2012.

Toby Cecchini, Bartender & Author
Toby Cecchini is a writer and bartender based in New York City. He has written on food, wine and spirits for GQ, Food and Wine, and The New York Times. His first book, Cosmopolitan: A Bartender's Life, was published in 2003. He is currently at work on his second book, a travelogue of spirits based on his travels for The New York Times' Living and travel magazines. He began bartending at the Odeon in 1987, where he is credited with creating the internationally recognized version of the Cosmopolitan cocktail in New York. He followed that with stints in several bars including Passersby, which he owned until 2008. In 2013 he reopened the shuttered Long Island Bar in Cobble Hill Brooklyn.

Eben Klemm, Bartender & Author
Eben Klemm, a former research biologist, is especially interested in encouraging knowledge among bartenders concerning the basic chemical and physics principals that affect the materials they use in order to better understand the techniques they use. Klemm and his cocktails have been featured in such diverse local and national publications as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Food and Wine, Time Out New York, Popular Science, and Playboy. He has also made televised appearances include The Today Show, CBS’s Early Show and ABC 20/20. His cocktail book for beginners, The Cocktail Primer, was published in December by Andrews McNeel.

David Moo, Bartender & Author
David Moo is a 20-year veteran bartender whose cocktails and bar commentary have been widely published in books, magazines, and newspapers. In addition to his work consulting on bar design, bar operation, and menu design, he creates and prepares cocktails for a wide range of events like those detailed in this book. In his spare time, he is the owner and manager of The Quarter Brooklyn, the oldest post-revival cocktail bar in Brooklyn.

• 2 oz. Evan William’s Single Barrel Bourbon
• 1/2 oz. Sour cherry spirit
• 3 dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 Barspoon (7 ml.) Maple syrup
• Wedge of orange
• Twist of lemon

Muddle all ingredients together in a mixing glass. Add ice and stir to chill and dilute. Strain into a double rocks glass with a large ice cube and garnish with a fresh wedge of orange with a cherry picked to it, and a twist of lemon.

• 3 oz. Ginger Lemon Kombucha
• 1 oz. Lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. Cayenne agave syrup

Peel a lemon completely, cut into a cube shape, and slice into thin cross sections. Squeeze a lemon peel into a Collins glass and fill with ice. Add all ingredients. Stir and garnish liberally with square lemon slices.

Cayenne agave syrup: Add 2 tablespoons cayenne pepper to 1 cup agave nectar. Add 1 cup water and simmer 5 minutes. Strain through coffee filter.