Aaron is a designer, planner, writer, and photographer originally from and currently based in New York City. He is most interested in affordable and multifamily housing design, public architecture, urban design, and participatory planning practices.
Aaron is the current Housing Design Fellow at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. He received his Master of Architecture and Master in Urban Planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), both with distinction. He graduated with a BA magna cum laude in urban studies and architectural history from Columbia University, where he received the Presidential Global Fellowship and the Philip E. Aarons Thesis Prize in art or architectural history. While at the GSD, he received the Dean’s Merit Scholarship, the Gramlich Fellowship in Community and Economic Development, a Community Service Fellowship, 1st place in HUD’s Innovation in Affordable Housing Competition, 2nd place in the GSD’s Plimpton Poorvu Design Prize, and 3rd place in the FHLB’s Affordable Housing Development Competition.
Aaron’s writing—including journalism, personal narrative, and report-writing—has been published by Colorado Review, Architectural Record, Urban Omnibus, Dwell, The Architect’s Newspaper, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Joint Center for Housing Studies. He has practiced and researched with firms and agencies in New York, New Orleans, Melbourne, and the Boston area, including Agency Landscape + Planning, Utile, the Boston Housing Innovation Lab, the Cambridge Community Development Department, Office of Jonathan Tate (OJT), the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, the NYC Department of City Planning, French2D, MoMA’s Department of Architecture & Design, Sage & Coombe Architects, Project for Public Spaces, CoDesign Studio, and the Architectural League of New York.