Edward Becker

Background

About Edward Becker

I am - an internationally-recognized expert in scaling innovative, sustainable building practices. I seek - to accelerate sustainable innovation for the architecture, real estate, and construction sectors I practice - a highly collaborative, collegial, and mission-driven ethos for impact I lead - multi-disciplinary research teams, students, and clients towards real-world change Sustainability Entrepreneur | Virginia Tech Professor | Harvard Graduate | Fulbright and ASF Fellow Please reach out / Its time to collaborate on a better future -> egb@vt.edu | edward.becker@tuni.fi Detailed Bio: Edward Becker is founder of Helsinki-based Vor, a climate-focused design and consulting practice, and a tenured Associate Professor at Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture. As an international expert in wood design and construction, he is the 2023-2025 Chair of the Softwood Lumber Board's Education Advisory Panel, a select group of university faculty who advise the North American timber industry via the SLB on strategic investment in higher education. Winner of national and international research and design awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects, Architizer, Architects Newspaper, ACSA, and others, his collaborative work across academia and industry has been published internationally by Actar, ARK, Archinect, ARQ-XP, Phaidon, Routledge, Wood Design Magazine, and World Landscape Architecture, among others, including being featured in AN’s “Best of the Best” research awards program and Phaidon’s Architizer: World’s Best Architecture. He has developed innovation-focused partnerships with industry-leading companies including AECOM, Trimble, and the U.S. timber industry who have provided over $10 million USD in sponsored funding to support his teaching and research efforts. Prior to joining the School of Architecture + Design at Virginia Tech, Mr. Becker taught housing and urbanism in Aalto University’s Masters Degree Programme in Espoo, Finland. He is an American Scandinavian Foundation Fellow(Finnish Fund), a fellow of the Bundanon Trust, Australia, and a Fulbright U.S. Scholar. Prof. Becker holds a Master of Architecture, with Distinction, from Harvard University, where he Chaired the Harvard Journal of Real Estate's inaugural publication “Navigating Investments with Ethical Risk.” He has post-grauate education from the Harvard Kennedy School of Public Policy, Harvard Business School, and Aalto University's Wood Program. He has previously lived and worked in Helsinki, Beijing, Copenhagen, and Los Angeles.