Cohen is the Gerald M. McCue Professor in Architecture and Chair of the Department of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design where he is the coordinator of the first year design studios and teaches the foundation course in projective and topological geometry, advanced studios, and design thesis.  Recent course offerings include the core studios: Introduction to Design and Visual Studies in Architecture and Design of Housing, the workshop Projective Representation in Architecture, and seminar Reading Buildings. He also taught the studio options: Nanjing, Offset Ceilings, Indefinitely Extendable Museum, Ueno Park, Tokyo, 2CC and Holdout Architecture.

Taiyuan Art Museum

The architecture of Preston Scott Cohen is recognized for its innovative geometry and for its new approach to integrating buildings with their environments. The work of his firm, Preston Scott Cohen, Inc. in Cambridge, MA, encompasses projects that range in scale from houses to educational and cultural institutions.  Recent commissions include a Student Center for Nanjing University in Xianlin, China (2007-09), a public arcade in Battery Park City in New York (2005-09), and the Fahmy residence in Los Gatos, CA (2007-09).

Taiyuan Art Museum, Interior

Cohen has received first prizes in the international competitions for several important public buildings, including the Taiyuan Art Museum, Taiyuan, China (2007-2010); the Robbins Elementary School, Trenton, NJ (2006-10); and the Amir Building, Tel Aviv Museum of Art (2003-2009). He is also known for the Goodman House in Dutchess County, NY (2004); the Torus House in Columbia County, NY (2000); and his competition proposal for the Eyebeam Museum of Technology, New York (2001).

Amir Building, Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Cohen is the author of Contested Symmetries and Other Predicaments in Architecture (Princeton Architectural Press, 2001). He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Academy Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, three Progressive Architecture Awards, and The Visionary Award from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. His work has been widely published and is in numerous collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and the Fogg Museum of Art at Harvard University.  Exhibitions that have featured his work include “Skin and Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture,” Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (2007); The National Design Triennial, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum (2007); the Venice International Architecture Biennale (2004, 1996, 1985); “Intricacy,” the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania (2003); “A New World Trade Center,” Max Protetch Gallery (2002); and “The Un-Private House,” the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1999).  He is represented by the Thomas Erben Gallery, New York.

Amir Building, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, "Lightfall"

In 2004 he was the Frank Gehry International Chair at the University of Toronto and in 2002 was the Perloff Professor at University of California—Los Angeles. He has also held faculty positions at Princeton University, Rhode Island School of Design, and Ohio State University.