1997 Master of Architecture
Stephen Zawmoe Shwe

Stephen Zawmoe Shwe
Columbia University
Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

was born and raised in the city of Yangon, Myanmar. After attending one year at Rangoon Institute of Technology, he went to the United States in 1988 and received his BA in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley and an MArch degree from Columbia University where he won prominent design awards including the SOM Foundation Master of Architecture fellowship and the American Institute of Architects Allwork Scholarship award. He worked for seven years as an Associate at Teeny Group in New York, where he oversaw the design and construction of numerous residential and commercial projects. Zawmoe Shwe started the office SPINE Architects in Myanmar in 2003. He now has twenty-seven years of experience in architecture, interior design, and project management and has completed well over 200 projects through construction. He has been contributing to the architecture profession by giving out seminars to young architects and teaching architecture students. A few cyclone shelters and schools he designed were built throughout the delta area after Cyclone Nargis and he has been donating his time and knowledge for designing new contemporary Buddhist monasteries, meditation centers, and churches.