Zak Al-Haffar

Co-President of the Stern Real Estate Club & MBA Candidate at NYU Stern

Brooklyn, New York, United States

About

I'm an MBA candidate at NYU Stern specializing in Finance and Real Estate, and Co-President of the Stern Real Estate Club. I bring seven years of experience as an architectural designer at Olson Kundig and Steven Holl Architects on large-scale residential, hospitality, and institutional projects across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, totaling more than $600M in project value. I partnered with clients, developers, and multidisciplinary consultant teams to align design, budget, and delivery from luxury residential and branded hospitality to cultural and institutional buildings. I'm now at Stern to pair that design and delivery background with the financial and strategic skills to move to the principal side of real estate.

Experience

  • Olson Kundig (Seattle, Washington, United States)
    • Architectural Designer II
      Jan 2024 - Jul 2025 · 1 yr 7 mos

    • Architectural Designer I
      Oct 2021 - Jan 2024 · 2 yrs 4 mos

  • Steven Holl Architects (New York, New York)
    • Junior Architect
      Nov 2019 - Oct 2021 · 2 yrs

    • Intern
      Aug 2019 - Nov 2019 · 4 mos

  • University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)
    • Laser Cutter Operator
      Sep 2015 - May 2018 · 2 yrs 9 mos

      As a laser cutter operator I maintained the machines; aligned and gauged the power and speed of the laser to complete the work to the quality of the student I was working for. Additionally I provided solutions and repaired files so that the work could be completed successfully and a timely manner.

    • Teaching Assistant
      Sep 2016 - Dec 2016 · 4 mos

  • Research And Development Intern in Materials Design at CEMEX
    Jun 2017 - Aug 2017 · 3 mos

    Worked for Cemex CRG, a research subsidiary of Cemex, a global leader in cement and ready-mix concrete production. I led a team of designers, carpenters and scientists in creating innovative design solutions for recharging aquifers in California using porous concrete, one of Cemex's new products. I identified several drought related problems in high need areas and created design solutions. I led another team in casting concrete with complex curvature using a fabric form technique I adapted, thus creating a faster and less expensive solution for complex architectural forms that can be constructed either on-site or pre-fab. I connected Cemex to leading architecture, landscape architecture, and engineering firms in order to introduce their new products. This led to collaborations with AKT2 in the UK, Field Operations, and SO-IL in New York as well as a 700-level Robotics in Architecture studio at PennDesign.

  • Architectural Designer at The Lemon Tree Hotel Company
    Jan 2014 - Jan 2015 · 1 yr 1 mo

    Worked with the in-house architecture firm, Valerian, for India's largest mid-price hotel chain. I was co-designer on several projects including a luxury resort and an airport hotel. I designed public and service areas for the first fully disabilities accessible budget hotel in India by applying best practices for disability accessibility to my lobby, restaurant, bar, pool areas, kitchen, concierge and office space designs.