What we do: 

​Our office combines the assets of a fully licensed architecture firm with pioneering expertise in emerging technologies and interdisciplinary collaborations. This two-decade expertise arms the practice with the ability to produce a much wider range of design ideas for clients than are afforded by typical architecture and design practices.  In short, we will show you not only what you may have imagined for your project, but first-in-kind innovative and beautiful ideas that will make your project unique in the world. 

 

Who we work with: 

​We have worked with clients ranging from developers and luxury brands, to technology innovators, cultural institutions, and celebrities. Our client list includes recognizable names such as Intel Corporation, Google, Samsung, Vice Media, W Hotels, The Coachella Music Festival, H&M, Diesel, Bard College, Nicola Formichetti, The New York Times, JDS/Property Markets Group, and Lady Gaga. We do a limited number of residential projects for private clients annually and are currently or have recently worked on projects in the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, China, Mexico, Japan, France, and Singapore.

 

Why clients seek us out: 

​Each project is an investigation into how the expectations for a project can be exceeded- functionally and aesthetically. While we value efficiency, sustainability, and respect budgetary constraints on all our projects, we also hold beauty, originality, and projects that are unique-in-the-world in very high regard, and seek clients who similarly value such ambitions.

 

What's our story? 

​Mark Foster Gage Architects only accepts projects that seek to be truly innovative and groundbreaking in their design ambitions. As our work is extremely detailed and work-intensive we are selective regarding the clients we can collaborate with, and are only able to accept a limited number of projects on an annual basis. To be innovative in the 21st century demands that we often not only design the projects at-hand, but also frequently need to develop the software, design techniques, and fabrication methods that allow such projects to produced.  As such our work, by definition, is neither immediate, through the continuous rehearsal of particular project types, nor is it “lowest bid” architecture.  

 

A note on how we work: 

​Mark Foster Gage brings unique architectural experience to the table- as a protégée of Robert A.M. Stern and former studio assistant to Frank Gehry, the firm’s project design and delivery methods are based on those of the world’s most successful and diverse practices.  With twenty years of experience in New York City our office has contacts and collaborators who are the best in their respective fields, allowing us to form customized teams on a project by project basis. We do not believe in one-size-fits-all architectural strategies, styles, or ways of working-- and instead customize each project effort to best address the opportunities and problems as they are presented. As Mark Foster Gage is closely affiliated with Yale University, we often collaborate with experts in a wide range of disciplines in academia to help inform our work in historical, philosophical and strategic registers.  We are also rather fun to work with. Really. It's quite true. 

  

Hey, it looks like many of your buildings aren't yet built?  

​It's true. Much of our work since 2001 as been extremely experimental in nature-- imagining what the new technologies of the 21st century could bring to architecture in a variety of different scales and scenarios. Experimental architecture tends to lend itself to smaller projects such as private residences, retail environments, art installations and interiors-- all of which we have done.  As we move into our third decade of practice we are now focusing primarily on projects that have a good chance of being physically realized- particularly building projects. While Mark Foster Gage will continue to explore technologies, write, lecture and speculate—the firms’ goal in the upcoming decade is on actual physical production-- from products to buildings and all scales in between.  In order to accomplish this goal we work with and have developed relationships with collaborators who have the expertise to ensure our design ideas are built to the highest standards in their various localities.  Recent collaborators include the 20,000 employee architecture and engineering firm Stantec, Arup Engineering, Transolar, Balmori Associates, Via Domani, Focus, Front, and many others. While we have not built much in the past we have a team assembled that is capable of delivering any project in any country, and for nearly any reasonable budget.  We look forward to speaking with you about your project. 

 

About Mark Foster Gage: 

Mark Foster Gage is the principal of Mark Foster Gage Architects in New York City as well as a writer, design contributor to CNN, and an associate professor at the Yale School of Architecture where his academic focus is on the relationship between aesthetics and design. At Yale he has offered related courses continuously since 2001, in addition to holding multiple administrative and service positions, notably as an Assistant Dean from 2009-2019.  

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For nearly two decades Mark Foster Gage has designed projects for clients including Lady Gaga, the Biden/Harris Presidential Campaign, Intel Corporation, Google, Samsung, W Hotels, MAC Cosmetics, Diesel, H&M, The Coachella Music Festival, and Vice Media. Gage’s design work has been exhibited in venues such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York City (MoMA), the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Royal Gallery of Art in London, the National Gallery of Art in Osaka, Japan, the Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art, the Frac Center in Orleans France, The Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico City, and the Venice, Beijing, and Prague Biennales. 

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Mark Foster Gage’s design work has been featured in most major architectural publications as well as the popular press including locations such as Vogue, Newsweek, Fast Company, Wired, USA Today, The New York Times, The Beijing Times, The Spectator (London), New York Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, and Surface Magazine.  Television coverage of his work has been produced for PBS, Fox, and MTV. Gage has lectured widely on his design work as well as his design contributions to the field of architecture at numerous universities, think-tanks, museums and other international institutions including both TED, and INK conferences. 

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A comprehensive monograph on Mark Foster Gage’s work and writings titled Mark Foster Gage: Projects and Provocations was published by Rizzoli Press in 2018, and includes a forward by Robert A.M. Stern and an afterword by Peter Eisenman.  Gage is the author of multiple books including Designing Social Equality: Architecture Aesthetics and the Perception of Democracy (Routledge, 2018) and as editor has published: Aesthetics Equals Politics: New Discourses Across Art, Architecture and Philosophy (MIT Press, 2019), Aesthetic Theory: Essential Texts for Architecture and Design (W.W. Norton & Sons, 2012), and Composites, Surfaces and Software: High Performance Architecture, co-edited with Greg Lynn (Yale/Norton, 2011).  Mr. Gage is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Notre Dame. He was recently a nominee for the Architecture Prize awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Letters