Stephen Mueller is a registered architect and founding partner of AGENCY, an award-winning collaborative design and research practice in New York City. 

Stephen and his partner, Ersela Kripa, are the recipients of the 2010-2011 Rome Prize in Architecture from the American Academy in Rome, a prestigious fellowship supporting advanced research and creative work through a one-year residency in the city of Rome.   The partners are recipients of a highly selective MacDowell Colony residency fellowship in 2009, where they completed research and design for their upcoming book, entitled Elements of a Tactical Urbanism, concerning successful design and development tactics in informal environments.

AGENCY’s work has been exhibited internationally, most recently through invited participation at the 12th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, Sofia Architecture Week, Eme3 International Architectural Market in Barcelona, and SUPERFRONT Gallery in Los Angeles.  AGENCY’s speculative proposal for a new coastal urban infrastructure has been selected as winner of the ONE PRIZE, an international design competition for creating productive green space in cities hosted by Terreform 1.

Stephen has taught digital design technologies and served as an invited guest critic in graduate and undergraduate university programs across the United States and abroad. In 2008, he co-taught a graduate design studio at Columbia University with a focus on merging innovative digital design techniques with sustainable building technologies and socio-political objectives.  He has been an invited guest critic at several leading universities, including Columbia University in the City of New York, Washington University in St. Louis, Rice University, Pratt Institute, NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program, City College of New York, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the University of Kansas, among others.  

Prior to founding AGENCY, Stephen held leadership positions in internationally renowned offices, designing and managing projects through all stages of design and construction, investigating and implementing innovative design technologies in the generation, exploration, and representation of several award-winning projects.  In 2009, with Dean / Wolf Architects in New York, Stephen was awarded ARCHITECT Magazine’s R+D Award for innovation in material, research, and fabrication, for his role as Project Architect in the design of Dynamic Descent, a mass-customized stair and screen assembly.

Stephen holds a Bachelor of Architecture with Distinction from the University of Kansas, and a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University, where he was the recipient of the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Memorial Prize for best design solution in final semester studio, and a Kinne Travel Fellowship for sponsored research in architecture and urbanism.