Voorsanger Architects PC specializes in the design of cultural and urban space, transportation design and unique, custom residential architecture. The firm is located in New York City with a staff of twenty-two. Founded in 1978 as Voorsanger and Mills Architects, the firm was subsequently reorganized in 1990, and is today Voorsanger Architects PC. Since its inception, the Voorsanger firm has gained wide recognition for its built work with an emphasis on museum and public institutional projects. Voorsanger Architects has an international reputation for creating unique architecture in urban settings and the integration of design with a variety of landscape environments.

Voorsanger Architects’ Philosophy

We work, imagine, and design in the densest part of Manhattan, and intensely visual metropolitan landscape. Our project sites range from complex urban environments to the idyllic world of natural landscapes. Sometimes our conversation and interaction with urban space comprises a mere fragment of a project; for others it takes center stage and we have the freedom to create a total integration. Embracing the architecture and theater of urban space has become a continuum for most of our work; and the inclusion of capturing “nature” has become an important component of sustainable environment within our projects.

At times, nature is expressed metaphorically, as in the design for the Landscape of War for the National World War II Museum. At other times nature is expressed as spectacle, as in The Asia Society and Museum; our project for the Garden Court of the Pierpont Morgan Library; or the participatory experience of wilderness at the Wildcat Ridge Residence in Aspen, CO. A perennially challenging and stimulating aspect of our design process is conceptualizing the sequence of a visitor’s experience in a building, landscape, or exhibition; and the owner’s ultimate engagement in unique residential space.

The potential impact and influence of architecture—as a discipline, a practice, and a source of ongoing information and inspiration to those who view it and those who occupy it—goes far beyond that of the visual. Our projects represent a variety of strategies. They have in common the ambition for strong informed architecture, the context of the urban fabric, the power to influence and enhance a community by providing space of a particular quality, and a relevance which is sustaining to its inhabitants and their culture.

Staff and Awards

As a design firm, Voorsanger Architects PC has attracted a diverse group of architects and designers, all of whom serve to provide a creative/dynamic working environment in architecture, interior design, urban design, master planning and transportation design. To date, Voorsanger Architects PC has received over 30 distinguished city, state, national and professional association design awards. Institutional & Commercial awards include the Canon Prize from the National Academy of Design (Asia Society and Museum), American Institute of Architects (National) Awards (Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College & Elie Tahari Fashion Design Office and Warehouse) and The City of New York Access NY Award (Pierpont Morgan Library). Residential awards include American Institute of Architects (National) Award (Wildcat Ridge Residence) as well as AIA New York State & NY Chapter Design Awards (Wildcat Ridge Residence & Blue Ridge Residence).