News
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Book Release: Tina: The Dog Who Changed The World
DF&A is proud to appear in Niall Harbison’s new book, “Tina: The Dog Who Changed the World.” The New York Times bestseller tells the story of the golden retriever that Niall rescued in Ko Samui, Thailand, and how her life and spirit inspired him to build a dog hospital in her memory. That’s when, moved by their story, we offered our architectural services to the cause. You can read all about it in the book, available here (and note that all proceeds go toward dog rescue and care).
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Jake Wilson Joins DF&A
We’re pleased to announce that Jake Wilson has joined our team as a Project Architect. Jake is a native of Melbourne, Australia, and earned both his bachelor’s and his master’s degrees in architecture at Monash University. Jake has extensive experience in single-family residential, and particularly relishes building relationships with clients in order to bring their personalities into the design of their homes. But he has widened his scope to multi-family residential and hospitality, and is excited by the challenge of working on DF&A’s wide range of projects and clientele.
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Danny Speaks at NYC Kickoff Event for World Architecture Festival
The World Architecture Festival held a kickoff event Lixil Water Experience Center in New York City, and Danny Forster was there, along with Kai-Ewe Bergmann of Bjarke Ingels Group, to discuss “Bridging Borders with Design: Unity Through Architecture” in a panel moderated by Jean-Jacques L'Henaff, Leader, LIXIL Global Design, Americas.
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Jason Buchheit Named Senior Research Fellow
We are pleased to announce that DF&A's Director of Architecture, Jason Buchheit, has been appointed a 2024–25 Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Offsite Construction. He will focus on integrating modular construction with resilient building practices and product platform development. Jason has long been on the forefront of prefabrication design and innovation, and leads the R&D in our multi-year partnership with MiTek.
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Central Park South Completed
This total renovation turned a duplex fronting Central Park into more than just the sum of its square footage and its view. Our architectural interventions include a museum-worthy spiral staircase that marries the geometry of the Renaissance with the hypermodern material of milled-aluminum. The dramatic stair hints at the hidden identity of this apartment, which conceals storage and entertaining infrastructure worthy of an event space within a warm and inviting family home. Take a look at the apartment here.
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DF&A Wins 3 American Architecture Awards
Three projects by DF&A have been recognized by the 2024 American Architecture Awards: Shinnecock Resort Development, in the category of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture; Rithm Capital Headquarters, in the category of Restoration/Renovation; and, with an honorable mention in the Hotels/Hospitality category, our Modular Prototype hotel room. We are grateful to The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design, The European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and Metropolitan Arts Press for this recognition, and to our clients for the opportunity to do work we are proud of.
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Our Vision for Tina’s Hospital for Dogs Revealed
DF&A has completed the design for a project close to our hearts: Tina’s Hospital for Dogs, on the island of Ko Samui in Thailand. This project is inspired by the life and death of a golden retriever named Tina, the story of the man who rescued her from the streets, Niall Harbison, and by Happy Doggo, the organization he founded to save street dogs in Thailand and beyond. The design we contributed to the cause includes rooms for patient diagnosis, treatment, and recovery, as well as a path of learning and reflection for visitors. All using affordable, easily available materials that make the most of supporter donations.
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DF&A Recognized for Community-Based Design
Interior Design spotlighted DF&A's work for Rithm Capital in its recent spread on offices that prioritize community and collaboration through design. How do you make an office people want to be together? Rithm Capital asked DF&A to help answer that question, and you can see the result in this beautiful feature. Photo courtesy of Ty Cole.
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Architizer X3
DF&A was recognized with three honors from Architizer A+ Awards this year: as a Jury Winner in Unbuilt Landscape for the Shinnecock Resort Development, a Finalist in Unbuilt Masterplan for the Shinnecock Resort Development, and a Special Mention in Architecture + Prefab and Modular for our Modular Hospitality Prototype. Both of the projects that were honored are close to our hearts and never far from our minds, and we’re thrilled that they have received this recognition from our peers.
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Tina's Hospital for Dogs Who aren't doing so good
We are proud to say that DF&A has offered its services to the amazing Niall Harbison of Happy Doggo to design a dog hospital in Koh Samui, Thailand. The hospital—named in honor of a beloved Golden retriever—is part of Niall’s world-renowned work feeding, sterilizing, and rescuing street dogs in Thailand and beyond. “The dogs are suffering right now, so we can’t do it fast enough,” he says of his charity’s mission. We take that to heart.
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New Office!
We’ve moved! Danny Forster & Architecture has found a new home, at 520 W. 27th Street. It’s modern, light-filled, and terrace-endowed. And it’s just steps from the High Line, with a view of the Zaha Hadid building (including the rooftop living area we designed). Do we have a few changes we’d like to make? Of course we do. But we’re thrilled in the meantime to have a beautiful new space to inspire us.
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Completion Construction of CPT 33A
DF&A has completed construction on an apartment in Midtown’s Central Park Tower, for Jorge and Raquel Pica. Originally from Puerto Rico, the couple plan to make this 3br/3b apartment their family’s forever home. In a collaboration with the contractor Total Home Construction, DF&A totally reimagined the architecture and interior design of this luxury apartment, with views from the living room of the spot in Central Park where the couple got engaged.
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66 East 11th Street Breaks Ground
Work has begun on DF&A’s renovation of a gorgeous penthouse triplex in Greenwich Village. We’ll be doing a complete interior renovation—including a stunning new staircase, custom millwork, and refinished baths and floors—and reimagining the expansive rooftop oasis.
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Nishant Joins DF&A
DF&A is pleased to announce a new addition to our team: project architect Nishant Jacob. After early career experience in Japan and China, Nishant earned his master’s of architecture at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. In New York City he has worked on ground-up multifamily residential projects as well as high-profile restaurant and retail locations. Nishan has also taught at Sarah Lawrence and the GSAPP, and served as a visiting critic at NJIT and Parsons. "I am very excited to be part of DFA and to learn from an expert team in modular architecture,” says Nishant. He added that, given Danny Forster’s perspective and experience, he looks forward to “exploring the relationship between architecture and media.”
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Completion of 520 West 28th Street
Thanks to DF&A, the penthouse triplex at the Zaha Hadid building at the Highline now has a stunning new rooftop terrace commensurate with the exquisite design of the building itself. DF&A collaborated with Riverside Builders and the landscape architecture firm DWG to create this luxury outdoor space, which includes a plunge pool, hot tub, sauna, and thermoformed curvilinear custom furniture.
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Rithm Capital Gets New Headquarters
To design its NYC headquarters, Rithm Capital hired DF&A to turn a 25,000 sf across two floors into a coherent, inviting office space. DF&A used a custom, eye-catching, central stair as a spatial connector and a focal point for the office–as well as an inspiration for the art program and gathering spaces throughout.
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Danny Speaks at World Economic Forum
On October 10, 2023, Danny was a guest speaker at the World Economic Forum’s roundtable on “Harnessing Innovation and Disruption for Construction and Infrastructure,” along with Jean-Marc Arbaud, CEO of CDPQ Infra, and Menno de Jonge, Director of Digital Delivery for NEOM. Danny spoke to a gathering of industry leaders on the topic of building better through modular construction.
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Construction Begins at 220 CPS
Construction has begun on DF&A’s ambitious reimagination of a 10,000 sf apartment at 220 Central Park South, one of the signature residential towers on New York City’s Billionaire’s Row. For this project, DF&A is collaborating with the luxury interior design firm Champalimaud Design.
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Sonya Feinstein Joins DF&A
DF&A is pleased to announce a new addition to our team: project architect Sonya Feinstein. Sonya is a native New Yorker, who received her master’s of architecture from Pratt Institute. Past projects include modular residential work and a 60,000 research facility for Mt. Sinai. Sonya is a determined generalist—she loves the variety of challenges inherent in the discipline—so at DF&A she’ll be working on a range of projects, from high-end residential to high-rise modular hotels, as well as leading the firm’s exploration of AI technology. “As a practitioner,” she says, “I’m more excited to welcome new ideas than stick with the old ways.”
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Mayor's Office Invites Danny to Discuss Modular Construction
Aldolfo Carrión, Jr. New York City’s Commissioner of Housing, and James Oddo, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Buildings invited Danny to the Mayor’s office in May to discuss offsite construction and how modular can help with workforce housing.
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Construction Completes at 220 CPS
At The Alden, a former apartment hotel on the Upper West Side built in the 1920s, DF&A was tasked with combining three apartments into one, as well as creating distinct areas within the larger space without sacrificing the home’s astounding views of the canopy of Central Park. DF&A managed the feat by creating a double-height screen of laser-cut powder-coated steel columns, which connects floors but doesn’t obstruct the view.
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Danny on ARTrepreneur Podcast
Danny sat down with Grace Cho of the ARTrepreneur’s Creative Careers podcast to talk about his professional journey, which began with Mrs. Devito, a wonderful high school art history teacher, detoured through real estate, stand-up comedy, and a long-running television series on the Discovery Channel. They talk about what he’s proud of and what’s next.
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Epic Crane Lift at Zaha Tower
Construction of a complicated rooftop terrace for a triplex at 520 W. 28th Street—better known as the Zaha Hadid building—required the temporary closure of 28th Street as well as some deft and impressive crane work, due to the complexity of the job and the proximity of the Highline.
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DF&A Revisits First Project, with Omena Phase 2
Fifteen years after DF&A was hired to design a lake house in Omena, Michigan, the owners asked the firm to build an extension. DF&A decided to revisit the ideas that made the first house succeed as both a sustainable building and an inviting second home: a simple plan of two boxes connected by a breezeway, capitalizing on lake breezes for passive cooling.
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Shinnecock Nation Selects DF&A Design for Long Island Resort
The Shinnecock Indian Nation, an indigenous tribe with territory in and around Southampton, New York, has hired DF&A to design a resort and conference center on 20 acres of sovereign land on Long Island’s Peconic Bay. The Resort at Westwoods, designed with tribal input, is a 13-building complex that complements the land’s natural beauty while leaving as much as possible in a natural state.