Fogarty Finger, New York: Sophisticated, Professional, Refined.

    At Fogarty Finger, the inventive and resourceful team provides sophisticated, contemporary designs that uphold high aesthetic standards. The firm has rapidly become a major New York City design practice, and has considerable experience delivering complete architecture and interior design packages for both residential and commercial projects of every type and size. 

    By sitting in the middle of the 80+ strong team, Founding Partners Chris Fogarty and Robert Finger act as conduits and set the grown-up tone. “I often feel I’m on an aircraft carrier and I’ve got those paddles just guiding people in and helping them get to where they need to go,” explains Fogarty. The firm occupies a whole second floor of a building in Tribeca with its own entrance, which provides both a great location and great light. “We find that uniqueness of coming off the street and into our own lobby is a special feeling,” says Fogarty, whose intellectual rigour underpins every project.

    The monochromatic, white-walled interior is organised around huge Corinthian columns with capitals that march down the middle of the space. At its heart, the studio has a materials library and a glass-fronted conference room. 

    The friendly office brims with a sense of camaraderie, with plenty of opportunities to blow off the cobwebs together as a team at local bars. Every other year the firm heads off to the beach for a day of fun and frolics with beers, margaritas and volleyball, followed by a big catered event at Fogarty’s house. 

    They also do a scavenger hunt in the summer, where the firm’s projects are randomly selected and people go off in groups around New York. It’s a clever way of getting everybody out there and clients embrace it too by putting on food. 

    A deliberate policy of ‘work to live’ allows the studio to remain nimble and efficient while delivering fresh and elegant solutions to the most complex projects.