After inviting us for a tour of her elegant Park Avenue loft in Manhattan, Gisue has joined as a judge in our first-ever Best of Design Awards. She brings with her over 30 years of experience as the cofounder and principle design director of the New York–based practice Hariri & Hariri Architecture, which has tackled projects beyond the built environment to include furniture, product design, and even jewelry.

Gisue Hariri is one of our judges for the Best of Design 2018 Awards. Be sure to cast your vote—community voting is open from November 1-26.

Championing the view of design as a “holistic, boundary-less enterprise,” Gisue and her sister, Mojgan, draw inspiration from their upbringing in Iran’s desert landscape, which taught them to “strip everything down to the essential” and adopt environmentally sustainable practices.

Elements of Iran’s rich cultural heritage have also been hugely influential, from architecture, arts, and crafts to seminal Persian figures like polymath Omar Khayyam. Of particular interest to the sisters are geological formations and crystals, which have inspired many of their multifaceted, angular, and asymmetrical designs.

In addition to creating a prolific and diverse body of work, Gisue has devoted decades to teaching and mentoring. She has served as an adjunct professor at Columbia University as well as a visiting critic at Cornell University, McGill University and Parsons School of Design. She is also an outspoken advocate for women in the male-dominated field of architecture.

Honored with numerous awards, including the 2015 American Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design and inclusion in Surface Magazine’s 2014 DESIGN POWER-100 list, Gisue and Mojgan Hariri have developed a robust design reputation, proof of which can be seen in the projects below.

Alvand Tower

Cape Cod Beach House

Jewels of Salzburg

Architecture is not a service or an answer to a problem. Great architecture is about setting up a great problem. It is about the history and identity of a place. I don’t believe in one style and one size fits all.
—Gisue Hariri

Museum in the Sky

Taghkanic Villa

Related Reading: Tour Gisue's elegant Park Avenue loft in Manhattan.

Learn more about Hariri & Hariri Architecture.