Marc Kushner

Marc Kushner (born September 27, 1977) is an American architect, entrepreneur and author. He is a partner at the New York City based architecture firm HWKN (Hollwich Kushner) and co-founding CEO of Architizer, the largest platform for architecture online.

Early life and education

The son of Lee Kushner and real estate developer Murray Kushner, Marc Kushner was raised Modern Orthodox Jewish in Livingston, New Jersey. Kushner graduated from The Frisch School before attending the University of Pennsylvania where he received a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Political Science and Contemporary Vernacular Architecture as Cultural Artifact. Kushner then attended Harvard Graduate School of Design and received a Master of Architecture.

Business career

Architecture

After working for multiple architecture firms including Steven Holl, Jürgen Mayer H. and Lewis Tsurumaki Lewis, Kushner formed the architecture firm HWKN (Hollwich Kushner) in 2007 with Matthias Hollwich whom he had met in Jürgen Mayer’s Berlin kitchen five years prior. In 2012 Marc Kushner and Matthias Hollwich won MoMA PS1's Young Architects Program with their project WENDY. Following the success of Wendy, Kushner and Hollwich received multiple commissions including the Fire Island Pines Pavilion (2013), New Jersey’s largest residential tower Journal Squared (due 2016), Yotel Williamsburg (due 2016) and the University of Pennsylvania’s Innovation Center titled The Pennovation Center (due 2016). Marc is regularly invited to speak on the state of architecture at events such as TED and PSFK.

Architizer

During the 2008 Global Financial Crisis Marc Kushner and his business partner Matthias Hollwich created a digital platform to help architects promote their firms work. Architizer rapidly grew to become the largest platform for architecture online. To increase visibility of global architecture Kushner incepted the A+ Awards in 2013. They have grown to become the largest global architecture awards program.

The Future of Architecture in 100 Buildings

In 2014 Kushner was invited to speak at the 30th anniversary of TED in Vancouver. There he reviewed the last 30 years of architectural history and expounded on how social media was changing the direction of the way buildings are designed. The TED talk was followed in 2015 with Marc Kushner’s first book, published by Simon & Schuster and TED Books - ‘The Future of Architecture in 100 Buildings’. It presents a selection of buildings which communicate the thought provoking design solutions from today's leading architects empowered by social media.

Personal life

Kushner married Christopher Barley, also an architect, in a Jewish ceremony on March 31, 2012.

Kushner’s brother Jonathan Kushner is a real estate developer and is President of their family’s real estate organization, Kushner Real Estate Group. Marc is a first cousin of real estate developer and New York Observer Publisher Jared Kushner, and Josh Kushner, Managing Partner of Thrive Capital, a New York based private equity firm.

Kushner also serves on the Board of Plus Pool, an initiative to create a floating swimming pool in New York City that utilizes water filtered from the East River it floats in.

Awards

• 2012 MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program
• 2015 OHNY Honoree

References

• Marc Kushner at TED
  • "Why the buildings of the future will be shaped by ... you" (TED2014)