Murphy Burnham & Buttrick Architects is Seeking Architects!

Murphy Burnham and Buttrick Architects (MBB) is seeking architects to join their diverse, design focused architecture firm in New York City. MBB is a woman-owned, award-winning, interdisciplinary team of 28 people— including architects, preservationists, sustainability specialists and interior designers. MBB offers full services, from the earliest planning and study phases, through concept development and design, to the construction management and completion of built projects.

MBB has a diverse body of work including institutional, cultural, residential, and educational projects across a range of scales and they are committed to creating architecture that elevates the human experience. The firm has won numerous local, state, and national awards on a wide range of new, historic, and iconic buildings. The studio is structured to provide the rigor and technical expertise of a large firm with the personal approach and collaborative environment of a small firm. MBB has both breadth and depth of expertise in master planning, interior design, preservation, sustainable design, and architectural design and emphasize a team structure that facilitates continued education and professional advancement.

MBB is a collaborative practice driven by a shared vision of inclusive and sustainable design, technical innovation and rigorous, research-driven decision-making. Although they employ the highest level, 21st century design and construction technologies, their approach to architecture and design remains steadfastly contextual and human-centered.

MBB works hard to nurture a collaborative studio environment where architects and designers can hone their skills, expand their knowledge, and make positive contributions to the built environment and the communities we serve.

Architect (5-8 years Experience)

MBB is looking for individuals with a degree in architecture, exceptional design skills and a minimum of five to eight years postgraduate experience including REVIT/BIM experience. They value team members with strong verbal and graphic communication skills, the enthusiasm and ideas to contribute to design dialogue and the determination to continue to interrogate and improve on design. The collaborative environment relies on designers who work well with a team.

Mid-level Preservationist Architect

Candidates should have strong knowledge of building materials and their deterioration patterns, conservation techniques, construction technology, experience with construction administration and be able to work in AutoCAD. Candidates should have three to ten years of work experience. Candidates should be capable of working on multiple projects within the office concurrently and coordinate work with respective project teams. We value team members with strong verbal and graphic communication skills with the enthusiasm and ideas to contribute to design dialogue and the determination to continue to interrogate and improve on design. Our collaborative environment relies on individuals who work well with a team.


Please email a letter of interest, your resume and a pdf of work samples (maximum of ten pages) to Maricela Salas at msalas@mbbarch.com. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis and indicate details relating to work authorization status on the cover letter.

Please include your name and position in the subject line of all emails and files submitted. Please no phone calls and/or office visits.

Salary is negotiable and we offer a full range of benefits that includes health and dental insurance, and a 401k Retirement plan.

Angelique Pierre
Design Excellence Feature: Kliment Halsband Architects Mount Sinai Ambulatory Surgical Facility in Uganda

This Design Excellence Feature highlights Kliment Halsband Architects (KHA), whose Mount Sinai Ambulatory Surgical Facility project in Kyabirwa, Uganda has received the AIA New York Design Award, the AIA Healthcare Design Award and Fast Company World Changing Ideas Honorable Mention.  This prototype for an independent, self-sustaining ambulatory surgical facility provides life-saving treatments in underserved parts of the world.

The design for the first of these facilities takes inspiration from the stands of banana plants found on the site in Kyabirwa, a rural village near the equator in Uganda. The solar panels collect sun and provide shade, much like the surrounding banana plants. The solar array shelters and powers the simple modular brick facility beneath. The building is composed of three functional elements: a reception pavilion and a courtyard waiting area for patients’ families, an intermediate pavilion for pre-op and post-op activities, and a sterile pavilion with two operating rooms and related support spaces. The facility provides access to surgical treatments not available to this community before, as well as training for nurses and surgeons on quality surgical care. The medical staff is also supported by telemedicine links to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, with real-time operating room video conferencing.

Clear design goals and a willingness to rethink the design process allowed KHA to create a building that is efficient, beautiful, and friendly.  The design successfully achieves the most efficient building structure to accommodate the essential equipment and program. “We narrowed it down to a very simplified equipment schedule,” says Frances Halsband, Founding Partner of KHA, “and then we started looking at what could we do in this place, which had no electricity, no water, no internet, nothing.”   - Architectural Record, Solar-Powered Facility Brings Surgical Services to Rural Uganda

“The building is designed with a focus on the simplicity of construction. Materials and systems are minimally invasive, based on available materials and labor. Simple modular building forms made it possible to use local labor to construct the building. All materials and technical system components are available locally and can be maintained in place. Regionally sourced bricks are composed in complex patterns of varying densities, forming screens that let in light and air to solid walls. The bricks and cladding tiles used in the facility were made from red clay dug directly out of the ground near the building site and fired in a local kiln. Brick was utilized in this project because of its availability, its historical presence in the area, and the potential to support the local economy through its use.” – Arch Daily, Mount Sinai Kyabirwa Surgical Facility / Kliment Halsband Architects

When asked if having a project halfway around the world changed the way she practices architecture, Halsband says, “It’s made us feel more free to question the premises of a design project, especially for project types we have a lot of experience with. Re-vision it! For this project we had a small design team. They wanted to be involved in something that was not only humanly scaled but socially useful, serving the community. In our firm, the project has generated interest in working on similar projects. And having the NYU graduate public health students involved here has been eye-opening, because they asked questions about the design that we might never ask ourselves. That has reminded us of the value of cross-disciplinary collaboration.” – Common Edge, An Architect Who Never Designed a Hospital Gives a Doctor Just What He Ordered

Learn more about the Mount Sinai Ambulatory Surgical Facility project at https://kliment-halsband.com/work/mount-sinai-kyabirwa-village-surgical-facility-healthcare/.  

Publications, architecture, womeninarchitectureAngelique Pierredesignexcellence, kha, klimenthalsband, womeninarchitecture, womenindesign
Design Excellence Feature - Cycle Architecture + Planning St. Marks Passive House

This Design Excellence Feature highlights Cycle Architecture + Planning, whose St. Marks project has recently been recognized by NYSERDA as a Building of Excellence. Cycle Architecture + Planning, led by Tony Daniels and Caitlin Martusewicz, works with its clients and collaborating partners to create urban design and architecture for living cities and buildings. CA+P is a collaborating studio that brings people of diverse backgrounds and aspirations together. An analytically focused practice with deep roots in the expanding issue of sustainability, CA+P designs, plans, manages, and executes projects for clients large, small, and in-between with a calibrated understanding of the competing interests that characterize work in the public arena.

The St. Marks Passive House project is a proposed new 10-unit apartment building in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. It was awarded for energy efficient, low–to–zero carbon design under the Buildings of Excellence competition, administered by The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Buildings of Excellence is the only competition of its kind in the nation and is leading the way to achieve carbon neutral building performance in New York State. The award winners represent significant advancement in construction practices and point the way towards a zero-carbon future for buildings that can be replicated at scale. The project is being developed by Masmark LLC, a real estate developer with a record of completing award-winning energy-efficient buildings in Italy. The project is Masmark’s first development venture in the U.S. and has been pre-certified as a Passive House by the Passive House Institute. Passive House is a building standard for energy use, demand and construction detailing that is substantially more stringent than building codes. Buildings constructed to the Passive House standard are known to improve the interior comfort of buildings while significantly reducing a building’s energy demand.

Caitlin of CA+P says of the St. Marks Passive House, “It has been a really great learning experience working with a team of committed individuals who believe in, and practice quality energy efficient design as ‘business as usual.’ It’s a great honor to be recognized as such, and I am looking forward to further developments in innovation and knowledge-sharing that the Buildings of Excellence Award will make possible.”

To learn more about the St. Marks Passive House watch this incredible video of Caitlin and Tony sharing thoughtful details of the process of designing and building it. Also, check out this detailed press release!

Angelique Pierre