Tsao & McKown Architects

What Tsao & McKown Architects does

Tsao & McKown Architects is a full-service architecture and design firm founded in 1985 by Calvin Tsao and Zack McKown and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. The firm provides professional architecture, interior design, master planning, and exhibition design services across a deliberately broad range of typologies and scales — from urban master plans and large mixed-use developments to private residences, museums, hotels, and consumer products including furniture, wallcoverings, and tableware. Its client base spans high-net-worth individuals, real estate developers, cultural institutions (Cooper Hewitt, Jewish Museum, M+ Museum, Brooklyn Children's Museum), hospitality operators (Wheatleigh Hotel, Sangha by Octave), and corporate clients (Sunbrella), with active project presence in the United States, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and several other countries.

The firm operates as a traditional professional services practice, generating revenue through project-based professional fees typically billed as a percentage of construction cost or fixed fees for defined service scopes. It acquires work through reputation, awards recognition (AD100, AIANY Medal of Honor, Cooper Hewitt National Design Award), editorial coverage in design publications, institutional referrals, and repeat engagements with cultural and developer clients. The firm also generates ancillary revenue through product design collaborations with manufacturers such as Wolf Gordon, Donghia, Swid Powell, and Shu Uemura.

The practice is differentiated by a humanistic design philosophy — "a distinctive way of thinking rather than a trademark style" per the firm — that emphasizes engagement with local cultures and contexts across geographic markets. Core technology is conventional architectural practice (design, drafting, rendering, BIM) rather than proprietary software products. The firm has 11–50 employees, is privately held by its founding partners, and has no parent company, institutional investors, or funding rounds on record.

Name

Tsao & McKown Architects

Legal name

Tsao & McKown Architects

Website

https://tsao-mckown.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1985

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Tsao & McKown Architects is a Brooklyn-based architecture and design firm founded in 1985, serving high-net-worth residential clients, commercial developers, cultural institutions, and hospitality operators across the US and international markets including China, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Architectural Design Services

NAICS

Interior Design Services (54141)

akta.pro primary industry

Architectural Design Services (BPAHAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Interior Design Services (BPAHAKAB), Industrial/Product & Furniture Design (BPAHAKAM)

Keywords

• Architectural design services
• Interior design services
• Master planning services
• Exhibition design services
• Urban design consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Brooklyn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Architecture and Design Services: The firm generates revenue through professional fees for architecture, interior design, master planning, and exhibition design services. Projects span private residences, commercial complexes, museums, urban plans, and product/furniture design. Revenue is project-based, typically billed as a percentage of construction cost or fixed fees for specific service scopes.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Tsao & McKown Architects provides professional architecture, interior design, master planning, exhibition design, and product/furniture design services across private residential, commercial, cultural/institutional, and hospitality sectors. The firm delivers full-service design from urban-scale planning down to small consumer products, with projects primarily billed on a percentage-of-construction-cost or fixed-fee basis.

Product overview

Tsao & McKown Architects is a full-service architecture and design firm founded in 1985, offering services across multiple sectors including cultural/institutional, residential (single-family and multi-family), adaptive reuse, mixed-use/commercial, retail, hospitality/wellness, master planning, and exhibition design. The firm also provides product design services, creating furniture and industrial products. The portfolio includes major projects such as the Sangha wellness community development in Suzhou, China, and numerous residential, commercial, and cultural projects worldwide. The firm operates as a single unified practice rather than a platform-with-modules architecture.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Architecture & Design Services

Quantifiable outcome

• The Lumiere project in Taipei won the 2012 Best of Year Award in the Residential Public Space Model category
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Arnold AssociatesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLandscape architecture collaborators on the Washington Monument Visitor's Center competition proposal. Tsao & McKown worked with Arnold Associates to propose security solutions and visitor experience design for the monument.
• Design Trust for Public SpaceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNonprofit dedicated to improving public space in New York City. Zack McKown serves on the Board of Directors, connecting the firm to public space advocacy and urban design discourse.
• Scenic HudsonminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNonprofit instrumental in preserving and restoring the Hudson River, its Valley, and its communities. Zack McKown serves on the board.
• Bhutan FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerZack McKown serves on the Bhutan Foundation's Advisory Board, connecting the firm to Bhutan-related cultural and architectural initiatives.
• American Academy in RomecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCalvin Tsao serves as Board Chair of The American Academy in Rome, one of the world's leading institutions for artists, scholars, and professionals. This represents the firm's highest-profile institutional affiliation.
• The Architectural League of New YorkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCalvin Tsao is a board member and President Emeritus of The Architectural League of New York, the city's premier architecture organization.
• Singapore Government AuthoritiesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFor Suntec City, Tsao & McKown initiated dialogue between government authorities and the client that resulted in the largest development of public spaces by private developers in Singapore's history.
• Wolf GordonminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Passage Collection of wallcoverings was designed for Wolf Gordon, inspired by weathering and the passage of time.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves12 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• CetraRuddy: New York architecture firm specializing in luxury residential towers, cultural, and mixed-use projects. Directly comparable to Tsao & McKown in NYC luxury residential and cultural design market.
• Rockwell Group: David Rockwell's New York-based cross-disciplinary design firm operating across hospitality, cultural, and experiential design with global reach. Comparable to Tsao & McKown in hospitality/cultural sectors and similar multi-typology approach spanning large-scale venues and interior details.
• TenBerke (formerly Deborah Berke Partners): New York architecture and interiors firm with similar boutique scale, working across cultural, educational, residential, and hospitality commissions. TenBerke competes with Tsao & McKown in the NYC cultural and luxury-residential design space.
• Snøhetta: Globally active architecture and design firm with parallel cross-typology practice spanning cultural institutions, master planning, exhibition design, and interiors. Comparable to Tsao & McKown in cultural design and international project execution.
• Handel Architects: NYC architecture firm with comparable scale focused on luxury residential towers, mixed-use developments, and adaptive reuse. Directly comparable to Tsao & McKown's 7 West 57th Street and William Beaver House residential portfolio.
• Selldorf Architects: NYC architecture firm with comparable scale and prestige, working across cultural institutions (museums, galleries), residential, and adaptive reuse projects. Selldorf is a direct peer given shared cultural-institutional and residential portfolio overlap.
• Peter Marino Architect: New York-based architect renowned for ultra-luxury residential, retail, and hospitality interior architecture. Peter Marino Architect and Tsao & McKown compete for the same HNW residential and luxury hospitality commissions, with similarly small headcounts and elite brand positioning.
• Robert A.M. Stern Architects: New York-based architecture firm with a parallel boutique-prestige positioning, similarly serving luxury residential, cultural/institutional, and master-planning clients with award-winning work. RAMSA and Tsao & McKown share the same NYC luxury architecture segment and comparable firmographic scale.

Broad incumbents

• Gensler: Largest global architecture and design firm with broad portfolio spanning commercial, hospitality, cultural, and residential sectors. Adjacent incumbent that competes with Tsao & McKown in commercial development and corporate headquarters (e.g., Sunbrella-type) commissions.
• SOM (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill): Large established global architecture firm operating across commercial towers, master planning, cultural, and institutional sectors. Overlaps with Tsao & McKown's cultural, master-planning, and commercial development work, but at significantly larger scale and broader portfolio.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tsao & McKown Architects