Introducing Curbed Young Guns' Esteemed Panel of Jurors

Welcome back to Curbed Young Guns, our annual roll call of the next guard of architects, designers, decorators, and builders. The public call for nominations closed October 31, and now it's time to introduce the esteemed group of industry folks from around the country who, along with local and national Curbed editors, will choose this year's class of Young Guns. The committee of design leaders is responsible for everything from innovative museum/hotels to chairs made of açaí fruit to housing in Burundi, Africa. The group includes many New York-based professionals, including architect Deborah Berke, who was tapped for the interiors of 432 Park Avenue; New York magazine's long-time design editor Wendy Goodman; and, neon-loving Karim Rashid. They're creators of office headquarters, health centers, and glossy modernist residences.

Over the coming weeks, this group will help identify the most promising up-and-comers in the worlds of interior design, architecture, and urban development, whether they're a junior architect or draftperson, interior design assistant or fearless head of a newly launched firm. Without further ado, the 2014 Curbed Young Guns Official Selection Committee:

↑ Cairo-born designer Karim Rashid, has made it his life's work to turn the world pink and purple and neon green (but mostly pink), one glowing hotel, psychedelic food court, or controversial condo tower at a time. He's designed luxury goods for Christofle, Veuve Clicquot, and Alessi, among many others, infusing his panache with plastics (a "democratic" medium) and curves into everything from a chair made of açaí fruit to water bottles to New York condos. He's also produced over half a dozen books, amassed over 300 awards, and has over 3,000 designs in production.

↑ New York-based architect Deborah Berke has built her career on what she calls "a discourse between a subtle and and bold composition." Her work—including the 21C museum-hotels, where she's masterminded an approach that lets her architecture "dance between foreground and background"—encompasses a wide array of public spaces, from Yale University's School of Art in New Haven, Connecticut, to the Gay Men's Health Crisis Headquarters in NYC. She's also a professor of architectural design at Yale, where a book on her work will be the Yale University Press' first book on a contemporary American architect.

↑ Architect Alexander Gorlin has been among Architectural Digest's Top 100 Architects since 2000, and his architectural criticism has appeared in The New York Times as well as the Wall Street Journal. He's designed high-end houses and apartments, but also temples, churches, and synagogues. He's also recently been tapped to update Finnish-American modernist Eero Saarinen's masterwork, the Bell Labs complex in Holmdel, New Jersey.

↑ In 1991, graphic designer Paula Scher became London-based collaborative design studio Pentagram's first female partner. She has designed for the likes of the Museum of Modern Art and Microsoft.

↑ As a high-end designer to the stars and character on Million Dollar Decorators, Martyn Lawrence Bullard is known for his use of blaring colors and wall-swallowing patterns (yes, even for dollhouses!). His work has been featured in over 4,000 publications worldwide, and he's got a personal brand that encompasses everything from furniture to fragrance.

↑ Architect Louise Braverman established her own firm in 1991, where she's developed a style she's dubbed "art + conscience." She's designed housing in Burundi, Africa, a sustainable residence in Westchester, New York, as well as museums and YWCAs in Brooklyn.

↑ A. Eugene Kohn is a cofounder and principal of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, a globe-trotting, New York-based firm whose major projects include Unilever HQ in London and DZ Bank headquarters in Frankfurt. Since 2006, he has also been teaching a class at Harvard Business School on real estate development, design, and construction.

↑ Toshiko Mori is perhaps best known for her spare, glossy residences that dot the eastern seaboard, though she's also translated her modernist vibe to visitor centers and university buildings.

↑ Mark Ferguson is chairman of the Board of the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art, as well as cofounder of NYC-based firm Ferguson & Shamamian Architects. The firm's work has been spotted in the pages of Architectural Digest no less than 29 times.

↑ Interior designer Steven Gambrel founded his own firm just three years after earning a degree in architecture from the University of Virginia. His residential work, largely in and around Manhattan and the Hamptons (though also in places like Zurich and Hong Kong) is pretty much constantly gracing the pages of shelter magazines like Elle Decor, Architectural Digest, and House Beautiful.

↑ Wendy Goodman is New York Magazine's design editor. She's covered home design for the magazine since 1997, and now oversees the seasonal design issues and writes and edits the weekly Design Hunting newsletters.

↑ Interior designer Vicente Wolf has spent three decades cultivating his luxury design brand, first with his design firm, the work of which is a favorite of actress Julianna Margulies, and then with his objets and antiquities showroom.

↑ Not long after founding design firm Fox-Nahem Associates, Joe Nahem and his late business partner Tom Fox got their work featured on the front page of The New York Times' Home section. From there, Nahem's projects, which span Park Avenue duplexes and Pittsburgh residences, have been spotlighted by AD, Elle Decor, House and Garden, and Interior Design.

↑ San Francisco-based architect Carrie Byles is a partner at global firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, where she specializes in sustainable, research-based design. She runs laboratory projects at Harvard and Rice University, both collaborative environments designed to bring advanced scientific research and technology into the design fold.
· All Young Guns 2014 posts [Curbed National]