Michael David Kirchmann (born July 5, 1972) is an American
real estate developer
Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. ...
, architect, designer and the
founder
Founder or Founders may refer to:
Places
*Founders Park, a stadium in South Carolina, formerly known as Carolina Stadium
* Founders Park, a waterside park in Islamorada, Florida
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Founders (''Star Trek''), the ali ...
and CEO of New York real estate firm GDSNY. His firm has designed and developed 4.7 million square feet of space in New York City. Assets include high-end residential and
class A office buildings and commercial office properties such as 1245 Broadway, which is the headquarters for A24 Films,
28&7,
25 Mercer Street in SoHo,
177 Franklin Street in
TriBeCa
Tribeca (), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Stre ...
which is the New York
Shinola
Shinola is a defunct American brand of shoe polish. The Shinola Company, founded in Rochester, New York in 1877 as the American Chemical Manufacturing and Mining Company, produced the polish under a sequence of different owners until 1960. "Shin ...
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the f ...
and headquarters, and
the Emerson at
500 West 25th Street, adjacent to the
High Line
The High Line is a elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan in New York City. The High Line's design is a collaboration between James Corner Field Op ...
.
The firm is currently developing
class A office buildings at 120 Tenth Avenue and 417 Park Avenue. Kirchmann's firm has also designed and renovated more than 4,000 units of affordable housing in New York City that have been completed by other developers, including Campos Plaza in the East Village, Bronxchester Houses and Baychester Houses in
The Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...
,
Marcus Garvey Village in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...
, and Arverne View in
Rockaway Rockaway may refer to:
Places in the United States
*Rockaway Beach (disambiguation)
New Jersey
* Rockaway, New Jersey, a borough in Morris County
*Rockaway Township, New Jersey, a township in Morris County
*Rockaway Creek (New Jersey), a tributar ...
, Queens.
Formerly a Design Director at architecture firm
Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer John Merrill. The firm ...
, Kirchmann worked on projects across the United States, Europe, the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, the Middle East, and Asia.
Career
In 1997, he joined
SOM in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
, where he became a
Director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
of the New York office.
Notable completed projects include the corporate headquarters of
Oracle
An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination.
Description
The wor ...
in Paris, the
Arcapita
Arcapita founded in 1997, is an asset management firm. Headquartered in Manama, Bahrain, Arcapita also operates from its offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. The firm serves a group of investors in the Mi ...
headquarters in Bahrain, and the
Park Hotel in
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
, which is the first
LEED
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a
green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, constructio ...
Platinum certified hotel in India.
In 2007, and after a 10-year tenure at SOM, Kirchmann founded GDSNY, a real estate development, asset management, lending, and architecture firm with offices in New York. Notable projects at GDSNY include 1245 Broadway, 28&7, 407-417 Park Avenue, 120 Tenth Avenue, 177 Franklin Street, the Emerson, 149 Kent Avenue in
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Baychester Houses in the Bronx, and the
Dogpound gyms in New York and Los Angeles,
and 25 Mercer Street in Manhattan.
Kirchmann is a frequent lecturer and juror at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
,
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, ...
,
Cityscape
In the visual arts, a cityscape (urban landscape) is an artistic representation, such as a painting, drawing, print or photograph, of the physical aspects of a city or urban area. It is the urban equivalent of a landscape. ''Townscape'' i ...
,
MIPIM
MIPIM (in French, Le Marché International des Professionnels de L’immobilier) is an international property event hosted in Cannes, France, each March. It is hosted by Reed MIDEM and includes an exhibition area, networking events and conference ...
, the
Architectural Association
The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest independent school of architecture in the UK and one of the most prestigious and competitive in the world. Its wide-ranging programme ...
,
Parsons School of Design
Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatt ...
, and the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...
. He taught in the Masters of Science in Real Estate program at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...
from 2010 to 2015 with SOM partner
Chris Cooper
Christopher Walton Cooper (born July 9, 1951) is an American actor. He has appeared in several major Hollywood films, including '' American Beauty'' (1999), '' October Sky'' (1999), '' The Bourne Identity'' (2002), ''Seabiscuit'' (2003), ''Cap ...
and
Vishaan Chakrabarti
Vishaan Chakrabarti (born March 29, 1966) is an American architect and professor. He is the founder of Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU), which is an architecture firm based in New York. In 2018 he was named a fellow of the American In ...
.
Projects
Kirchmann has designed more than 4,000 units of low-income housing that have been completed in New York City, including the redevelopment at Arverne View (formerly known as Ocean Village) in
Rockaway, Queens
The Rockaway Peninsula, commonly referred to as The Rockaways or Rockaway, is a peninsula at the southern edge of the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, New York. Relatively isolated from Manhattan and other more urban parts of th ...
, a region that was devastated by
Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds span ...
in 2012.
In 2015 Kirchmann designed the extensive façade renovation of the low income, 625-unit
Marcus Garvey Village spread across nine city blocks, in the Brownsville section of
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...
. Originally designed in 1973 by
Kenneth Frampton
Kenneth Brian Frampton (born 20 November 1930) is a British architect, critic and historian. He is the Ware Professor of Architecture at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University, New York. He has b ...
, the project achieved notability at the time for its innovative urban planning approach to low-rise, high-density affordable housing.
The renovated property was awarded the Building Brooklyn Award for Affordable Housing Preservation
and the Affordable Housing Magazine Award of Excellence.
In 2016 Kirchmann collaborated with
Fabien Baron
Fabien Baron (born July 5, 1959) is a French director, art director and magazine editor. He is best known for his iconic ad campaigns and work as editorial director of Andy Warhol's ''Interview'' magazine.
Life and career
Baron was born on Ju ...
to design the
Dogpound,
an exclusive gym located in the
West Village
The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City.
The traditional boundaries of the West Village are the Hudson River to the west, West 14th Street to t ...
and reportedly frequented by Hollywood celebrities and Olympic athletes, including
Tom Holland
Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. His accolades include a British Academy Film Award, three Saturn Awards, a Guinness World Record and an appearance on the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Europe list. Some publications ...
,
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor. Beginning in theatre and television, he landed his breakthrough role as James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine in the 20th Century Fox ''X-Men'' film series (2000–2017), a role ...
,
Justin Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...
,
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bo ...
,
Adriana Lima
Adriana Lima (; born 12 June 1981) is a Brazilian model, who was a Victoria's Secret Angel from 1999 to 2018. She was the longest-running model and named "the most valuable Victoria's Secret Angel" in 2017. She is also known as a spokesmodel fo ...
,
Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mic ...
, and
Kaia Gerber
Kaia Jordan Gerber (born September 3, 2001) is an American model and actress. She is the daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford and businessman Rande Gerber. After starring in a series of ad campaigns for fashion brands since debuting at Fashio ...
.
Kirchmann went on to design the Dogpound in West Hollywood in 2019.
Kirchmann appeared in the 2017 season of
Bravo
Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels
* Bravo (band), a Russian rock band
* Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984
*Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing compan ...
’s
Million Dollar Listing New York
''Million Dollar Listing New York'' is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on March 7, 2012. The show follows the lives of several luxury real estate agents as they represent property owners in New York's five boroughs ...
with real estate broker
Fredrik Eklund
Fredrik Eklund (born April 26, 1977) is a Swedish real estate broker, former IT entrepreneur, reality television star, and author. He is best known for starring in the Bravo reality series, '' Million Dollar Listing New York'' for all of its nin ...
, who shows several units
from Kirchmann's sold-out development at 25 Mercer Street.
Prior to starting renovation work on 25 Mercer Street for what would eventually become a luxury condominium development in two historic cast-iron buildings in SoHo,
Kirchmann collaborated with British artist
Shantell Martin
Shantell Martin (born October 1, 1980) is a British visual artist, intuitive philosopher, cultural facilitator, teacher, choreographer, songwriter, performer, and more. Best known for her large scale, black-and-white line drawings, she performs m ...
, who installed drawings on two floors of the buildings, as well as light artist Matthew Schreiber,
American Ballet Theatre
American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, it is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. Through 2019, it had an annual ei ...
dancer Kathryn Boren, and fashion photographer
Nigel Barker. Some of Martin's drawings remained intact throughout construction and became part of the foundation of the building.
GDSNY
* 1245 Broadway, New York, New York (2021)
* 205 West 28th Street, New York, New York (2022)
* 120 10th Avenue, New York, New York (2025)
* 407-417 Park Avenue, New York, New York (2026)
* The Emerson at 500 West 25th Street, West Chelsea, New York (2021)
* The DOGPOUND, West Village, New York (2016)
* The DOGPOUND, West Hollywood, California (2019)
* 177 Franklin Street, Tribeca, New York City (2012)
* Baychester Houses, The Bronx, New York (2021)
* Marcus Garvey Apartments, Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York (2015)
* Arverne View, Far Rockaways, Queens, New York (2015)
* 25–27 Mercer Street SoHo, New York City (2017)
* 149 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, New York (2016)
* Campos Plaza, East Village, New York (2016)
* Bronxchester, Bronx, New York (2016)
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
* Portes de la Defense, Oracle Headquarters, Paris, France
* Arcapita Bank Headquarters, Manama, Bahrain
* The Park Hotel, Hyderabad, India
* The Four Seasons Hotel, Manama, Bahrain
* Defense Plaza, Paris, France
* Arcs de Seine, Paris, France
See also
*
Roger Duffy
Roger Duffy is an American architect, known for rigorous and unconventional approach to design. Now retired, he worked as a partner at the firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. He was a design partner in the New York office from 1995 until 2018, an ...
*
T. J. Gottesdiener
T. J. Gottesdiener is an architect and managing partner of the New York office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). A graduate of Cooper Union’s Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, Gottesdiener joined SOM in 1980 and was made Partner in 19 ...
*
David Childs
David Magie Childs (born April 1, 1941) is an American architect and chairman emeritus of the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. He is the architect of the new One World Trade Center in New York City.
Early life and education
Chil ...
*
Fabien Baron
Fabien Baron (born July 5, 1959) is a French director, art director and magazine editor. He is best known for his iconic ad campaigns and work as editorial director of Andy Warhol's ''Interview'' magazine.
Life and career
Baron was born on Ju ...
*
Kirk Myers
Kirk Thomas Myers (born March 3, 1979) is an American physical training instructor known for coaching celebrities in through his business, Dogpound Gyms.
Early life
Myers was born in Kansas City, Missouri, to Rosemary Gibbons and Roger Myers ...
References
External links
GDSNY official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirchmann, Michael David
21st-century American architects
21st-century South African architects
South African emigrants to the United States
1972 births
Living people
20th-century American architects
20th-century South African architects
Architects from New York City
New York University alumni
University of Cape Town alumni
People from Johannesburg