P.R.O. is an AIA award winning architecture and design studio founded in 2011 by Miriam Peterson and Nathan Rich.
We believe architecture and design cannot be separated from their impacts. No matter what the scale or program, architecture provides opportunities to not only create new responses to an existing context, but also to instigate new conversations about how we will live in the future.
Our backgrounds are in art and economics, and we approach architecture as an intersection of these disciplines. We actively research the cultural and economic context of each project in an effort to create meaningful organizing principles for the work. Because this approach often involves breaking set formulas or standards, this has led us to become more entrepreneurial in our practice, generating self-initiated research projects alongside client commissions.
P.R.O. has been recognized for our work at multiple scales, from awards by Architizer and the American Institute of Architects, to feature articles in the New York Times.
Miriam Peterson
Miriam majored in Economics at Cornell University. Her advanced undergraduate research focused on issues related to urban economics and more specifically the factors leading to the development of depressed areas within the urban cores that were left behind after white flight and urban renewal. As an M.Arch at Yale University School of Architecture, her design and seminar work focused on investigating how public investments in infrastructure can facilitate the creation of public spaces and environmentally responsible development. Upon graduation she was awarded the William Edward Parsons Memorial Medal for the student showing the most promise in urban design.
Before co-founding P.R.O. in 2012, Miriam spent five years working for Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects on major institutional projects including The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, PA and The Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University
Miriam has taught at Yale School of Architecture, Wesleyan University, and is currently a Visiting Professor at New York Institute of Technology. She has been an guest critic at the Harvard GSD, Columbia GSAPP, Cornell University, Syracuse University, Pratt Institute, and The Cooper Union.
Nathan Rich
Nathan brings a breadth of experience with global reach. He received his BA from Wesleyan University and his Masters in Architecture from Yale University where he was awarded the James Gamble Rogers Memorial Fellowship. Nathan was a Henry Luce Scholar in Beijing where he taught at Tsinghua University and researched the impact of rapid growth in Asian cities on the built environment. He recently published on the topic as a contributor for the Routledge publication Architecture and Capitalism.
Nathan has worked for SHoP architects, and Steven Holl Architects where he developed expertise managing and executing complex projects with multiple stakeholders. For Steven Holl Architects he was project architect on the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University, a 150,000 square foot world class performing arts facility that meets the highest standards for sustainability and will be a new gateway to the Princeton campus.
He is currently adjunct faculty at the New Jersey Institute of Technology School of Architecture. He has been a guest critic at Wesleyan University, Yale, Columbia GSAPP, Cornell, Syracuse, Pratt Institute, and New York Institute of Technology.
The P.R.O. team is an ever evolving group of friends, collaborators, employees, and experts, including but not limited to:
Miriam Peterson, Nathan Rich, Pete DePasquale, Sarah Kasper, Noel Turgeon, Jahaan Scipio, Dillon Wilson, Wade Cotton, Ben Hochberg, Alex Warr, Piktone Fung, Lauren Johnson, Annika Bowker, and Hen.
