Why I Give: Stephen Chrisman of Ferguson & Shamamian Architects
Stephen Chrisman. Photo by Thomas Loof
Stephen Chrisman is a partner at Ferguson & Shamamian Architects, a firm renowned for traditional and classical architecture, founded by Mark Ferguson and Oscar Shamamian in 1988. Chrisman has led the project teams for several of the firm’s prize-winning projects, including four of the firm’s Stanford White Awards, three Palladio Prizes, a Bulfinch Award, and an Addison Mizner Award. Chrisman drives the firm’s Recruitment Committee and oversees the university outreach and intern program. He is a long-standing fellow and instructor of the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art.
Working closely with Principal Andrew Oyen, Chrisman helped establish the Ferguson & Shamamian Travel Award for Cultural Discovery at NYSID, an annual contest that challenges students to propose a course of study in a foreign country for the chance to win a $5,000 travel-study stipend, followed by a paid internship at Ferguson & Shamamian Architects. The inaugural winner for 2024 was Xinrou Qiu (BFA), who studied Victorian and Edwardian design in the United Kingdom. Julia Kim (MFA1) has been selected to receive the 2025 award for Sustainable Heritage: A Study of Ottoman Residential Architecture in Safranbolu, Turkey, and she will take her trip in August. The firm also supports NYSID scholarships by buying tables at the annual gala. We sat down with Chrisman to explore why his firm has made an investment in NYSID students.
NYSID: Why has your firm chosen to sponsor this travel award and internship?
Stephen Chrisman: Education is of critical importance to us at Ferguson & Shamamian Architects. One of the reasons young architects and designers want to join our firm is because we are engaged in teaching every day throughout our practice. The opportunity to create an internship with the New York School of Interior Design was exciting because collaborating with interior designers is a critical component of our work as architects, and the idea that students could create a program that they wanted to study and bring what they learned from their travels into practice in our office was really very interesting to us. As a company, we have four core values, and one of them is curiosity. In our office, the three pillars of learning are scholarship, travel, and practice. The travel study, coupled with an internship, goes hand in hand with all of these values.
You mentioned that your firm has 4 core values. What are they?
Our four values are curiosity, excellence, integrity, and collaboration; hence the title of our most recent book, Collaborations. The book features fourteen projects and the stories of working together with interior designers, landscape architects, and craftspeople all over the country. The integration of these related arts is the essence of creating really great projects.
Does your firm have an interior design department?
We don’t have interior designers on staff, but we work very closely with interior designers on all our projects, ideally from the very beginning. They are often connected to the client or the region and bring unique insights that complement our own. We consider a collaboration most successful when the client can’t see where the architecture ends and the interior design begins. Collaboration creates a seamless whole.
Why have you supported NYSID, a college that specifically educates interior designers?
The legacy of NYSID and its historical significance are tough to beat. It’s also important for us to be invested in an organization that’s local. Our work is not complete without interior design, so we love the idea of connecting to and supporting the young, up-and-coming interior designers in our community, as well as many of our friends and collaborators who sit on the board and the advisory council of NYSID. We’re a multigenerational firm and we want our young architects to have the opportunity to build relationships with their interior design counterparts. Our founders, Mark Ferguson and Oscar Shamamian, spent their early careers at Parish-Hadley, so the integration of interior design and architecture has always been part of our culture and it’s something we want to continue.
What’s your best advice for emerging designers?
My first piece of advice is to immerse yourself in architectural and design history. It’s emphasized at NYSID, but it’s not always taught in most schools to the degree that a firm like ours values. Also, TRAVEL, experience different regions, here in the US and abroad. Finally, draw in a sketchbook every day. We rely on photography too much. Sketches and measured drawings of architectural details and furniture should be documented in a sketchbook. Hand drawing and sketching can be impressive to clients and make the presentation unique and personal. Drawing is key to design thinking, and it will impact the quality of your work.
Says Joy Cooper, NYSID’s director of development, “We are very grateful to Ferguson & Shamamian Architects for giving students this wonderful, ongoing opportunity to travel and intern at the company.” If you are interested in doing something similar or supporting NYSID in general, please reach out to Cooper at giving@nysid.edu.