NINA FREEDMAN, FOUNDER AND PRINCIPAL
Nina Freedman is a conceptualist. Her work spans architectural design, interior design, installations, landscape art, teaching, furniture design, writing and storytelling. Compassionate and visionary, she has co-created globally recognized, award-winning architecture for 30 years. In addition to her practice, Nina teaches at Cornell University, Pratt Institute, and Parsons School of Design. She has taught at Stanford University, and has been an invited Design Master Professor in China, and invited critic at universities and for competitions. She is the creator, host and producer of the WHEREING podcast which is about belonging, space and design.
DREAMLAND is a spatial design laboratory focused on the intersection of psychology and design, which specializes in the impact of emotional space and how it shifts collective thinking. Prior to founding DREAMLAND, Nina was the secret wing under numerous world-renowned architects. As the long term Director of Projects for Shigeru Ban Architects America (SBAA), she liaised with the Tokyo and Paris offices and was responsible for executing the vision for all projects from concept through construction, as well as the direction and development of office policy, management, staffing and marketing. At SBAA, Nina led the award winning projects of the New Aspen Art Museum, Metal Shutter Houses and Camper Shoe Store, as well as the invited competitions for the National Library of Israel, Google HQ and the University of Chicago Business School in Hong Kong. Prior to joining SBAA, Nina was an Associate at H3 (formerly Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates) where she directed public and institutional projects including the GSA Federal Courthouse in Jackson, Mississippi as well as the Restoration of Central Synagogue, Radio City Music Hall and the Packer Collegiate Institute Middle School.
Nina’s international and diverse experience includes work with Renzo Piano, Richard Meier and Paul Rudolph. Projects in these highly inventive offices ranged from museums, subway stations, television headquarters and single-family homes. In the early 1990’s, Nina created “Point,” an instantly successful furniture design business with a table series called “Banana Split.” The series, launched at design shows in New York City and Tokyo, was featured in numerous international design magazines and presented in window displays along Fifth Avenue in New York City.
In the Fall of 2012, Nina co-founded ArchiteXX an independent, architectural organization to bridge the academy and practice, and to provide co-learning workshops and cross generational, individual and peer mentorship. Initiatives include university hubs, design actions, the subteXXt blog and advocacy. With Architexx, she has initiated a high school prep program to increase diversity in architecture through an affordable training program.
Since 2008 Nina has cultivated roots in the Hudson Valley of New York where she engages with community circles of empowerment, writing and spiritual practice. She was granted a Woman's Leadership Residency at the Omega Institute Women's Leadership Center.
A native New Yorker, she was educated at the Architectural Association in London, where she earned a Diploma of Architecture and was the British and American Universities Scholar as well as the recipient of the Eileen Gray Scholarship. Nina earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Landscape Architecture from the City College of New York where she received the American Society of Landscape Architects Certificate of Honor, the highest award given to graduating students in Landscape Architecture.