Mike Orman joined Rafael Viñoly Architects in 2019 and has been a Director since 2024 where he spearheads the design and management of diverse projects for the firm. With a range of experience, including high-rise residential, office to residential conversions, hotel developments, and art galleries, Mike collaborates closely with the partners and the project team to design and deliver innovative solutions for our clients. His role entails overseeing Rafael Viñoly Architects’ design teams and ensuring seamless coordination with clients, consultants, and construction managers to achieve project success.
While working on prominent Midtown Manhattan residential conversion projects with numerous constraints, Mike has successfully managed the design team and large consultant teams to document elegant design solutions to complex problems during a fast-track delivery process. The conversion projects have included significant new residential overbuilds above the existing structures, requiring unique structural retrofits, that work within the specific zoning regulations of the Midtown district, and include the design of distinctive new facade systems that transform and reposition the previously outmoded buildings.
Previously, Mike managed a project for a prominent Upper East Side art gallery developing a new space within an existing historic townhouse in a landmark district along Museum Mile. Designed in coordination with the firm’s partners and Rafael Viñoly, the fast-track project required coordination with numerous consultants, land-use counsel, and the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The project was successfully granted a City Planning Special Permit for a rooftop addition and change of use after proceeding through New York City’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) process.
Before joining Rafael Viñoly Architects, Mike was a Project Manager at Superstructures Architects + Engineers in New York City, where he led and collaborated on various architectural projects, specializing in exterior envelope, adaptive reuse, restoration, and addition projects for both historic and contemporary buildings. Prior to that, Mike served as a Project Architect at Goshow Architects where he worked on the design and construction administration of a new New York City high school.
Pennsylvania State University, Bachelor of Architecture
AIA Henry Adams Medal Recipient – First Ranking Graduate in Architecture Class
Paul Kossman Thesis Design Award – Second Prize
Fifth Year Design Excellence Award – Second Prize
Schreyer Honors College Graduate
Reuben and Gladys Golumbic Scholarship Nomination Exhibition March 2009
Hajjar Memorial Competition – First Prize January 2008