Markus Dochantschi

Kasmin Gallery's new flagship designed by studioMDA was recipient of the Architizer Annual A+ Awards for the Cultural - Gallery category in 2019.

Dochantschi served on The Green Codes Committee in 2012, created to make recommendations for New York City Building Code revisions for greening the environment.

In 2003 Dochantschi taught an Advanced Studio at Yale University with Zaha Hadid, Stefan Behnish, and, Gerald Hines. Dochantschi served as the director of the Global Cities Architecture Program at Columbia GSAPP from 2013-15 as well as Adjunct Professor for Planning and Preservation Advanced Studio from 2008-17. Dochantschi has also been a Guest Lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Design and a guest critic at the Architectural Association School of Architecture London; Columbia University, NY; The Cooper Union, NY; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Princeton University, Princeton; the ETH Zurich, Switzerland; University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria.

After working for 7 years at Zaha Hadid Architects (UK), Dochantschi established studioMDA in 2002 in New York. Dochantschi has designed projects internationally, ranging in typology from high-end and affordable residential, cultural, commercial, institutional, mixed-use, non-profit, and, educational. His work on cultural institutions include New York based galleries: Andrew Kreps Gallery, Bortolami Gallery, Anton Kern Gallery, Lisson Gallery, Carpenters Workshop Gallery, Richard Taittinger Gallery, Nahmad Contemporary, 303 Gallery, David Nolan Gallery, High Line Nine, four galleries for Kasmin Gallery , as well as, the Copenhagen based new Faurschou Foundation in Brooklyn, New York and Istanbul based galleries Dirimart Gallery and Collectorspace. Dochantschi is known for his work on cultural institutions, showing a sensitivity to proportion, light, and, flexibility of space. In 2017, Artsy magazine featured him in the article, “These Architects Are Transforming the Way We Experience Art” listing studioMDA as one of the firms “behind some of the most inventive and influential cultural spaces today... ”

Dochantschi was trained as an architect in Darmstadt, Germany; he received his Masters of Architecture degree in 1995. Dochantschi was granted two scholarships including a DAAD scholarship which enabled him to work with Arata Isozaki and Tom Heneghan in Tokyo, Japan. Dochantschi was subsequently invited back to Tokyo by Fumihiko Maki in 1995.

Following his time in Tokyo, Dochantschi joined London-based firm Zaha Hadid Architects. He continued to work closely with Zaha Hadid from 1995-2002; working as a director, project director, project architect, and designer. During his time there Dochantschi worked on projects for Hadid such as Rosenthal Contemporary Arts Center, Landesgartenschau Germany, Bergisel Ski Jump, and the Vista Master plan Singapore, among many others.

Markus Dochantschi (born 1968, Neuburg, Germany) is a German-born architect based in New York. He is a registered architect in the United Kingdom and Germany, as well as a member of the American Institute of Architects. As the founder and principal of studioMDA (Dochantschi Inc.), a New York-based, multidisciplinary architecture and design firm, Dochantschi has been recognized as one of the world's preeminent designers of art and cultural spaces. Dochantschi and his firm have designed dozens of galleries and exhibitions, and over 200 international art booths, earning Dochantschi the title of "the Art World's New Go-To Architect” in 2017. The firm has also designed university buildings, auction houses, and private residences.