Aaron Yassin

Whatever I see is filtered through the lens of visual art. Having practically grown up in an art museum, for me art is both nature and nurture. My own practice includes a foundation in drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, video and architectural installation. What fascinates me, in art and life, is how meaning is created in the spaces in between. 

Design. It’s a journey. From the objects arranged on a bookshelf to the light and shadow and ambient sound in a space, we constantly curate our experiences. My aspiration is to guide people through a creative and flexible process that is the artistic process—one that allows ideas to be explored without constrained boundaries. This leads to innovation and the quality and presence that we feel when the atmosphere of a space moves you. 

At the same time, I’m equally fascinated by the myriad technical requirements that make for successful projects. This comes in the form of project management from custom fabrication, complex integration, subcontractor coordination, material sourcing, and logistics, to budgeting, scheduling and approvals—all  harnessed to support design. I see it as a great puzzle to solve. I love the challenge of it and I’m grateful that clients trust me to make sure the details are done right. 

I’m inspired everyday by the synthesis of art and architecture, materials and management demonstrated so brilliantly by Michelangelo—particularly in how he worked. His process was filled with nearly miraculous invention both in the physical materials he controlled, and in the ideas that those materials served. Having worked with cast bronze, steel and concrete, I know how difficult the real world is to control. Still, I believe that when materials serve design ideas, beauty emerges. 

Armand Graham

When I walk into a beautifully designed place such as the Maeght Foundation in the South of France where I grew up, I feel a sense of enchantment, wonder and ease—and I want to stay awhile. That symbiotic relationship between art, architecture, sound, light, and materials creates an alchemy that I aim to conjure for my clients.

I love being able to help people translate their ideas into just the right space. Why? Because skillful design can elevate the soul, create delight and foster well-being. The scale doesn’t matter. Whether designing custom benches for a local coffee shop, or working on a futuristic 500-room hotel in the Abu Dhabi desert spanning over the first F1 race track in the UAE—I find great satisfaction in the power of design to create a sort of magic, completely transform a location, and see the positive impact on people.

My constant inquiry is: what kind of atmosphere are we trying to create? This evolves through the process of helping clients move from abstract aspirations to concrete designs. We begin with ideas, hunches and examples that help us choose a direction that we hone until we reach the final stage of creating an object, a place, or a space. We know it’s right by the smiles.

It’s important to me to communicate my ideas in many different ways so that clients are able to both understand a design and get a sense of how something will feel when built. Designing means testing ideas. Using sketches, physical and 3D virtual models, renderings, material samples, mock-ups, and other tools, I help people see their ideas come to life before we build to ensure that they’re as excited about it as I am. Design is an iterative, beautiful and messy process that leads to refinement, carefully crafted materials, skillfully constructed realities that feel just right.

Aaron Yassin’s broad-based practice incorporates fine art, interior, product, lighting and sound design as well as real estate acquisition, management and development. His 20-year career includes projects from Hong Kong to Switzerland and Qatar. 

For over 10 years Yassin was the Studio Director for the artist and designer Michele Oka Doner where he managed dozens of projects including the largest permanent public artwork in the US at the Miami International Airport. He also worked in the studio of the sculptor Beverly Pepper in both Italy and New York. Retail clients include Tiffany & Co., Saks Fifth Avenue, and The Joyce Boutique among others. Residential and hospitality projects include work throughout the US and Europe.  

Yassin has exhibited his artwork extensively at galleries and museums including the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, PS122 in NYC, The Juan B. Castagnino Art Museum in Rosario, Argentina, the Hong-Gah Museum in Taipei, and the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing. 

Yassin studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he earned his BFA, the Accademia di Belle Arti Pietro Vannucci, in Perugia, Italy, and the American University in Washington D.C. where he earned his MFA. His goal is to build ATMOS into one of the top architecture firms in the US

Armand Graham is an innovative designer who spent his early years in France. He has worked globally on projects in France, Italy, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and China and the United States.

Prior to co-founding ATMOS, Graham was a lead designer for the award-winning Yas Hotel in Abu Dhabi while working for the avant-garde architecture firm Asymptote Architecture. As part of a team at ARUP Engineers, he served as the Project Architect for the Venice Airport Expansion in Italy. More recently, he has designed and built many commercial and residential projects in and around New York City including hospitality, restaurant and retail spaces, lofts, apartments, penthouses and luxury residences.

Graham prides himself on insightful understanding of his clients’ needs and coming up with uniquely creative solutions that both address their requirements and inspire them. He focuses on pushing the design forward to ensure that it is elegant and evocative. 

Graham received his Master of Architecture degree from Yale University and his bachelor's degree from Princeton University, where he wrote his senior thesis on André Bloc, the French artist and founder of the seminal 20th century magazine “Today, Art and Architecture.”