In New York's high-pressure construction market, where delays can wipe out momentum and budgets overnight, most firms still treat design, code compliance and construction as separate universes. Pierre E. Tairouz has made his career by doing the opposite.
As Design Director at Azark Inc, he works across the firm's full architecture-to-construction ecosystem, helping shape projects that range from luxury retail builds to one of the city's more unusual success stories: Cad & The Dandy, the British Brand on Billionaires Row. Positioned in a special landmark building that required commissioner level approvals to complete.
It is a project that only makes sense once you understand Tairouz' approach embodying the first flagship of the brand in New York, which Tairouz worked in tandem with their team to bring the project to fruition.
"I want people to know that if there is a problem, we can do it," he says. "He has the skills, the tools, the team, the knowledge. He can address it."
From Venezuela to Manhattan: Resilience as a Design Tool
Tairouz's worldview was shaped long before architecture entered the picture. He grew up in Venezuela, coming from a respected Lebanese family, he watched his grandfather immigrate and build a business "door by door," becoming the foundation for the family's success.
"I've seen someone create something for themselves and I've always wanted to do that for me," he says.
Those events became what he now calls his four pillars: finding strength in struggle, relying on family even when imperfect, craving creation, and being true to himself. The last came through his journey coming out, losing friends, rebuilding community, and refusing to compromise his identity.
"I've always been too creative for the business guys and too business-driven for the artists." That tension, rather than discouraging him, now informs how he leads and how he advocates for people who don't fit neatly into boxes.
Inside Azark: A Multi-Vertical Platform Built for New York
Architecture is expanding globally. The market passed roughly 380 billion dollars last year and is projected to keep growing steadily through the next decade. New York's construction activity alone is expected to reach nearly 69 billion dollars by the end of 2024.
Azark operates inside that demand with a model designed for a city where every step of a project touches another. The company brings architecture, code consulting, construction management, visual documentation, and property intelligence into a single coordinated framework. Building Violation Solutions manages code and violation strategy. Azarkian Architecture P.C. leads architectural design and planning. ArkCo handles construction and project execution. Vivid Print Services produces documentation and visual deliverables. Atlattice, the firm's property intelligence platform, aggregates real-time compliance and site data.
Azark describes this structure as a multidisciplinary, tech-enabled project management engine. Tairouz simply sees it as the only way to work in a city as complex as New York. "There are seven types of architecture you can be doing and they are not all doing it together," he says. "So why not create an infrastructure that brings all of this into one hive mind."
Why Tech Became Essential to His Work
Globally, construction productivity has lagged for decades. McKinsey notes that while most industries have seen rapid gains, construction productivity has barely moved. Billions in venture capital have poured into tools meant to close that gap.
For Tairouz, the shift is personal. During the pandemic he was working on major architectural commissions and realized even the world's "starchitects" were exposed to market fragility. Design alone wasn't a safety net. The industry needed new tools.
"I realized that star architects and the biggest firms are still as weak as the market," he says. The answer, in his view, isn't fear of technology but embracing it. "If something takes you two hours, you should aim to do it in 20 minutes, not because the work should be rushed, but you should streamline the process. That's where innovation comes from." Then do something else. Be creative. Be empowered."
That thinking fueled Azark's push into an innovative software conception. He describes this as a "hive mind" for communication which sparked Atlattice. This will be rolled out over the next couple of months for external clients in fields beyond architecture.
A Soho House for Dogs: Happy Tails and the Power of Reinvention
To see how Tairouz operates under pressure, look at Happy Tails, the members-only "Soho House for dogs". The project has earned plenty of media attention for its 10,000-square-foot members-only dog club, where clients pay premium rates for a space that feels more boutique hotel than daycare.
"They were working with a tight build-out window," he says. "In New York City that becomes salt and water very easily, in a dilapidated space that was ready to be demolished."
The team had immovable deadlines, permitting constraints and a vision that wasn't easy to execute. Tairouz guided branding, design and construction under a compressed timeline. "They put their entire trust in me," he says. "Their deadline was never delayed. Their deliverables were always there."
The space now hosts more than 200 dogs and has become a case study in how niche hospitality is evolving. Pet-related spending in the U.S. continues to climb, and urban luxury concepts like this are becoming a serious category.
A Leadership Philosophy Grounded in Voice and Trust
Inside Azark, Tairouz leads differently from the stereotype of the autocratic architect. "I do not walk into a room and say, this is what we are going to do," he says. Instead, he listens, identifies the connections others miss, and guides teams toward their own conclusions.
"Sometimes when they give me a problem, I think of the solution, but I do not give it right away," he says. "I walk them through the process so they have their own realization."
He is honest about limits. He is protective of standards and quality. And he knows when to push. "If you want a straight answer, I can give it to you, but you are not going to like it," he says. But he is equally clear that success cannot be defined by him alone. "It does not need to be that Pierre did this. It needs to be: we did this."
In a market as volatile and ambitious as New York's, that combination of resilience, systems thinking and human-centered leadership may be exactly what clients look for: someone who has lived through chaos and learned to turn it into vision.
