Newman Architects, PC is a collaborative design firm led by Richard Munday, Peter Newman, José A. Hernández, Steven Orlansky, A. Brooks Fischer, and Joseph Schiffer. Newman Architects is based in New Haven, Connecticut in the heart of the Yale University Campus. Newman’s Washington, DC branch office is located in Georgetown, and supports our ability to serve our clients in the Mid-Atlantic region.
The quality of our work has been recognized through publication and awards. We have received more than 150 design excellence awards, including awards from the American Institute of Architects, the Boston Society of Architects, and the Interior Design Institute.
As architects, we believe that what we create should sustain the physical environment, the lives of the people we serve and society at large. We want to realize the idea of a better, richer place made palpable through the shaping of space, place, form, and climate. People need to feel that they belong to something larger. They seek connection to others and the world and to make order out of chaos. So the architecture they inhabit needs to represent and respond to something larger than either the individual or the group and provide places where people can both be themselves and recognize the physical, social and cultural structures that surround them.
Brooks Fischer is responsible for overseeing the firm's financial and project management procedures while identifying the potential value proposition of projects. An excellent communicator, he has widespread experience with complex projects involving multiple layers of constituency participation. Brooks has been a key contributor to the consensus building process of many of the firm’s significant projects. Through his ability to develop relationships, Brooks has been instrumental in establishing Newman Architects as a respected partner by the clients and communities we serve.
Brooks’ professional focus is on large scale mixed-use developments, higher-ed institutional buildings and public school projects. He is the Managing Principal for the new Ideanomics Corporate Headquarters campus in West Hartford, CT, the Coliseum Site Redevelopment in New Haven, CT, a residential tower in New Rochelle, NY, a large site redevelopment in Morristown, NJ and multiple Yale University projects.
Brooks is committed to innovation through technology in all aspects of a project and establishes an efficient communication procedure between the teams and clients. He believes effective communication enhances the design process, allowing for deeper architectural explorations.
Brooks attended Roger Williams University where he received his Bachelor of Architecture degree. He is a registered architect in Connecticut and a member of the American Institute of Architects.
José A. Hernández, AIA has been with Newman Architects since 1998 and a managing principal since 2014. He promotes a resume reflective of the firm’s portfolio. With more than thirty years of experience, José brings a passion and dedication to the revitalization of urban areas. He is proficient in guiding managing the process for design to evolve in a thoughtful manner, considering not just the design aspects, but those of the CM, owner and end user. Very hands on with all of his projects José organizes the whole team, successfully bringing each endeavor to a timely and budget sensible conclusion. He is present, every step of the way, ensuring the process is managed for the design to evolve.
An accomplished architect, José has served as a leader of the profession for decades. He is known for his thoughtful and inventive approach to master planning, while ensuring CM goals are as attainable as those of the designer and owner. He rethinks and translates conceptual ideas into thoughtful architectural realities and thrives on finding new solutions to design problems. José enjoys the insights achieved through close collaborations with clients, consultants and contractors to create strong designs that reinforce community. This dedication has been reinforced by his long time membership with DBIA.
José is currently on the AIA Connecticut task force for licensure. This supports his passion for mentoring – as he has spent a number of years as an advisor both internally and through the ACE Foundation of Connecticut. He sat on the Board of Advisors and implemented a mentoring practice throughout Newman’s practice. Similarly, being a long member of the Lean Institute, he applied that process to Newman’s internal project management. As such, stakeholder satisfaction and project delivery value is always a part of José’s project management.
Richard Munday graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Adelaide after studying at both the University of Adelaide and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia. In Melbourne, he began publication of the architecture journal, 'Transition,' for which, as co‐publisher and editor for over four years, he received a 'Young Architects' Award from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. While publishing 'Transition', Richard also taught in the school of architecture at RMIT, and was in private practice.
Richard came to the United States to attend Yale University, where he studied architectural theory and criticism. After graduating with a Master of Environmental Design degree, Richard stayed in New Haven as an editor of the Yale architecture journal, 'Perspecta.' After joining Newman Architects, he also taught at the Rhode Island School of Design. A principal in the firm since 1999, his focus is on a content‐driven approach to practice, with an interest in architecture for education, the arts, and the public realm. He is a principal‐in‐charge through all phases of projects for new buildings, adaptive re‐use, renovation and restoration, and for campus, school and urban planning. Additionally, he is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Architecture and Built Environment at the University of Adelaide.
Richard has NCARB certification and is a registered architect in Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, New York and Victoria, Australia. Richard is a member of the American Institute of Architects.
Peter Newman received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Boston College in 1983. Prior to architectural school, Peter had his own set design practice, specializing in television commercials, music videos and industrial films. He received a Master of Architecture at Yale University in 1990, and a certificate in Architectural History from the University of Florence, Italy. He served as Project Architect at Yale University until 1993. He joined Newman Architects in 1993, and was named a Partner in 2000.
His work with the firm ranges from design and master planning for projects including the new Residence Hall at Yale University, and the Lynn University Library in Boca Raton, Florida. His work on institutional projects includes the Pocantico Conference Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk. He shares responsibilities for business development and marketing with senior leadership in the firm.
Peter has served as an Advisory Board member of the ACE Mentoring Program, serving on the State Board of ACE Mentoring Program. He has also served as a facilitator and instructor for the Architectural Resource Center, educating elementary school children in cognitive development and problem solving through design.
Peter is currently a Board Member of the Connecticut Architecture Foundation. He is a Fellow of Jonathan Edwards College at Yale University and is also a Fellow of the Eder Leadership Institute. Peter is a recent past Chairman of the Board at Tower One Tower East Elderly Housing in New Haven, CT and he is formerly a member of the Advisory Board of Habitat for Humanity. Most recently, Peter retired as a member of the Board of Directors of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven. He is currently a sitting Board Member of a Fortune 1000 Company.
A graduate of Pratt Institute’s School of Architecture, Steven began his career with Newman Architects in 2000, and was named a Principal of the firm in 2016. Steven’s professional focus is on architecture for education, with a portfolio of work made up of significant projects at Princeton University, Rutgers, UMBC and Yale University, and projects for public school districts in Connecticut, Maryland, and Washington, DC.
An advocate for the adoption of evidence-based design and Building Information Modeling (BIM), Steven is active with industry organizations promoting the adoption of BIM best practices for the design of educational buildings. In support of this goal, Steven recently participated with the Association of School Business Officials (ASBO) of MD/DC as a member of the committee that produced the BIM Resource Guide, a guide for implementing Building Information Modeling in State of Maryland and Washington DC public school construction projects.
Since 2011, Steven has served as the director of Newman’s mid-Atlantic regional office in Washington, DC. In this capacity, he has extended the geographical reach of Newman’s diversified practice, serving educational, governmental, religious, and diplomatic clients in and around the mid-Atlantic region. Steven is LEED Accredited and NCARB Certified, is a registered architect in Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, and is a member of the American Institute of Architects.
Joseph Schiffer received his Bachelor of Architecture from the Cooper Union School of Architecture in 1967. He joined Newman Architects in 1974 and became a Partner in 1990. Joe has been a collaborating principal in the planning and design of many of the firm's award-winning projects including Duracell World Headquarters; the Pocantico Conference Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund; Yale University Art Gallery, Center for American Art; the Performing Arts Center at Greenwich Academy; Yale University School of Organization and Management, Donaldson Commons; and Wesleyan University's Freeman Athletic Center. He has been lead principal for the firm’s work with the Stamford Housing Authority.
Formerly an Assistant Professor in architectural design at the Paier College of Art, Joe is a frequent architectural jury critic at Columbia University, Yale University, and Cooper Union. His lectures and published works cover topics ranging from planning community and student centers to implementing sustainable design and construction techniques in new buildings.
Joe has NCARB certification and is a registered architect in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida. He is also a member of the American Institute of Architects.
Founder of Newman Architects, Herbert Newman has guided a collaborative process of innovative enquiry and design in master planning, urban design, and architecture for education, housing, civic institutions and commerce for over 50 years.
Born in New York City, Herb received a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Civilization from Brown University in 1955. He attended the Yale University School of Architecture, where, upon receiving a Master of Architecture degree, he was awarded the Eero Saarinen Traveling Fellowship for Academic Excellence.
Herb began his career as an architectural designer with I.M. Pei and Partners in New York, working on international projects including Place Ville Marie in Montreal, Canada. He established the firm in New Haven in 1964, and at that time began teaching at the Yale School of Architecture as a design critic. With Charles Moore and Kent Bloomer, he initiated the Yale School of Architecture Building Project, still a cornerstone of the graduate architecture program at the School. Herb continues to serve as design critic and coordinator of the Building Project at Yale.
Throughout his years in New Haven, Herb’s contributions to the fabric of the city helped redefine the city in a post-industrial era. In 1981 he was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and in 1995 received the Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture. This is a lifetime achievement award bestowed by the American Institute of Architects honoring his career and many contributions to the planning and design of public spaces. His design accomplishments have been acknowledged in five National AIA awards and over 20 Connecticut AIA awards. In 2007, Herb received the Arts Council of Greater New Haven's Newton Schenk III Award for Lifetime Achievement in and Contribution to the Arts, recognizing his broad achievements in architecture.
Herb has authored numerous articles and has served as a Visiting Critic, Juror, and Lecturer at Carnegie Mellon University, Harvard University, Columbia University, and the University of Tennessee.
He has NCARB certification and is a registered architect in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Florida, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington DC, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma and Virginia.