CV
Core Skills
• Leadership & Strategy: Firm Partnership, Design Studio Direction, Cross-Functional Team Leadership, Client Relations.
• Architecture & Urbanism: Adaptive Reuse, Commercial Master Planning, High-End Hospitality, Retail Flagships, Zoning & Landmarks.
• Art & Spatial Design: Environmental Design, Public Installation, Exhibition Design, Materiality, Concept Generation.
Professional Experience
Formworks Architecture | Partner | 2019 – Present
• Co-direct boutique architectural practice, leading creative vision, business
development, and project delivery for premier NYC hospitality and cultural clients.
• Spearheaded design for high-visibility commercial and cultural spaces, including the Gramercy Park Hotel Event Space (MCR), Kidsuper Studios Brooklyn, and Veselka Brooklyn
• Managed large-scale vendor and stakeholder networks to execute complex fit-outs at landmark developments, including The Marketline at Essex Crossing, The Grand Delancey, Essex Pearl, and People’s Wine Bar.
Sole Practitioner | Architect & Design Consultant | 2016 – 2019
• Operated an independent design practice focused on high-end residential and multi-family urban developments.
• Delivered full-phase architectural services for the 113 Grand Street Townhouse and the 3311 Newkirk Avenue development (Crow Hill Development), balancing client artistic visions with stringent budgetary constraints.
S9 Architecture | Principal | 2012 – 2016
• Executed executive leadership over large urban master plans and adaptive reuse projects totaling millions of square feet across New York and the Southeast.
• Directed design teams for prominent landmark transformations, including Ponce City Market (Jamestown Properties) and Empire Stores (Midtown Equities).
• Oversaw design strategy for cutting-edge commercial hubs and public spaces, including WeWork Brooklyn Navy Yard (Dock 72) and Industry City.
Greenberg Farrow Architects | Senior Associate – Design Studio Director, NY Office | 1998 – 2012
• Led the New York design studio, managing a large team of architects and designers on high-density residential and global retail flagships.
• Led architectural design for major residential developments, including Toll Brothers’ 160 East 22nd Street, 205 Water Street, and One Ten Third Avenue.
• Executed high-profile commercial projects, directing the design of the Uniqlo Soho Flagship Store and early phases of the Ponce City Market master plan.
Davis Brody Bond | Junior Designer | 1997 – 1998
• Contributed to public institutional architecture, producing design and technical drawings for Medgar Evers High School under the NYC School Construction Authority.
Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) | Architectural Intern | 1994
• Assisted project teams on international supertall structures and major corporate headquarters, contributing to 55 Water Street and the Mori Tower.
Education
• Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | 1991 – 1996
• Bachelor of Building Science | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | 1991 – 1995
• Environmental Design Summer Studio | Parsons School of Design | 1990
• High School Fine Arts Programs | Boston Museum School & Currier Museum of Art | 1988 – 1991
Design Awards & Recognition
Professional Awards:
• Second Place – William and Mary Slavery Memorial Competition | 2018
• Global Award for Excellence – Urban Land Institute (Ponce City Market) | 2016
• Award for Excellence in Design – NYC Public Design Commission (Dock 72) | 2016
• Building Brooklyn Award – 205 Water Street | 2013
• First Place – Brooklyn Heights Promenade Competition | 1999
About
Yu Duk So is a New York-based artist and architect who spent nearly three decades shaping the physical landscape of the contemporary city before turning his focus to the canvas. As an Architect and former Design Principal at S9, Duk led major new and adaptive-reuse landmarks including Brooklyn's Empire Stores, Dock 72 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and Atlanta's Ponce City Market.
Drawing conceptual inspiration from Biomorphic Abstraction , Duk explores the intersection of organic form and architectural structure. His paintings are deeply invested in the phenomenological relationship between the viewer and the canvas. Designed to change depending on proximity, a painting that appears as a vast, natural vista from across a room dissolves into tight, intricate geometric systems when viewed up close. Through this play on scale and distance, So invites the viewer to experience the canvas not as a flat surface, but as a living, dimensional space