Claire Weisz

Claire Weisz is a founding principal of Weisz + Yoes, an architectural firm specializing in design solutions for challenging sites. She received her professional degree from the University of Toronto and her post-professional degree in architecture from Yale University.

Claire Weisz has been project architect for a number of successful urban design and architecture projects, both with her own firm and formerly with Agrest and Gandelsonas in New York and Charles W. Moore in California. She is known for her built work and her approach to urban issues and complex sites. She has created an approach to programming in contested sites that allowed a number of projects to be created out of difficult circumstances. Some of these include the Bronx Charter School of the Arts, an interior facility for maintaining Battery Park City’s park, the Museum of Jewish Heritage Visitor's Center and the idea for a contemporary carousel in The Battery. The firm has planned and built sustainable facilities for: The Sustainability Education Center, Daniel Cleary, Battery Park City Parks Conservancy and Teach For America. The firm works with public and private sector clients on masterplanning for streets, neighborhoods and rural developments. The firm has published their private and commercial work in a variety design publications and books. Current work on the boards includes a community boathouse for The Bronx River and a Carousel at The Battery. Recently, she co-edited the Extreme Sites issue of AD magazine. She writes for ArchNewsNow, AD and Yale’s Perspecta.

Claire Weisz was co-director of The Design Trust for Public Space and sat on the Steering committee for DDC's High Performance Building Guidelines for NYC Buildings. She has taught architecture and urban design, most recently on faculty at Columbia University's GSAUPP. She is currently serving on NYSCA's Architecture and Design Panel.

Mark Yoes

Mark Yoes is a founding principal of Weisz + Yoes, an architectural firm specializing in design and programming solutions for challenging sites. He has 15 years of experience in urban design and architecture in the United States and Asia. He received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Rice University and a Master's Degree in Architecture from Yale University. He is the recipient of many academic awards including the AIA gold medal and is a winner of the Architectural League of New York's Young Architect award.

He has worked as a designer on numerous prominent projects in The United States and Asia with Emilio Ambasz and Associates, the Walker Group/CNI, Agrest and Gandelsonas and I.M. Pei and The Pei Partnership. His projects have included the Corvin Center Master Plan in Budapest, Hungary; The Visitor's Center of The Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City; the Love Fellowship Tabernacle Church in East New York, Brooklyn; The Beth Israel Synagogue of Edmonton, Alberta; and a variety of retail and institutional work. His design work for the AIA Headquarters Competition and the Sculpture Center Competition helped the firm to earn finalist placement for both projects. Currently Mark is designing the new recycling facility for New York City on the Brooklyn waterfront and has just finished a house for two designers in Falls Village, CT.

Mark Yoes was born in Philadelphia in 1961 and resides in New York City. He is a registered architect in New York State and is a LEED 2.0 certified professional. His essay on development on the Thames River was published in AD Extreme Sites this past summer.

Layng Pew

Layng Pew joined Weisz + Yoes as a principal in the summer of 2006, bringing over 22 years of design and project management experience with educational, corporate and residential clients. Layng earned a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture at Yale College and a professional degree at the Yale University School of Architecture.

As a project architect he has specialized in complex and uncommon buildings types in New York City, New Jersey Connecticut and the Caribbean. The success of these large projects is in a large part due to his ability to forge strong collaborative relationships with internationally known designers as well as expert craftsmen in a wider range of trades. For the past 5 years, he was the project architect for a 13,000sf country residence constructed of English limestone in NJ. The project was designed in association with the British architect Quinlan Terry. The house is notable in its traditional detailing of load bearing masonry combined with modern interior finishes and amenities. Layng also coordinated the installation of the estate’s 38 acre garden designed by Belgian landscape architects, Jacques and Martin Wirtz. The construction of the garden included earthworks, landscape walls and the installation of over 36,000 plants. In the past year, Layng has also overseen the preparation of three projects for The Canterbury School in New Milford, CT – a new girls’ dormitory and the renovation and addition to Steele Hall – the campus student center and administration building.

Layng Pew was born in McComb, Mississippi in 1962 and now resides in Montclair, NJ with his wife and three sons. He is a registered architect in the State of New York and has been a member of the AIA since 2001.