Boback Firoozbakht

BOBACK FIROOZBAKHT works at the intersection of design, marketing, and real estate development. His career has taken shape across some of the most demanding environments in the field.

Trained as an architect at the Rhode Island School of Design and the University of Texas at Arlington, he approaches design not as aesthetic overlay but as the framework through which brand identity, environmental performance, operational efficiency, and financial outcomes align.

Early roles established fluency in both creative leadership and business strategy. At OMA New York, he managed business development across North and South America under Partner Shohei Shigematsu. At Rafael Viñoly Architects, he led new business efforts and secured the winning proposal for the Rockefeller River Campus at The Rockefeller University. At TsAO & McKOWN, he was the liaison between principal stakeholders, translating design intent into investor presentations and detailed interior drawing sets for the Sangha Hotel & Retreat in Suzhou, China.

These experiences became foundational when he established his own integrated practice, overseeing design, development, construction, marketing, and sales across a $26 million portfolio of ground-up residential and renovation projects. By controlling the full development stack, he aligned design intent with construction sequencing, capital structure, building performance, and market positioning.

Seeking to operate at greater scale, he joined Starwood Hotels & Resorts as Design Director, working directly with Barry Sternlicht on the evolution of the 1 Hotels & Homes and Baccarat Hotels & Residences brands. As Vice President of Design at Extell Development Company, he directed design and value-engineering processes for two multifamily projects while launching the in-house interior design scope for a 685,000-square-foot residential tower in New York City.

In parallel, he has served as Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington and as Director of the Watershed Urbanism exhibition at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale, in collaboration with UNESCO Chair Adrian Parr Zaretsky. He also led campaign site strategy and principal advance efforts across 52 U.S. cities for President Bill Clinton and Secretary Hillary Clinton.

Boback has been featured in Architecture Boston, Builder Magazine, the Clinton Global Initiative, Cooper Hewitt, D Magazine, Design Indaba, and GE.

• Arlington Park Center
• Calender Grove
• 180 East 125th Street
• 259 Clinton Street
• 356 Fulton Street
• 1 Hotel Austin
• 1 Hotel Barcelona
• 1 Hotel Cairo
• 1 Hotel Copenhagen
• 1 Hotel Dallas
• 1 Hotel Denver
• 1 Hotel Diriyah Gate
• 1 Hotel Healdsburg
• 1 Hotel Hudson
• 1 Hotel Lake Como
• 1 Hotel Mexico City
• 1 Hotel Nashville
• 1 Hotel Niseko
• 1 Hotel Rancho Mirage
• 1 Hotel Rome
• 1 Hotel San Francisco
• 1 Hotel San Miguel
• 1 Hotel Seattle
• 1 Hotel South Beach
• 1 Hotel Tokyo
• 1 Hotel West Hollywood
• Baccarat Hotel Copenhagen
• Baccarat Hotel Diriyah Gate
• Baccarat Hotel Florence
• Baccarat Hotel London
• Baccarat Hotel Miami
• Baccarat Hotel Paris
• Baccarat Hotel Rome
• Dallas Warehouse District
• Deloache Residence
• Lavendale Residence
• Marseille Residence
• Potomac Estate
• Potomac Residence
• Preston Haven Residence
• Travis Townhome 20
• Travis Townhome 21
• Great Taipei New Town District
• OPEN Exhibition
• Sangha Hotel & Retreat