Academic | Adaptive Reuse | Affordable Housing | Airports | Apartments | Art Galleries | Books | Cafés | Campuses | Cities | Color | Commerce | Communities | Competitions | Construction | Culture | Education | Entertainment | Exhibitions | Embassies | Food | Gardens | Government | Green Rooftops | Headquarters | Hospitality | Hotels | Houses | Housing | Human Comfort | Installations | Interior Design | Landscape Architecture | Libraries | Master Planning | Materials | Mixed-Use Development | Multi-Family Residential | Museums | Net-Zero | New Construction | Parks | Performing Arts | Photography | Public Art | Renderings | Renovations | Residential | Restaurants | Retail | Schools | Senior Housing | Shops | Student Centers | Sustainable Design | Tall Buildings | Travel | Universities | Upcycling | Urban Design | Visualizations | Waste | Wellness | Workplace

Blending business development, public relations, and management from the onset, ABOVE THE FOLD launched in New York City in 2012 with a multidisciplinary roster (architecture, landscape architecture, photography), becoming the world’s first agency solely focused on the global built environment.

Milestone after milestone unfolded over the next four years as ABOVE THE FOLD represented talent and firms through winning numerous academic, civic, cultural, residential and other project types through RFQ/RFP/design competition processes.

ABOVE THE FOLD spearheaded national and international press campaigns resulting in significant exposure for the design teams, clients, and project stakeholders.

In 2014, Cultured featured John Patrick as the “Design Agent” in a feature about a new creative class — gallerists, curators, entrepreneurs, artists — shaping the now.

In November 2015, John Patrick moved ABOVE THE FOLD to Detroit to expand the agency’s mission and model to better serve the public. What better place to experiment than a great American city set to reinvent itself—and still in Eastern Standard Time?

In January 2016, John Patrick published an op-ed in Crain’s Detroit Business about keeping an eye on building design. In it, he emphasized the city’s design history and the importance of diversity in urban development, encouraging and challenging decision-makers and clients, both public and private, to think outside of the box.

By spring 2016, ABOVE THE FOLD curated its first design team for a local project: True North, an internationally-acclaimed live/work community and the first new construction in the Core City neighborhood in over 60 years. Among other awards, it was one of six projects in America named a finalist for the 2018 Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize.

In 2019, John Patrick and ABOVE THE FOLD formalized Design Team Curation™ as the agency’s approach and service to improving the design of spaces for art, living, working, and socializing.

Over the next two years, ABOVE THE FOLD proactively shaped the design teams for several projects in Detroit’s East Village neighborhood, including new workforce housing, The Shepherd (arts & culture), Little Village (park & public space), and Building in a Building (retail & public space).

Outside of Detroit, ABOVE THE FOLD continued to advise on securing national and international projects and public recognition. Between 2016 and 2020, ABOVE THE FOLD’s accomplishments included representing talent and firms shortlisted for numerous international design competitions; representing the design teams selected for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Rockefeller Wing; two art-focused buildings and a public space for a tech company in the Bay Area; and a $1+ billion commercial tower, among a variety of other projects.

Additionally, ABOVE THE FOLD led press campaigns and photography for the opening of Speed Art Museum and the United States Tennis Association’s $550 million campus improvements for the 2016 U.S. Open, elevating the quality of design teams’ photography and expanding their exposure with significant return on investment. Special projects included promoting a book and exhibition titled “Garden City Mega City,” which was installed at The Skyscraper Museum (New York City), Mextrópoli (Mexico City), and Austin Central Library (Austin).

During this time, John Patrick was identified as a Top A.E.C. Pro to Watch by Commercial Observer and invited by the AIA New York/Center for Architecture to speak on a panel about advising talent and firms out of their “pigeon holes.”

After five years in Detroit orchestrating some of the city’s most talked-about projects built in the 21st century, ABOVE THE FOLD was carrying forwards its mission to make contemporary design more accessible—just as intended.

In 2022, John Patrick was appointed by the City of Detroit Planning and Development Department to a volunteer position on the Neighborhood Advisory Council (NAC) for the Fisher 21 Lofts, a $150+ million, 600,000-square-foot adaptive reuse of an historic auto plant into hundreds of apartments and commercial areas supporting the Milwaukee-Junction and North End neighborhoods. It is set to open in 2028.

The success of ABOVE THE FOLD’s Design Team Curation™ for True North led to The Canopy, a second, much larger housing development designed by the same architect and set for completion in 2026. Opening to the public in 2024, The Shepherd and Little Village have been featured in dozens of magazines, newspapers, and online media—also winning awards from the American Institute of Architects and the American Society for Landscape Architecture; and being named one of TIME magazine’s “2025 World’s Greatest Places,” among other accolades.

These community-defining projects, sourced through ABOVE THE FOLD, have greatly benefitted and elevated the profiles and trajectories of talent and firms. Prior to ABOVE THE FOLD’s engagement with them, none had completed projects in Detroit and several had not completed any built work under their own names.

In January 2023, ABOVE THE FOLD signed its first Pritzker Prize—winning architect to the roster. The challenge? Increase the number of projects and range of publicity for a 40-year-old international company with a 25-year presence in New York City and the United States. Collaborating across multiple offices and teams, ABOVE THE FOLD’s collaborative efforts began showing big results — with a major turnaround underway.

During this period the agency also advised faculty at Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan, leveraging earned media to promote academic research and projects.

Other standout projects include Julia West House, Oregon’s tallest mass timber building and housing for elder and houseless BIPOC individuals; Cast Iron House, an exemplary landmark building transformed ahead of the commercial-to-residential conversion trend to create more housing; and, as part of The Glass House’s 75th anniversary, “Shigeru Ban: Paper Log House,” an installation of the renowned architect’s humanitarian structure (subsequently acquired by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the first-ever museum accession of a Paper Log House).

The qualitative and quantitative impact of ABOVE THE FOLD’s contributions locally, nationally, and internationally fuels the agency’s evolution.

Its proprietary Design Team Curation™ process serves 5+ projects in design and construction in North America — including a series of bungalows facing the Pacific Ocean; a reimagining of a small building on a busy urban site into a cafe and green oasis; and a ground-up, 30,000+ square foot building for a hospitality group in a natural setting.

Beyond Detroit and Michigan, ABOVE THE FOLD’s diverse roster is actively working on projects in the United States, Mexico, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Australia, with several major projects set for completion in 2026, 2027, and beyond.