Most people barely notice the buildings they live in and around, but Danny is working to change that, as a persuasive and intelligent voice insisting that we see, understand, and value the built environment. His mission began while he was pursuing his architecture degree at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, when he was hired to host the show that would become Build It Bigger, one of Discovery Channel’s most popular series. As host and then producer, Danny traveled to more than fifty countries, exploring high-impact, high-profile architecture and engineering projects and explaining how they came to be—and why people should care.

Build It Bigger started Danny on a path to architectural advocacy, but it also served as a matchless education for an aspiring architect. In 2008, Danny founded Danny Forster & Architecture, determined to design spaces that would have a lasting impact on the field of architecture as well as on people’s lives. DF&A has won awards from DNA Paris and Radical Innovation, among others, and serves a wide range of exacting clients, from Marriott International to KPMG to Taylor Swift. The firm has rebranded the international hotel chain Aloft, planned nine city blocks in downtown Charlotte, and designed a Museum of Ethnography in Budapest and an Experiential Environmental Museum in the Seychelles. Its hospitality projects include a boutique hotel in St. Augustine, a five-star modular resort on the island of Nevis, and large-scale towers at the World Trade Center and Hudson Yards.

DF&A is an industry leader in modular construction, currently building a modular tower on San Francisco’s historic Market Street, a Hilton Motto in Brooklyn and—in Manhattan—an AC by Marriott that will be the tallest modular hotel in the world.   After working on several ground-breaking modular projects, Danny was convinced that modular construction, still in its relative infancy, had the potential to make buildings (and building-making) better. DF&A decided to partner with MiTek, a global Berkshire Hathaway firm, to unlock that potential, by inventing a transformative new system for building modular, as well as the technology that will give builders around the country the tools to be part of the change.

Meanwhile, Danny continues to make films that investigate, explicate, and celebrate the built environment. With Steven Spielberg as co-executive producer he created and directed the Emmy-Award–winning series Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero, which told the stories behind the historic effort to rebuild lower Manhattan in the wake of the attacks on 9/11. Other major media work includes the multiple Golden Panda-award-winning How China Works, on Discovery Networks; Breakthrough, a PBS/BBC series; Prefab Nation, on the FYI Network; and custom projects for clients ranging from the developer of 432 Park to SOM’s design competition team.

Using his skills as a filmmaker and a storyteller—as well as DF&A’s unusually broad suite of services—Danny also helps corporations and nonprofit organizations find and express the significance of their building and branding, whether internally or to the public at large. Recent clients include Fannie Mae, KPMG, and the Tribute Center at the World Trade Center.   A professor of architecture, Danny teaches courses on sustainable design at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and Syracuse University’s School of Architecture and is a frequent jurist in design reviews. He’s also an internationally sought-after speaker, from TED talks to industry conferences. Recent keynote addresses include the HotelSpaces in Miami, the World of Modular Summit, and Crestron Masters and the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Danny can also be spotted on stage in New York’s storytelling venues, from The Magnet Theater to the Moth.