Axis Mundi

Axis Mundi is a leading contemporary architecture and interior design firm, specializing in the design of highly personalized residential, commercial and cultural projects. Our New York-based design studio has a reputation for interdisciplinary work across the fields of architecture, interior and anomalous site-specific installations. The firm has conceived and executed residential, retail and commercial projects from coast to coast.


John Beckmann and his retinue of shapeshifting insurgents know that being provocateurs and challenging assumptions is what catalyzes new ways of thinking. And new ways of thinking are what lead to the freeform experimentation and fresh perspectives that result in design innovation.

John Beckmann launched Axis Mundi in 2004. He studied architecture, interior and industrial design at Parsons School of Design. During his studies, he apprenticed with master minimalist Joseph P. D’Urso. Throughout his career he has honed an astute understanding of the intersections between architecture, design and contemporary art.


Beckmann’s honors include Best Residential Interior for 432 Park Avenue, ARCHMARATHON 2020, 15 of the Best Residential Architects and Designers in New York, by New York Architects (2020), a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts (1998) and a MacDowell Colony Fellowship (2010). He edited and contributed to The Virtual Dimension: Architecture, Representation and Crash Culture (Princeton Architectural Press, 1998), one of the first books to grasp the implications of digital technologies on the fields of architecture and design. Beckmann has also been a visiting critic at Yale School of Architecture, Pratt Institute and Parsons the New School for Design, and he has been a featured guest on Bloomberg TV, NBC’s Open House, and he’s been nominated two times for HGTV’s Designer of the Year.