Leadership Team

Scott Marble, FAIA

Scott Marble is a founding partner of Marble Fairbanks Architects and has more than 30 years of experience in all aspects of design and construction.

He has been a leading voice around the integration of new technologies into the processes of design and construction to increase efficiencies, improve communication between architects, owners, and contractors, and elevate the quality of design. Scott has been Partner-in-charge on many of the firm’s award-winning cultural and educational projects and oversees the continuity between design concepts, details, and site execution on all projects.

Scott is also a life-long educator. Most recently, he served as professor and William H. Harrison Chair at the School of Architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology before stepping down to focus exclusively on practice. Prior, Scott was an adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation for 25 years, as well as Director of the Integrated Design Studios for the Columbia Building Intelligence Project (CBIP), an ongoing research project exploring new, technology-enabled collaborative processes in design. He has also taught at the University of Houston, where the work produced won first prize in the AA|Fab Award sponsored by the Architectural Association in London. Scott is a frequent writer and lecturer at architecture schools and professional conferences around the world in the areas of digital technologies and Building Information Modeling (BIM). He is the editor of the book Digital Workflows in Architecture: Design, Assembly, Industry, published by Birkhauser.

Scott received his Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University and his Bachelor of Environmental Design degree from Texas A&M University. In 2012, he was a recipient of the Outstanding Alumni Award from Texas A&M University.

Karen Fairbanks, FAIA

Karen Fairbanks is a founding partner of Marble Fairbanks where she has focused on the design and planning for both public and private educational and cultural clients.

She has extensive experience with current library design, and her work as a member and past Chair of the American Libraries Association Committee for Buildings for College and University Libraries includes panels and presentations on library design around the world. Karen is a past member of the Board of Directors for the New York Chapter of the AIA, and has served on the Exhibition Committee, the Scholarship Committee, and as Co-Chair of the NYC AIA Design Awards Committee. She serves as a juror for architecture awards panels across the country and lectures extensively on the work of the firm. 

Karen received her Master of Architecture Degree from Columbia University and Bachelor of Science in Architecture degree from the University of Michigan. She was honored by Michigan as the 2013 Distinguished Alumna of Taubman College of Architecture. Prior to forming Marble Fairbanks, she worked on award-winning educational and institutional projects at firms in New York City and Boston.

Karen is the Claire Tow Professor of Professional Practice, Chair of the Architecture Department, and Faculty Director of the Design Center at Barnard College. While at Barnard she has participated in the capital planning of the campus – including serving on the Capital Campaign Advisory Committee, the Long Range Capital Planning Committee, the Master Plan committee, the Trustee’s Buildings, Grounds, and Environment Committee, and the Teaching and Learning Center Steering Committee. Karen brings this extensive knowledge of institutional organizations and the specific needs of academic clients to the work of Marble Fairbanks.

Jason Roberts, AIA

Jason Roberts is a Director and has been a key member of the Marble Fairbanks team since 2012.

As a Director, Jason manages the office building and construction standards, making sure all the key technical criteria and goals are met in the development of a project. He interfaces with the full project team, communicating with consultants, contractors, and clients to deliver design excellence. At Marble Fairabanks Jason has managed projects for clients at Brooklyn Public Library, New York Public Library, Hunter College, Lawrence University, and Parsons School of Design, among others.

Jason led the master plan for Parsons The New School for Design, a comprehensive study of 350,000 sf of space across numerous buildings throughout New York City, and the master plan for 160,000 sf of space in the Davis Family Library and Armstrong Science Library on Middlebury College’s campus. He also completed a workplace recommendation report as part of a larger strategic plan for the National Park Service and the General Services Administration at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston.

Built projects Jason managed include Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center; Hunter College’s Cooperman Library which included the integration of learning centers and specialized teaching and learning spaces throughout the library; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture which included the full gut-renovation of an original Carnegie Library; and, Colman Hall at Lawrence University which included the transformation of underutilized space within an existing residence hall to create new group housing.

Jason received his Master of Architecture from Columbia University and his Bachelor of Science in Architecture with honors from the University of Michigan. He is an active member of the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP). Jason has over 10 years of experience in library design starting with the Traverwood Branch Library in Ann Arbor, MI which began design in 2005 and opened in 2008.

Tanya Gershon, AIA

Tanya Gershon is a Director and has been a key member of the Marble Fairbanks team since 2018 with over a decade of experience in cultural, civic and academic projects.

At Marble Fairbanks, Tanya leads clients and project teams in planning studies and built projects from schematic design through construction administration streamlining the process through attention to detail, on-site problem solving and time management. She focuses on building and maintaining client relationships while simultaneously balancing multiple projects. 

Tanya has managed projects for clients at the General Service Administration (GSA), National Park Service (NPS), Brown University, Brooklyn Public Library, Urban Dove Team Charter School, New York University Institute of Fine Arts and SUNY Southampton among others. She recently led a joint project with the GSA and the Northeast Region of the National Park Service to rethink museum collections and storage for 235,000 sf at 60 parks, storing over 32 million objects. Recently completed built work includes a renovation and addition for Brown University’s Churchill House, home to the Department of Africana Studies and historic Rites and Reason Theatre in Rhode Island, and a renovation and rebranding of Brooklyn Public Library’s Center for Brooklyn History in New York.

Prior to her time at Marble Fairbanks, Tanya was the Director of Design and Founder of SASAI – South African Street Artist Initiative – an organization in South Africa working on activating public spaces in Johannesburg through community and civic partnerships with local artists and designers. Her previous projects include large scale museum installations at MoMA PS1 in New York, MOAD (Museum of African Design) in Johannesburg, the Chicago History Museum and Jane Addam’s Hull House and a Cooper Hewitt National Design Award from the Smithsonian for her work on architectural publications.

Tanya received her Masters in Architecture and Masters of Science in Critical, Curatorial & Conceptual Practices in Architecture both from Columbia University where she received a graduate award for, “The Thesis Which Makes the Most Significant Contribution to the Public Sphere.” She attended Barnard College where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Architecture with honors. Tanya is an active member of the AIA.

Peter Adams, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, CPHC

Peter Adams is a Senior Architect at Marble Fairbanks Architects. He brings over a decade of experience with a broad range of AEC industry expertise informed by work across design, fabrication, construction, development, and ownership representation.

A Phius Certified Consultant® (CPHC®), Peter brings deep technical and sustainability expertise to his work, with a strong grounding in building science, passive building strategies, high-performance building enclosures, and integrated mechanical systems. His approach emphasizes rigorous technical coordination in service of long-term performance, durability, and environmental responsibility.

At Marble Fairbanks, Peter currently serves as Project Manager for a renovation and addition to the historic Bebe Plain Land Port of Entry on the U.S.–Canada border, as well as the renovation of Historic Building 324 on Governors Island. He is also working on the renovation of the National Parks of Boston Headquarters building. Peter has experience across all phases of architectural design and played a central role in the restoration and renovation of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a designated New York City Landmark. His project experience also includes the Brooklyn Public Library Greenpoint, the renovation of Lawrence University’s Colman Hall, and the POTS addition, among others.

Peter began his career at SHoP Construction, where he used advanced digital modeling and manufacturing workflows combined with a collaborative approach to problem-solving to help build the unique Barclays Center facade. Building a specialty in facade design, he contributed to other award-winning projects such as 461 Dean (at the time, the tallest modular building in the world), the American Copper Towers, City Point, the Botswana Innovation Hub, and others. As a Project Architect at COOKFOX, Peter led and coordinated a subset of the Terminal Warehouse project team, blending historic preservation, curtainwall, and other facade design, landscape, and architecture. At FullStack Modular, Peter managed the design side of the design-build startup, hiring and leading design teams to create manufacturing-ready modular projects. While at Centurion Real Estate Partners, he represented ownership on-site, focusing on quality control consultant management.

Peter received his Master of Architecture from Columbia University, where he was recognized with multiple awards for design excellence, including the Honor Award for Excellence in Design, the Visual Studies Award, and the William Kinne Fellowship. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Katie Shima, CPHC

Katie Shima is a Senior Architect at Marble Fairbanks Architects and has been a member of the firm for more than six years. She has over a decade of experience in cultural, civic, and workplace architecture.

A Phius Certified Consultant® (CPHC®), Katie brings a strong foundation in sustainability, building science, and material responsibility to her work.

At Marble Fairbanks, Katie is currently serving as Senior Architect for the New Lots Library. Past projects include the Bentonville Schools Downtown Masterplan, where she also held a Senior Architect role, along with contributions to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the Glen Oaks Branch Library. She also led construction management for the Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center, a Bronx-based cultural institution supporting performance arts and education.

Prior to rejoining Marble Fairbanks, Katie served as Design Director at SITU Studio, where she led projects for innovative clients including the award-winning Google Humboldt Campus, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Campus Pavilion, Making Space at the Brooklyn Public Library, the Design Lab at the New York Hall of Science, and the adaptive reuse and expansion of the Graycliff Conservancy Visitor Center. 

Katie is also a practicing visual artist and has exhibited her work in New York City and internationally. She brings an artistic sensibility and a deep knowledge of materiality and craft to her architectural practice. Katie holds a Master of Architecture and a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from Columbia University and has continued to pursue academic research and teaching at Columbia University and Barnard College.