Our Philosophy

Brian and Lauren founded Frances Mildred in 2012 after years of working together professionally.  During this time they developed a mutual respect for their complimentary backgrounds, and found they both inspired in the other a common desire to make things better.  In the collaborative work, there is an aspirational notion of "making" that forms the foundation for all of the projects at Frances Mildred. From the initial ideas formulated with our clients, through the materials and concepts we choose to employ, this notion of something made suffuses all of our conversations.

At the core of every design we produce is the client.  Our ambition from the outset is to interpret and re-imagine the basic requirements and desires that our clients bring to the project.  Through an intensely collaborative process of design involving the expertise of the "makers" that will actually perform the work, these desires are transformed and made into a new and unique reality.  And we have an adamant belief that this new reality should be long-lived.  The considered way our projects wear, age, and patina is a deliberate part of the design process intended to create a natural and organic architecture.

Frances Mildred is named after Brian's Grandmother, not only in reverence to an inspiring personality whose values we hold dear, but also to signify the familial nature of the way we work.  We rely on strong relationships, based on a proven confluence of quality and aesthetic, after many years of successful builds.

Brian Papa, 

Director

Brian cares most deeply for how things are put together, and the beauty that arises from a careful assembly of materials.  Prior to launching Frances Mildred with Lauren, Brian was a partner at MADE, a design and build company he founded in 2001 with Oliver Freundlich and Ben Bischoff, colleagues from Yale University. 

He began his formal education with a Bachelors of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University, and developed his love for practical construction while earning a Master of Architecture from the Yale School of Architecture.

Lauren Maccuaig,

Director

Lauren has always had a love for materials, textures, colors, and space.   Before creating Frances Mildred, she worked at MADE for a number of years, and at Terrain, a New York based landscape architecture firm.

Lauren received her Bachelor of Fine Art from Maryland Institute College of Art where she focused her studies on Textiles and Drawing.  Her interests then led to further study at the University of Pennsylvania where she was awarded her Masters in Architecture and Landscape Architecture.