Yaiza Blank, LEED AP, founding partner of Manhattan-based interiors office Atelier Armbruster, sees her role as a passionate editor of the fundamentals of aesthetically pleasing projects. Trained as an architect and an engineer (Dipl. Ing.) in her native Munich, Blank excels at masterfully combining precision with visual ingenuity and a highly sophisticated standard of taste. A fellowship at Balkrishna Doshi in Ahmadabad, India, brought her close to the maxims of Le Corbusier and Louis Khan, frequent trips her mother’s native Mexico gave her an insight into the work of Mexican Modernists. In her six years as a designer for Annabelle Selldorf, Blank was responsible for many residential projects of different scales, from apartments and townhouses to condominium buildings. Blank likes to credit her German education for a profound knowledge of detailing and craftsmanship, aspects of her work she thoroughly enjoys and explores.Her deep concerns about the environment are displayed by the fact that all of her collaborators are LEED certified. Always looking for solutions both integrative and innovative, Blank knows to navigate the fine line between hard-edged modernist ideology and clean, serene spaces. A flair for elegance meets a distinct sense for comfort. It is her philosophy, she says: “Beyond the surface, rooms have to work for the people who live in them and who love them.”