AN Media Group announces the promotion of Jack Murphy to Editor in Chief. In this role, he will oversee the production of the award-winning architecture and design publications The Architect’s Newspaper and AN Interior, in addition to AN’s awards programs. He will also support AN Media Group’s Facades+ conferences, along with related projects, collaborations, and initiatives.
Murphy is The Architect’s Newspaper’s third Editor in Chief in the publication’s 22-year history. The role was first held by William “Bill” Menking, who cofounded the publication with Diana Darling. Menking shared the title of Editor with Cathy Lang Ho from the newspaper’s creation in 2003 until 2007; he was then Editor in Chief from 2007 until his death in 2020. Aaron Seward later held the role from June 2021 until April 2023.
This change was shared in person last week with the attendees of AN’s Best of 2025 celebration event at HBF’s New York showroom on December 4.
Diana Darling, CEO/creative director of AN Media Group, commented: “Over the past almost four years, I believe Jack has demonstrated his ability to carry forward the editorial vision established 23 years ago by Bill Menking. Jack has become a trusted editorial partner whose leadership reflects the qualities that shaped our identity from the start. His integrity, curiosity, snarkiness, enthusiasm, and respect for the profession form The Architect’s Newspaper’s ‘secret sauce.’ These are the attributes that set AN apart and continue our reputation as makers of essential architecture and design publications.”
Before this promotion, Murphy was the executive editor of The Architect’s Newspaper and AN Interior, a role he held since April 2023. He joined the company in April 2022 as its managing editor. He contributed his first freelance story to AN in 2016.
Under his care, in 2024 the design of AN Interior by Maiarelli Studio won a Gold Medal: Trade/Brand/Educational/Institutional in the Best of Genre category for the 59th Annual SPD Awards from the Society of Publication Designers. (Other genre winners included Fast Company, Texas Monthly, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, Magneto Magazine, and WSJ. Magazine.) AN Interior and The Architect’s Newspaper have each won awards from the Trade, Association, Business Publications International, which supports b2b journalism. Critic Mimi Zeiger has been recognized for her work published in AN.
In addition to leading AN’s editorial team, Murphy regularly writes for both titles. He has penned editor’s notes, covered breaking news, and filed obituaries; reviewed buildings, exhibitions, books, and design events; and interviewed architects like Elizabeth Diller, John Pawson, Jeanne Gang, Anne Holtrop, Pascale Sablan, and Andrés Jaque, among others. As part of his interest in how architecture operates within the wider domain of culture, he has chatted with designer-turned-comedian Nick White, thought hard about a Gap ad; and meditated on the meaning of Buc-ee’s.
Caught in a reflective mood, Murphy said: “In the tumultuous architecture and design media landscape of the 21st century, AN is a unique success story. Founded with an editorial curiosity that has gone on to power an array of in-person and virtual activations, this company is a case study in perseverance. I am thankful for the trust placed in me by my colleagues, our diverse network of writers from around the world, and the talented architects and designers whose projects we cover and criticize. I understand architecture as a part of culture, and I make architecture media as a way to engage the major crises that structure our world today. I am honored by this recognition and will continue expanding AN’s reputation as a progressive outlet that informs, educates, challenges, and delights our AEC community.”
Previously, Murphy was editor of Cite: The Architecture and Design Review of Houston and an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design. He received an Honorable Mention for the Pierre Vago Journalism Award 2020 from the International Committee of Architecture Critics and was named the 2017 Associate Member of the Year from the Texas Society of Architects. His writings have appeared in many publications, and he has contributed to a handful of books. Murphy has worked in award-winning architecture practices in Boston, Austin, Houston, and New York. He earned degrees in architecture from MIT and Rice University. He recently finished paying off his student loans.