The Raygency Unveils: New Agency Promotes Architecture and Design

Chicago, IL – September 17, 2024 – The Raygency proudly announces its official launch, setting a new standard in public relations and content marketing tailored specifically for the architecture and design sectors. Founded by Leah Ray, a renowned design communicator with a rich architectural background, The Raygency is dedicated to showcasing how architecture transforms lives and shapes our collective future.

Ray merges architectural insight with award-winning creative storytelling. Her journey spans esteemed degrees in architectural theory from Harvard Graduate School of Design (M Des) and the University of Kentucky (B Arch), alongside influential roles at iconic Chicago firms such as Harry Weese Associates and Tigerman McCurry. This experience laid the foundation for her transition into architectural education, lecturing as an adjunct faculty member at universities including Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Illinois at Chicago, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

At the intersection of architectural theory and practice, Ray’s career evolved into a dynamic role in architectural communications at leading firms Gensler and HKS. Through this experience, she identified a critical gap: traditional communications agencies often struggled to capture the essence of architecture and design. This realization drove her to establish The Raygency—a firm uniquely equipped to articulate the transformative power of design.

“The Raygency is where architectural insight meets cutting-edge communication,” Ray said. “We understand that architecture is more than buildings; it’s about shaping lives and communities. Our goal is to tell this story with precision and creativity, using every possible channel to illuminate the profound impact of great design.”

The Raygency’s purpose is clear: the agency views architecture is a way of life, and the new agency’s role is to reveal how design enriches and transforms that life. By blending intelligent, clear, and engaging communication with a deep appreciation for design’s potential, The Raygency helps architects and designers articulate their vision and elevate their brands. The agency believes that great design fosters more joyous, inclusive, and resilient futures for all.

With a focus on combining visual and verbal storytelling, The Raygency offers specialized services in public relations, content marketing, and digital strategy. The agency’s approach is rooted in a curiosity about emerging media and a commitment to participatory and inclusive dialogue that drives design forward.

To explore how The Raygency can amplify your narrative and grow your enterprise, visit www.theraygency.com.

Media Contact:

Leah Ray
CEO, The Raygency
leah@theraygency.com

About The Raygency:

The Raygency is a pioneering public relations and content marketing agency founded by Leah Ray in 2024. Dedicated exclusively to architecture and design, The Raygency merges architectural expertise with innovative communication strategies to illuminate how design impacts lives and drives change. Our work empowers architects and designers to communicate their value, grow their enterprises, and shape a joyous, inclusive, and resilient future for all.

On What I Do: An Architectural Life

I encountered what I view as one of the most influential concepts of architecture when I was a first-year architecture student in Mark Clary’s studio at the University of Kentucky College of Architecture. Mark assigned each student in my studio our first project: the analysis of a house done by a noted architect. I was assigned the ¾ House by John Hejduk. Driven by curiosity, I dove into Hejduk’s Mask of Medusa, and that’s where I found it.

Hejduk viewed writing and design both, equally, as forms of architecture. A poem, a photograph, a film — all could be architecture to him.

So much debate around his work and his practice centered on the fact that most of his designs were never constructed into buildings. That argument missed the point. He viewed architecture as a way of thinking, of framing the world, of experiencing it. Architecture is a way of bringing ideas to life, of creating realities that could yet be. As he neared the end of his life, he came to say that architecture was a way of being alive. This concept underpins my career.

In recent years, much has been made of “digital architecture” and “design thinking.” These concepts have been at the forefront of the culture of innovation that has dominated the past few decades of American business. Why have Silicon Valley developers so easily come to own the term “architecture”? Why is it “design thinking” and not “architectural thinking” that has subsumed our cultural curiosity? This all goes back to the limiting notion that architecture is confined to buildings. Hejduk knew that it was not; he saw it as something more.

Architecture is a way of thinking and making. Architecture is a way of life.

My career within the field of architecture began traditionally. I earned a Bachelor of Architecture and a Master of Design in Architecture Theory. I practiced in award-winning offices; I taught at respected schools of architecture. I came to my current profession as an architectural thinker who expresses vision through language, through the design of communications. Today, that takes the form of writing, designing websites, creating social media campaigns, and through the way I approach photography and videography. I look forward to what form my practice will take next, as it evolves and grows over time.

Over the years, when I’m asked why I stopped practicing architecture, I’ve given different answers, feeling compelled to offer an explanation. The truth is: I never stopped. I simply practice differently, through different media. My path is unconventional; I have colleagues and friends who confess in weak moments that they don’t understand what I do. This is how I see it: I practice by exposing the meaning of architecture. I collaborate with designers, photographers, writers, filmmakers, photographers and web developers to change the ways that people see and experience the world through architecture. Together we change people’s minds — we open people’s minds — to what architecture can do, and what it could yet do. We change life, we live through architecture, together.

For Mark Clary