For over 30 years Basil Walter, BWA founding partner, has been an innovative force and influential voice in the cultural conversation around architecture and design; historic preservation and leading-edge contemporary work. Graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design, Walter started his career as a painter before establishing his architecture studio in 1984, restoring an apartment in the historic Dakota Apartments. 

His commercial work has included projects in the US, Europe, Asia and South America. Residential work includes projects in many of the most significant landmarks in New York City, from the Dakota Apartments (Henry Hardenberg, 1880) 998 Fifth Avenue (McKim Mead & White, 1905) and One Sutton Place South (Rosario Candela, 1929.) Other high end residential work included projects in Upstate New York, Massachusetts, Los Angeles, Beijing, London and Rio. 

He has designed the legendary Vanity Fair Oscar Party for the last 20 years and yearly events for The Aspen Institute, The Breakthrough Prize, The New Establishment Summit and Vanity Fair Founders Fair. Basil is a contributor to Vanity Fair magazine as advisor on architecture and is the former chair of the New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation.