--- title: "Axis Mundi Design — Interior Designers & Decorators | Houzz" canonical_html_url: https://www.houzz.com/professionals/interior-designers-and-decorators/axis-mundi-design-pfvwus-pf~941667179 markdown_url: https://www.houzz.com/md/professionals/pf~941667179.md entity_type: LocalBusiness business_name: "Axis Mundi Design" category: ["Interior Designers & Decorators"] image: https://st.hzcdn.com/fimgs/f393860a07dad375_1135-w400-h400-b0-p0--.jpg address: "321 N. Clark Street,, Suite 500, Chicago, Illinois 60654, United States" latitude: 41.8923 longitude: -87.6373 phone: "(347) 387-1569" website: http://www.axismundi.com rating: 5 review_count: 1 followers: 36 last_updated: 2026-09-04 --- # Axis Mundi Design Original Houzz profile: [Axis Mundi Design](https://www.houzz.com/professionals/interior-designers-and-decorators/axis-mundi-design-pfvwus-pf~941667179) ## Professional summary - **Primary category:** Interior Designers & Decorators - **Location:** Chicago, IL - **Serves:** Chicago, Oak Park, Chicago Heights - **Houzz rating:** 5.0 out of 5 (1 review) ## About ### Houzz Badges - 1,000 Ideabook Saves SMART. FRESH. CURATED. Axis Mundi is a leading contemporary architecture and design firm specializing in high-end residential, commercial and cultural projects. Our completed projects in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and New York, embody glamour, urbanity and sophistication, while simultaneously functioning practically and offering a highly crafted sense of place. Our work embraces the time that we live in. Axis Mundi was founded by John Beckmann in 2004, who received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Environmental Design from Parsons School of Design. During his studies, he apprenticed with master minimalist Joseph P. D’Urso and, after graduating, collaborated with other design luminaries. Throughout his career he has honed an astute understanding of the intersections between architecture, design and contemporary art. Beckmann’s honors include a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts (1998) and a McDowell Colony Fellowship (2010). He both edited and contributed to The Virtual Dimension: Architecture, Representation and Crash Culture (Princeton Architectural Press, 1998), one of the first books to grasp the implications of digital technologies on the fields of architecture and design. Beckmann has also been a visiting critic at Yale School of Architecture, Pratt Institute and Parsons the New School for Design, and he has been a featured guest on Bloomberg TV and NBC's Open House. ### Services Provided - Interior Design - Kitchen Design - Bathroom Design - Living Room Design - Bedroom Design - Color Consulting - Space Planning - Furniture Selection - Dining Room Design - Custom Cabinets - Custom Kitchen Cabinets - Lighting Design - Home Office Design & Construction - Custom Built-ins - Floor Plans - Custom Bathroom Vanities - Custom Home Bars - House Plans - 3D Rendering - Custom Bookcases - Custom Walk-in Closets - Custom Rugs - Custom Fireplace Mantels - Sustainable Design - Wine Cellar Design - Green Building - Kitchen Remodeling ### Areas Served - Chicago - Oak Park - Chicago Heights ### Typical Job Cost $50,000 - 2.5 million ## Business Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Business Name | Axis Mundi Design | | Address | 321 N. Clark Street,, Suite 500, Chicago, Illinois 60654, United States | | Phone | (347) 387-1569 | | Website | http://www.axismundi.com | | License Number | Chicago + New York | | Followers on Houzz | 36 | **Social profiles:** - Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/axismundidesign/ - X (Twitter) — https://twitter.com/axismundidesign - Blog — www.axismundi.com ## Contact - **Houzz profile:** [Axis Mundi Design](https://www.houzz.com/professionals/interior-designers-and-decorators/axis-mundi-design-pfvwus-pf~941667179) - **Website:** http://www.axismundi.com - **Phone:** (347) 387-1569 ## Credentials **Certifications & Awards** - 2015: HGTV's Fresh Faces of Design (nominee), 2014: Best of Houzz Design, 2014: Best of Houzz, 2010: MacDowell Colony Fellowship, 1998: Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts **Affiliations** - [Architecture For Humanity](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/professionals/schools-and-organizations/architecture-for-humanity-pfvwus-pf~344158813) ## Reviews **Overall rating: 5.0 out of 5 — 1 review** ### All 1 review **★★★★★ — Russ Nockels, May 2017** > John is the penultimate designer - charismatic, creative and cooperative. He is extremely gifted and passionate about this work. What I came to appreciate most is that my condo was transformed into an original 'work of art' because he regards each project as a unique and individual opportunity. The result was perfect and I at last have a space that is fun, inspiring and relaxing at the same time. You will be not be disappointed. My highest recommendation. I'm in River North Chicago btw. **Comment from Axis Mundi Design:** > Thanks so much for the review and compliments Russ. It's always a pleasure working with you! ## Selected projects - [432 Park Avenue](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/432-park-avenue-pj-vj~3138432) - Location: New York, NY - Photos: 8 - Description: 432 Park Avenue, New York In Progress: We are designing a spectacular southern facing apartment with views forever. 432 Park Avenue is the third tallest building in the United States, and the tallest residential building in the world. It's the second tallest building in New York City, behind One World Trade Center. Design: John Beckmann, with Hannah LaSota Renderings: 3DS - [Tower Power](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/tower-power-pj-vj~5667796) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 9 - Description: The details are the design: Sneak peek of a new project (5500 sf) in the Windy City. Design: John Beckmann, with Hannah LaSota Renderings: 3DS © 2019 Axis Mundi Design LLC - [Glam Industrial Loft](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/glam-industrial-loft-pj-vj~2033545) - Location: Chicago, IL - Photos: 19 - Description: This apartment, in a landmarked circa 1870 building designed by Stephen Decatur Hatch and converted to lofts in 1987, had been interestingly renovated by a rock musician before being purchased by a young hedge fund manager and his gallery director girlfriend. Naturally, the couple brought to the project their collection of painting, photography and sculpture, mostly by young emerging artists. Axis Mundi accommodated these pieces within a neutral palette accented with occasional flashes of bright… - [Modern Beach Cottage](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/modern-beach-cottage-pj-vj~2033628) - Location: Chicago, IL - Photos: 16 - Description: The exterior of what looks like a vernacular shingle cottage is intentionally deceiving. For the interiors, Axis Mundi typically decided not to play by the rules. Instead of de rigeur nautical artifacts, floppy sofas and wicker furniture, the firm responded to Makoid’s all-white interior envelope by injecting rooms with comfortable modern elegance that’s more contemporary Cap Ferrat than Eastern Long Island. Clean furniture silhouettes—from Cassina, Poltrona Frau and B&B Italia—a Massimo Vitali… - [Light Filled Duplex](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/light-filled-duplex-pj-vj~2033894) - Location: Chicago, IL - Photos: 12 - Description: Packing a lot of function into a small space requires ingenuity and skill, exactly what was needed for this one-bedroom gut in an industrial District. When Axis Mundi was done, all that remained was the expansive arched window. Now one enters onto a pristine white-walled loft warmed by new zebrano plank floors. A new powder room and kitchen are at right. On the left, the lean profile of a folded steel stair cantilevered off the wall allows access to the bedroom above without eating up valuable f… - [Townhouse for an Art Collector](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/townhouse-for-an-art-collector-pj-vj~2033846) - Location: New York, NY - Photos: 21 - Description: "Revival” implies a retread of an old idea—not our interests at Axis Mundi. So when renovating an 1840s Greek Revival brownstone, subversion was on our minds. The landmarked exterior remains unchanged, as does the residence’s unalterable 19-foot width. Inside, however, a pristine white space forms a backdrop for art by Warhol, Basquiat and Haring, as well as intriguing furnishings drawn from the continuum of modern design—pieces by Dalí and Gaudí, Patrick Naggar and Poltrona Frau, Armani and Ver… - [Recursive House](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/recursive-house-pj-vj~2481079) - Location: Chicago, IL - Photos: 11 - Description: Where can a line lead you? The Surrealists believed automatically drawing one continuous line could take you into your subconscious. Many artists also use one unbroken line to create two-dimensional portraits or to limn recognizable forms. For Axis Mundi, one uninterrupted line leads to home. Or, more intriguingly, to the rhythmic underlying structure of this concept house for a successful digital entrepreneur in the Palm Springs desert. An homage to Austrian architect Frederick Kiesler’s 1950 “… - [Duplex in the Clouds](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/duplex-in-the-clouds-pj-vj~2670297) - Location: Chicago, IL - Photos: 18 - [Penthouse for Miss X](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/penthouse-for-miss-x-pj-vj~2480175) - Location: Chicago, IL - Photos: 4 - [Cloud House](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/cloud-house-pj-vj~2481588) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 12 - Description: This weekend retreat, nestled in a grove of aspens in Lizard Head Pass, Colorado, embodies the words of Henri Poincaré: “Ideas rose in clouds; I felt them collide until pairs interlocked, so to speak, making a stable combination.” It directly challenges many of our ideas about home. Rather than a place offering the illusion of protection from the outside world through solid structure, its openness, light and reflectivity make it arguably more transparent than even Philip Johnson’s iconic Glass H… - [Sky High Penthouse](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/sky-high-penthouse-pj-vj~2206155) - Location: Chicago, IL - Photos: 6 - [Former Department Store](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/former-department-store-pj-vj~2033908) - Location: Chicago, IL - Photos: 13 - Description: When the Gimbels department store chain closed in 1986, many of its selling floors were converted into luxury apartments, including those of this branch at 86th Street and Lexington Avenue. The retailer’s soaring ceilings allowed Axis Mundi to create bedroom mezzanine spaces overlooking the living and dining rooms. Defining them with translucent glass welcomed natural light while retaining privacy. Downstairs, spaces bleed one into another, their basic monochromatic black-and-white palette actin… - [A Family Affair](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/a-family-affair-pj-vj~2033874) - Location: Chicago, IL - Photos: 11 - Description: Good design must reflect the personality of the client. So when siblings purchased studios in Downtown by Philippe Starck, one of the first buildings to herald the revitalization of Manhattan’s Financial District, the aim was to create environments that were truly bespoke. The brother’s tastes jibed synchronously with the insouciant idea of France’s most popular prankster converting a building that once housed the buttoned-up offices of JP Morgan Chase. His collection of Takashi Murakami works,… - [Combined Apartment](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/combined-apartment-pj-vj~2033899) - Location: Chicago, IL - Photos: 7 - Description: When marrying two Upper West Side apartments to accommodate a growing family’s needs, the team at Axis Mundi was faced with a conundrum: how to distinctly delineate public and private spaces without sacrificing the greater openness conferred by the expansion. So they limned that line with a six-foot square sliding glass door, which enables parents to block out the sounds of rambunctious youth emanating from private quarters, while also shielding sleeping children from the later night activities… - [Grand Army Plaza](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/grand-army-plaza-pj-vj~2033881) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 9 - Description: It wasn’t necessary to overthink things when Axis Mundi designed interiors for an apartment at Brooklyn’s glass-sheathed 1 Grand Army Plaza, the luxury building by Richard Meier already endowed with all the “starchitect” bells and whistles, as well as drop-dead stunning views of Brooklyn, the harbor and Prospect Park. What did require considerable aptitude was to strike the right balance between respect for these assets, particularly the panoramas, and livability. The all-white scheme doesn’t ju… - [Vertical House](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/vertical-house-pj-vj~2480469) - Location: Chicago, IL - Photos: 3 - Description: European gardens of the 18th and 19th centuries boasted architectural follies that mimicked Greek temple ruins, Chinese pagodas, Egyptian pyramids and other buildings. They were intended to make connections to the virtues of classical antiquity, travels to exotic lands and other evidence of one’s sophistication and breeding. This house adopts the idea intriguingly by excising pretense and frivolity to devise a unique solution to the steeply sloping topography of this site in Smuggler’s Nest, Ver… - [Contemporary Classic](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/contemporary-classic-pj-vj~2045155) - Location: Chicago, IL - Photos: 8 - [Art House](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/art-house-pj-vj~2480490) - Location: Chicago, IL - Photos: 6 - Description: Modernism’s most sacred tenets—simplicity, utility, order, rationalism, form following function—were nothing new to the Shakers who settled New York’s Columbia County. This house, located in Chatham and not far from Hancock Shaker Village, therefore picks up on these parallel precedents to embrace both Shaker ideals and their natural outgrowth in the architecture of today. Here, a 16-foot entrance gallery lined with clerestory windows serves to separate principle living areas from bedrooms, whil… - [Westside Duplex](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/westside-duplex-pj-vj~2485862) - Location: Chicago, IL - Photos: 9 - Description: Never judge a book by its cover they say. Axis Mundi takes that adage seriously. The circa 1920s facades of these townhouses by Percy Griffin may read neo-Georgian. But behind the door of this particular residence, glass and oak are paired to impart a warm contemporary aesthetic that better showcases the client’s collections of art by Andy Warhol, Arman, Robert Longo, Alex Katz and Lucio Fontana, and furniture by modernist icons Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand and Roland Rainer. Axis Mundi gutte… - [Downtown Duplex for a Bachelor](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/downtown-duplex-for-a-bachelor-pj-vj~2717127) - Location: Chicago, IL - Photos: 11 - Description: The mammoth phalanxes of white-brick apartment houses that proliferated in the 1960s occupy an architectural purgatory; generic, with boxy interiors devoid of detail, many aren’t even interesting enough to excite a raised eyebrow. Our solution for this exemplar near Astor Place, which fortunately was blessed with premium skyline views, was to relieve the interior ordinariness by stimulating the senses with tactile variety. Axis Mundi created a complexly layered textural palette that injects visu… [See all 55 projects](https://www.houzz.com/professionals/interior-designers-and-decorators/axis-mundi-design-pfvwus-pf~941667179) ## Ideabooks - [Coffee Tables](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/73416822/list/coffee-tables) — 39 ideas - [Armchairs](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/73669594/list/armchairs) — 65 ideas - [Hardware](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/73655543/list/hardware) — 7 ideas - [Light & Shadow](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/74720201/list/light-shadow) — 31 ideas - [Doors](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/74720916/list/doors) — 28 ideas - [Chaises](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/73669956/list/chaises) — 9 ideas - [Benches](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/74767268/list/benches) — 2 ideas - [Landscape Elements](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/74720755/list/landscape-elements) — 11 ideas - [Sofas and Sectionals](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/73669917/list/sofas-and-sectionals) — 24 ideas - [Area Rugs](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/73669881/list/area-rugs) — 44 ideas - [Spaces](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/73410634/list/spaces) — 25 ideas - [Spaces 3](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/73406413/list/spaces-3) — 43 ideas - [Desks](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/73669780/list/desks) — 9 ideas - [Going Up...](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/73414765/list/going-up) — 62 ideas - [Chairs](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/73415835/list/chairs) — 80 ideas - [Lighting](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/73411559/list/lighting) — 94 ideas - [Cabinets and Shelving](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/73669831/list/cabinets-and-shelving) — 6 ideas - [Dining Tables](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/73669848/list/dining-tables) — 17 ideas - [Bathrooms](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/73669898/list/bathrooms) — 31 ideas - [Bar Stools](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/73669863/list/bar-stools) — 24 ideas [See all 26 ideabooks](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/users/axismundichicago) ## Community Q&A **Q: paint** *(in Photo Questions)* Hello, Can you tell me what color the cabinets are? A: Just white, matte finish **Q: What is the wall made of?** *(in Photo Questions)* A: Concrete **Q: Where are the cabinets from?** *(in Photo Questions)* A: Bulthaup **Q: Who is the manufacturer of the cabinetry?** *(in Photo Questions)* A: These were custom designed --- *Source: Houzz professional profile. Reflects the profile as of 2026-09-04.*