Ray is rooted in making art and design a part of everyday life through culturally-inspired apartment buildings that offer unique programming and publicly-accessible art spaces.

The Founding Story

Ray was developed out of the need for more spaces that make culture accessible through daily experience. By approaching this through a residential lens, Ray highlights the sense of community and belonging made possible by an intimate shared experience of art, architecture, and design.

Founder Dasha Zhukova was inspired to apply her work in cultural institutions and public art spaces into a new category of the built environment. Dasha established the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in 2008, seeking to create a space devoted to the discovery and exploration of global art and culture. Her experience at the museum, particularly observing how people interacted with both the art and architecture, was the catalyst for launching Ray. 

Dasha also brings her perspective as both founder of Garage Magazine, a biannual publication dedicated to art and fashion, and co-founder of Artsy, a digital platform for collecting and discovering art. This passion for artistic design, along with the Ray team’s interdisciplinary backgrounds, allows for a collaborative and creative approach to the historically traditional space of real estate.