When sisters Gisue Hariri and Mojgan Hariri began studying architecture at Cornell University in the 1970s, they were unaware of the opposition they would encounter as women in the field. Born in Iran in 1956 and 1958 respectively, they grew up in the desert—where their father worked as an engineer on the oil fields—and had no preconceptions of who architects could be or what the work entailed. Still, the unknown did not deter them. For over three decades now, the Hariris have run an internationally renowned studio in New York City, where they are celebrated for a holistic approach that puts as much emphasis on the furniture and smallest accessories as on a design’s grand structure. Whether in Salzburg or Tehran, they are inspired by Iranian culture’s reverence for nature as wel...