Opinion | Two Charities, One Studio, and the Cost of Conflict

How Terreform, Commonspace, and Michael Sorkin Studio Blurred Boundaries and Fractured Trust

By Mitchell Joachim, Maria Aiolova, Melanie Fessel, and others who have requested anonymity

Nonprofit organizations survive on trust. Their credibility depends on clear ethics, transparent governance, and firm separation from private interests.

In the first days of Terreform, we made a simple agreement. The nonprofit would remain separate from Michael Sorkin’s private architectural practice. No blurred roles. No overlapping financial structures. No confusion about what belonged to a charity and what belonged to a business.

That boundary mattered to us.

The chronology of events is significant. Commonspace was established by Sorkin and his wife in 2005. Terreform was founded in 2006 by Joachim, Aiolova, and additional collaborators. These organizations emerged during a period of intense creative collaboration, but also during a time when questions of governance, funding structures, and institutional identity were rapidly evolving.

Over time, the separation we expected to see did not fully materialize. Projects, staffing, and institutional identities appeared increasingly intertwined. What had been presented as distinct worlds began to feel less clearly divided.

At the same time, deeply personal financial circumstances entered the picture. Michael Sorkin’s relationship with his father, George Sorkin, was widely understood to be complicated. George Sorkin, a U.S. Navy engineer and Defense Department consultant, embodied a professional and ideological trajectory very different from that of his son, who was publicly known for his anti-war views and left-wing political positions. His estranged parents placed most of their estate in an irrevocable trust designated for orphans supported by the Jewish Federation.

During this same period, Commonspace’s leadership structure included Michael Sorkin, Joan Copjec, and legal counsel. It was established primarily to redirect the estate proceeds and avoid substantial taxes. For some observers, the concentration of board roles within closely aligned personal and professional relationships raised concerns about oversight and institutional independence.

In a published email dated May 7, 2008 at 3:52 PM, Sorkin (sorkin@thing.net) wrote:

“And, the other wrinkle with the Terreform money is that this – my inheritance – cannot be spent on me or Joan. I cannot have any salary or direct benefit or the IRS will have another reason to take half… This is another reason why we need the fee-for-service arm… When the thing is organized so that I can have a salary too, this will be much better.”

The phrase “my inheritance” referred to funds originating from his father’s estate.

We reached a clear conclusion. We did not want Terreform to receive, divert, or manage money connected to a private inheritance under circumstances that, in our judgment, risked legal complications, board conflicts, or ethical ambiguity. The nonprofit was never intended to function within that kind of uncertainty.

We said no.

Disagreements followed. Debates over control, finances, naming, and direction intensified. Collaboration gave way to separation. Nonprofit governance is not only about compliance. It is about maintaining public confidence. When boundaries between private practice and charitable institutions become unclear, trust begins to erode. Even the perception of entanglement can be damaging.

After twenty years, Terreform ONE continues independently, guided by a commitment to transparency, mission clarity, and firm institutional separation. Its endurance reflects lessons learned through difficult experience.

Most striking is how a shared project founded on ideas and collaboration ultimately fractured over money and trust. Once confidence collapsed, the consequences did not remain private. They extended into professional relationships, public narratives, and reputations that required years to rebuild. The lesson is uncomfortable but unavoidable: when ethical clarity falters within a nonprofit, the damage is rarely contained. It reshapes institutions, partnerships, and public perception.

Charitable organizations stand on public trust. When personal control displaces collective purpose, the institution weakens. Founder’s Syndrome is how respect unravels. Sorkin never relinquished control.