About
Founded in New York City in 1992, Building Studio Architects is a full-service architecture and interior design firm with experience in a broad range of project types, including new construction and rehabilitation of institutional, commercial, residential, and multi-family buildings in addition to private residential work.
The partners bring unusual strengths to a small firm. Partner Michael Goldblum, a Commissioner at the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, is LEED certified and brings tremendous expertise in historic preservation. Partner John Field, employs his master’s degree in Industrial Design to create buildable, meticulously detailed, coordinated construction projects. They both have extensive experience managing small and large projects and working in corporate and institutional environments as team leaders and collaborators.
Building Studio Architects is a member of the US Green Building Council, the American Institute of Architects, NCARB, NOMA, and IDSA. Building Studio Architects designed the first LEED-certified home in the City of New York and advises many clients on design alternatives in consideration of sustainable design.
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We spend a lot of time and effort developing strong relationships with management teams. Earning trust by listening to and delivering on our clients’ needs and goals is the most important thing we do. We are proud that most of our work comes from repeat clients, many of whom have been with us for decades and have trusted us with repeated projects. Since we have clients from nearly every sector of the economy, we know that every industry, every use, and every building has its own culture, needs, methods, and preferences. We seek to identify those preferences and work to express them in our projects.
We approach every project with an open mind and try to find the design language appropriate to the task. Budget, neighborhood context, program, and client direction all factor into that mix. We design exteriors and interiors, depending on the project. From custom homes and apartments up to multi-story buildings and institutions, we believe in integrating the interiors with the architecture.
People
Building Studio Architects is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Despite being a small office we have a diverse staff and are committed to inclusion. BIPOC, LGBTQ, disabled, and any other qualified applicants are welcome on our team. Building Studio Architects does not tolerate harassment of any kind.
Interested in joining our team? Click here for our careers page!
Trusted By
Services
Historic Preservation
Real Estate Support Services
RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS
Site Planning and Design
Environmentally Conscious Design
Adaptive REuse
Architectural Design
Space Planning
Facility Planning
Zoning Analysis/Code
Interior Design
Our Approach
Sustainability
As a LEED-certified firm, we are eager to have our buildings lessen their impact on the environment, and we have been proactive in using design decisions at the earliest stages to work toward sustainability goals.
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One of the most environmentally sustainable things architects can do is to renovate, reuse, and repurpose existing buildings. Our deep expertise in historic preservation and adaptive reuse allows us to provide cost-effective, aesthetically rewarding designs that minimize their carbon footprints. By outfitting these buildings with efficient insulation, envelopes, and mechanical systems they can perform on par with the most responsible new buildings.
Methodology
From the first meeting, BSA is driven by the client’s needs and aspirations: never imposing an aesthetic, but always striving for an engaging, creative design appropriate to its location, use and budget.
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As an open studio, projects never languish; and with years of experience in NYC, the firm is able to leverage external teams to accomplish works of significant scale. With the partners’ personal care and intensive, consistent effort, BSA is proud of its efforts to help clients achieve their goals within their budgets and timeframes. We understand this as making buildings and building relationships.
The firm’s approach seeks to be thoughtful and careful, acknowledging the complexity and delicate balance that is involved in every project. The partners recognize and celebrate the client’s primacy in the process; learning from the client; leading with expertise while celebrating and building upon their hopes and goals. We are proud to have no specific identifiable style. Approaching every project with no preconceptions we find the design language appropriate to the task.
BSA work includes all aspects of architectural design, ranging from feasibility and pre-design planning, evaluations, and reports, through design and detailed construction documents and technical assistance during the construction phase. The partners are always reachable and remain intimately involved with all phases of the projects, working to bring each and everyone to a successful completion.
Design
Our expertise in interior design has led to familiarity with furniture vendors, room layouts, and other important factors that effect the architecture and final experience of the space. We do furniture layouts to test that the rooms work as intended.
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We assist the client in developing FF&E scopes and in sourcing materials. We work with furniture consultants and dealers to secure materials.
Building Studio’s emphasis on the highest quality design has been recognized with awards by the AIA, the Brick Institute of America, the New Haven Preservation Trust, and the Queens Bronx Builder’s Association. While our projects are often tightly budgeted, we are proud of our ability to infuse them with visual and material interest, aesthetic rigor, order, and beauty.
Awards
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QBBA Design Awards - 2024
This local project is being recognized by the Queens Bronx Builders Association for design excellence! Our design completely remakes their nondescript building, re-facing it in stucco and stone, with a new light monitor announcing the institutional presence to the approaching traffic. The design had to conform to a very tight budget, while giving the congregation an enlarged facility with more presence and a stronger visual identity. Read More⟶
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SARA National Design Awards - 2024
Most awards grant recognition to only recently completed projects. We were thrilled that one of our favorite house projects was able to qualify for this award despite being an older build. The uniqueness of the design lies in its relationship with the steep hillside site: the tower emphasizes the verticality of the site, while the loft hovers, cantilevered, over it, with the stone courtyard and plinth rise out from it, extending it. Read More⟶
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New Haven Preservation Trust - 2020 Landmark Award - The Washington Building
The Washington Building, originally built in 1899 and finished in 1900 as a beer garden, is a four-story brick and terra cotta building at the landmark corner of Church and Crown Streets in the heart of Downtown New Haven. Most recently the building was a dance club with artists’ studios above. We converted this space to a mixed-use building with 18 apartments and retail spaces on the ground floor.
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The Real Deal – Top Performing Architects in Manhattan 2019& 2020
While we retain our perspective, knowing that our presence on the lists is primarily due to the way the publication aggregates data – we remain proud and grateful for being included. The inclusion certainly occurred because of our work with large multi-family residential properties. The projects are complex, often requiring fast, thoughtful responses to vexing challenges. Read more ⟶
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Brick Industry Gold Award 2019 - Soho Apartment Building
This new SoHo condominium apartment building uses traditional brick decorative techniques in a contemporary way, fitting in seamlessly with its historic south Village block. Dogtooths, corbels, reveals and rustications, radiused corners and varied bonds use shadow and texture to give the façade depth and detail. Steel balconies, canopy and planters give the façade further texture and detail, casting the filigree of shadows like the fire escapes nearby. Read more ⟶
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AIA BQDA Merit Award 2018 - DoT Storage Warehouse
Under the Brooklyn embankment of the Williamsburg Bridge, this project consolidates the facilities for the Painting Division of the Department of Transportation. Our design for a new storage building to be added to the existing ensemble on the site had to respond to difficult site and access criteria as well as introduce healthy work place elements into a storage warehouse building.
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Queens Bronx Builders Association Award 2018 - Summit Parc Multifamily Apartment Building
This design award comes from builders, whose appreciation for the creativity of the design is matched by their understanding for how creatively we worked with the builders in this low-budget project. Working with Cipco Developers, we were proud to have developed a dynamic building design that was cost-effective and suited well to its location. Our design for the interiors includes exposed concrete structure and an innovative in-wall LED reveal system created custom for the project. Read more ⟶
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AIA CLP Program 2017
Building Studio Architects is pleased to announce that our Associate Dyana Berthaud has been accepted into the AIA New York’s Civic Leadership Program! This program is designed to cultivate a class of emerging architectural professionals into engaged and effective leaders in the public realm through a six-month mentorship and training program. Read more ⟶