we’re starting 2024 with some big changes…

As of the beginning of this year, Nicole Vlado Torres has stepped down from her position of Principal as she shifts her focus towards policy and advocacy in affordable housing, an evolution of her important work at SGVA. We are grateful for Nicole’s years of dedication and immense contributions to our firm, and we look forward to celebrating her future pursuits. We are pleased that Nicole will continue to be a valued collaborator with us going forward.

At the same time, we are also excited to announce the next chapter of our firm as Shakespeare Gordon Studio. What hasn’t changed is our commitment to providing design excellence and exceptional service to our clients, and to strengthening the built environment of our city through uplifting, inspired architecture.

More to come!

The Garnet on Archinect News

Archinect News recently published a feature on the Garnet, highlighting how the building’s design elements — its bold and dynamic facade, “contemporary, timber-detailed interior,” and internal connection to the outdoors — serve the project’s mission to create “housing that feels expansive and liberating, rather than constrained by its affordability.” Read the article here, and check out the Garnet’s project page to learn more.

The Garnet in the press

The Garnet, our 103-unit affordable housing building in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, was recently featured in this article by e-architect. For our French readers, Paris-based muuuz magazine also published a piece on the project, and the New York Housing Conference profiled The Garnet, as did Aspire Magazine. Check out the project page for more photos of the building.

SGVA Participates in AIANY’s Pumpkitecture

SGVA competed for the first time in the yearly Pumpkitecture pumpkin carving competition at the Center for Architecture, as part of AIANY’s Archtober. Our design was inspired by the Ninth Street Bridge near our office in Brooklyn, which carries the G (and F) train over the Gowanus Canal. We carved subway cars out of mini cucumbers and used our pumpkin’s guts to represent the canal water below, and we also included the historic Kentile Floors sign that was once a neighborhood landmark. Thank you to our carving team and to the Center for Architecture for hosting us! We enjoyed seeing the creativity of fellow architecture firms at work, and we look forward to participating again in the future. Read more here.

Fischer Senior Apartments Groundbreaking in the Press

On September 12, SGVA celebrated the groundbreaking of Fischer Senior Apartments, which will provide affordable and supportive housing for seniors in the Highbridge neighborhood of the Bronx, with the West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing (WSFSSH) and Procida Construction. We began work on this project after NYC HPD selected our proposal for this city-owned site in 2019.

The groundbreaking was featured in this article on New York YIMBY. Also check out this video from Bronx News 12 reporting on the celebration!

The Bronx Times published a feature as well, highlighting the building’s capacity “to meet seniors where they are” and the innovative “cluster care” design that will be piloted on two of its floors. Read the full article here.

The Housing Finance Magazine also wrote about the project in this article and noted the design’s ability to “engage the sidewalk and enhance the pedestrian experience” in addition to providing high-quality housing within.

Columbia University Research Labs on Archinect News

Archinect News published an inside look at the research labs that we designed for Columbia University!

Tres Puentes on World-Architects website

Tres Puentes was recently featured as World Architect’s US Building of the Week!

sgva wins SARA award

Tres Puentes was recognized with an Award of Merit at this year’s SARA National Design Awards ceremony.

Named after its neighboring bridges, Tres Puentes is a wellness-focused, two-building, 174-unit affordable housing development for seniors which includes a senior center, clinic and pharmacy and is connected by gardens to the recently renovated Borinquen Court in Mott Haven, transforming the site into a vibrant home for hundreds of aging New Yorkers.

sgva on nyc’s ddc architects list

We’re incredibly honored to be chosen as one of twenty New York City architecture firms who’ll be working on public building projects in the city, and in great company! Read more here.

Join us at Gowanus Open Studios

Please visit us during this year’s Gowanus Arts Open Studios event, Saturday, October 16-Sunday, October 17, 12-6 p.m both days. SGVA’s office will be open, and you’ll be able to see some of our most recent and ongoing projects, as well as artwork by SGVA staff. This is a wonderful opportunity to explore Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood and art/creative communities, and get to know us! We hope you’ll come by.

stuyvesant avenue home renovation in the press

SGVA designed a Stuyvesant Avenue complete gut renovation for Urban Standard, transforming a deteriorated brownstone into a comfortable, modern home with original interior details carefully preserved, rethought and renewed. Read more here and here.

affordable housing lottery is now open for SGVA’s Garnet Building

The housing lottery for the SGVA-designed Garnet Building (1620 Fulton St.) is now open! 103 affordable housing/middle income units in Bed-Stuy: one block from Fulton Park, 1.5 blocks from the A and C trains at the Utica Avenue station; a 24-hour attended lobby, landscaped outdoor terrace, fitness center, children’s playroom and washing/drying facilities on each floor. Read more here.

SGVA wins RFP for Highbridge site

HPD selects SGVA design for 100-units of affordable senior housing to be developed by WSFSSH and built by Procida. Read more here.

Tres Puentes Senior Apartments opens its doors in Mott Haven

City and State officials today announced the opening of Tres Puentes Senior Apartments, a $117.7 million affordable senior housing development that is continuing revitalization efforts in the South Bronx. The development includes 175 apartments for seniors and individuals with special needs and 10,000 square feet of health-orientated commercial and community space, and expands the existing Borinquen Court Senior Center that provides services for residents and neighborhood seniors. Read the full article here.

AIA Day of Service

On Saturday, May 18, AIA New York held its second-annual Day of Service. Five groups of volunteers helped to bring ideas to life for nonprofit organizations around New York City. Leading up to this special day were months of behind-the-scenes planning, design, and coordination on behalf of the many architecture firms and teams leading these projects.

See full article here.

Tres Puentes: prototype for the new Housing+ initiative

Mayor Bill De Blasio held a news event at the site of Tres Puentes and Borinquen Court on January 16, 2019 to celebrating the financing of 34,160 affordable homes last year. To celebrate this historic milestone, the Mayor visited Tres Puentes, a new senior housing development financed through HPD’s Senior Affordable Rental Apartments program. These 175 new affordable apartments for seniors, including 53 formerly homeless seniors, were constructed on what had been a parking lot and underused space next to Borinquen Court, a 145-apartment federal Housing and Urban Development 202 senior project that the City previously preserved. This project is the prototype for the new Housing+ initiative proposed as part of HNY 2.0. See the full article here.

 

Monday March 19th – 297 11th Street Reception

Join us for a reception on Monday, March 19 from 6-8pm at 297 11th Street in Park Slope to see our newly renovated townhouse and celebrate the people who helped make it happen with some refreshments.

Brownstoner House of the Day

Our new residential project in Park Slope has been featured on Brownstoner’s column House of the Day!