Winter 2023

It's been a busy year, and we are eager to share our project updates, recent awards, team accomplishments, and other happenings around the office. Read on for more.

FOUND Study Welcomes Students to Midtown

FOUND Study’s off-campus housing welcomes the City's students and interns with two new residences transforming historic hotels! The 307-unit Midtown East gives new life to the landmarked Summit Hotel, built by Morris Lapidus for the 1964 World’s Fair, largely maintaining the landmarked exterior where a new projecting sign echoes the original illuminated oval disc. Turtle Bay transforms the historic Hotel Shelton designed by the Empire State Building architect Arthur Loomis Harmon. Our adaptive reuse preserves many of its century-old Romanesque Revival details while boasting 1,355 beds and 30,000 SF of communal amenity space.

C+GA Selected for the Seneca along Central Park North

C+GA is proud to be selected for the Seneca, a 105-unit affordable housing project rising on the site of the shuttered Lincoln Correctional Facility. The project fuses affordable homeownership with arts and culture to become a vibrant community hub in Harlem. Its forms, functions, and technologies will enhance the life of future residents and the Central Park North streetscape in continuity with the character that draws residents and visitors to the neighborhood. This project is in collaboration with Infinite Horizons, LLC, L+M Development Partners LLC., Urbane and Lemor Development Group.

HELP One, Phase I is Complete in Brooklyn

HELPDevCo’s new four-building mixed-use complex opened its doors with the completion of Buildings A and B. They contribute a 184-unit Supportive Housing Building for formerly homeless families, and a 71-unit Supportive Housing Building for those with a history of mental health or substance use disorders, along with a landscaped courtyard, child care spaces, a counseling office, youth program space, community-based retail, and a new HELP USA supportive service department office. The buildings' design echoes the quintessential NYC urban block, implementing various setbacks to reduce perceived scale and integrate into the neighborhood.

4697 Third Avenue Wins SARA National and New York Design Awards of Merit

Partner Mark Ginsberg, FAIA, LEED AP and Director of Sustainability Crystal Ng, RA, LEED AP, CPHC attended the SARA National Design Award Gala in Philadelphia to accept the National Merit Award for 4697 Third Avenue. The project also received a SARA New York Merit Award.

Melrose North

Honorable Mention, High-Rise Multifamily and Commercial/Institutional from PHIUS

Shore Hill Development and Castle III

Buildings of Excellence Competition and Early Design Support from NYSERDA

Baychester Houses

Merit Award for Large-Scale Residential Design from American Society of Landscape Architects-NY

Crystal Ng, RA, LEED AP, CPHC

Our Director of Sustainability Crystal Ng was elected to the board of New York Passive House and was recently honored as one of Crain's NY Business Notable Leaders in Sustainability.

She leads the firm’s sustainability commitment, researching and developing best practices, and teaches Passive House Fundamentals at Building Energy Exchange. Over the past year, Crystal has led us in the design and development of 14 certified, energy efficient, all electric developments, with more on the way.

Crystal is pictured here giving a tour of 4697 Third Avenue, a Passive House certified project.

R. Darby Curtis, AIA

Partner Darby Curtis has been selected to serve on the AIA National Justice Leadership Group in 2024. 

She participated in the AIA New York's Women in Architecture Forum: Practice and Motherhood (pictured). The discussion examined how motherhood and professional life influence each other, staying connected in the profession throughout life changes, and how firms can support motherhood. 

Mark Ginsberg, FAIA, LEED AP

Among his many speaking engagements, Partner Mark Ginsberg presented on Multifamily Performance Data at the 2023 Passive House Network conference.

The presentation examined methods and findings of efforts to acquire, isolate, and interpret data from multifamily buildings.

Susan Link, AIA and Yunyuan “Scott” Deng, AIA

Senior Architect Susan Link hosted a lively model-making contest titled “Recipe for a Room: Places of Respite” at AIA New York Center for Architecture. Senior Project Architect Yunyuan “Scott” Deng mentored and presented a student design: a flexible, modular place of comfort with operable roofs and “walls" to meet different user needs on the journey to mental health recovery.

Matt Melody, AIA, LEED AP

Partner Matt Melody participated in a panel at the Upstream Symposium hosted by Help USA. This esteemed group discussed the creation of trauma-informed projects, and the positive effects purpose-built housing designs can have on residents and staff. 

Sean Flynn, AIA and Zachary Weimer, RA

Partner Sean Flynn hosted an Archtober tour of Melrose North alongside Architect Zachary Weimer. The tour showcased the exterior mural and interior art by Lisa Prives, and the landscaped backyard with art by The DreamYard Project, among other behind-the-scenes insights.

Van Hsin-Hung Tsao, RA, LEED AP

Senior Associate Van Tsao presented on “Integrating Sustainable Building Products in Façades" at the Zak World of Façades North America Edition. Van discussed holistic sustainability, product transparency and achieving key climate goals.

Ryan Esparza, AIA, CPHC

Associate



Ryan Esparza has been promoted to Associate. Ryan brings a design sensitivity to working in existing buildings to projects including the transformation of the landmarked Harlem River Houses, a new 194-unit family-focused shelter with daycare and support services, and FOUND Study Midtown East, a hotel conversion project that transformed 763 hotel rooms into 307 student apartments.

Chris Perrodin, RA, CPHC

Associate

Associate Christopher Perrodin received his Passive House Consultant Certification. He provides leadership in the design of equitable architecture for new construction, program-driven, and renovation projects. His civic work supports C+GA’s mission to enhance communities through his focus on mentorship, justice and equity in education, youth empowerment, and ecology.

Netanya Abramson

Roxana Alfaro

Ana Bozicevic

Jacob Jastrzebski

Mackenzie McCrane

Isabella Whitehill

Finally, we are excited to announce that we have relocated 0.2 miles south to the 27th floor of One Battery Park Plaza. The additional space enhances our collaborative work environment and mission of providing designs that serve communities, while still allowing us to remain in our neighborhood.

Connect with us!