2022 Honor Awards

HONOR AWARDS

Architectural Achievement Award Roger Smith, AIA

With over four decades of diverse professional experience, Roger is an accomplished professional, academic, and philanthropist figure with demonstrated excellence in the fields of architecture, engineering and construction management. Having been awarded the AIA Lifetime Achievement Award by the Long Island Chapter in 2010, today Roger is receiving the AIA Architectural Achievement Award to recognize his outstanding service to the Long Island architectural community, and the quality and consistency of his architectural work throughout his distinguished career.

A founding principal of BBS Architects, Landscape Architects & Engineers, Roger is the architect-of-record for well over $3.0 billion in public and private construction projects across the Northeast. He is a past Member of the AIA Long Island Chapter’s Board of Directors, and a past member of the New York State Building Code Board of Review for Southeast Region, for which he served as Chairman for (14) years.

Roger Smith grew up on the South Shore of Long Island, in the Bayport-Blue Point area. After his graduation ‘magna cum laude’ with a degree in architecture from New York Institute of Technology, in 1978 Roger accepted a full-time position at Burton & Hand of Patchogue, where he had worked part-time as a college intern. He left to take a position in the design/build industry, where he gained more knowledge of not only architecture but also of the construction industry and, in particular, construction management. It was during this period in his career that Roger discovered the art of the well-drawn construction document - the very key to his long and successful career in architecture.

Following several years as a project manager for a construction management firm and a specialty subcontractor, and as a sole proprietor, Roger returned to Burton & Hand in 1984 when he was asked to run the firm’s architectural group. At the time, the firm was primarily known as a surveying and engineering practice specializing in local land planning. Roger initiated the firm’s gradual shift toward architecture, having redirected the focus of the firm and transformed architectural services into the integral component of its business. After only a year back with the firm, Roger became a Partner and Lead Architect of Burton Behrendt Smith (BBS). More than (35) years after joining BBS, Roger’s most fulfilling accomplishment remains the firm’s qualityoriented culture that he had initiated over the years. At BBS, his ‘Playing Architect’ motto became a synonym to “designing for buildability,” or making intelligent and strategic design decisions which are based in reality of time and resources, expressed by quality construction documents. According to Roger, the key to designing a project that will stand the test of time is, “to present a project that is exciting, tangible, and constructible. Your drawings are the way the marketplace values you and grades you. Just playing architect is one thing, but a really good architect gets things built.”

By sharing this high level of commitment to quality along with his personal dedication to client relationships, Roger was able to establish BBS as one of the top multi-disciplinary practices in the Northeast. With virtually all architectural and engineering services available in-house, the firm today stands atop the educational facility market. Its success comes from the unhindered ability of its staff to plan, design, and develop a project in any type of setting. The firm has won numerous local (ARCHI) and national design awards, and has had its design work recognized and published many times over in the past (25) years.

Roger’s community and philanthropic activities have largely mirrored his professional and personal life. From 2008, Roger has been a Founding Member of FRIENDS of NYIT School of Architecture and Interior Design, from 2006 he served on the Board of Advisors Committee at St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School in West Islip, and from 2005 as a Member of the Finance Committee for Our Lady of the Snow RC Church in Blue Point – and most recently as a Trustee for the Church. He presently is a Board Member and Treasurer of the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts.

HONOR AWARDS

Lifetime Achievement Award Joseph Iannucci, AIA, CEO, LEED AP BD+C

Joseph Iannucci is Vice President of the firm of Cashin Associates, PC. of which he has been a part of for over 30 years. The firm primarily focuses on municipal work throughout the Long Island region providing Architectural, Engineering, Environmental and Construction Management services. Prior to working for Cashin Associates, PC, Joe was employed by architectural and engineering firms who primarily focused on design and construction projects on Long Island.

Joe graduated from New York Institute of Technology in 1981 and has been a Licensed Architect for almost 30 years. He is also a New York State Code Enforcement Official and a LEED Accredited Professional. Joe’s experience includes architectural design, construction administration/management, including review of construction documents for zoning and code compliance.

Joe grew up in West Babylon and has resided in Hauppauge for the last 40 years. His knowledge of Long Island has helped him build a relationship with clients such as Nassau and Suffolk Counties and numerous Townships and Villages. He has notably worked on numerous projects for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. These publicly seen and utilized projects are located at Jones Beach State Park, Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve, Connetquot River State Park Preserve, and the new Hallock State Park Preserve, to name a few. Several of these projects have included restoration and rehabilitation of historic facilities. Other work with New York State Parks and the Town of Babylon included the inspection and evaluation of damaged public park facilities in the aftermath of Super Storm Sandy.

Joe has a long standing history of service to the American Institute of Architects, Long Island Chapter, having been a member since 1998. He has served many years as a board member and on various committees. Joe served as Chapter President in 2007, 2015 and 2016. Joe has served on the Annual Archi Awards and Product Fair committees. He, along with the other committee members, have developed these into the very successful chapter events they are today. Joe is honored to have worked many years with the chapter’s Executive Director, Ann LoMonte.

Through the years, Joe’s community involvement has included coaching youth baseball, basketball, and deck hockey. He has participated in many Career Days at local elementary, middle, and high schools. His belief is that the search for a profession starts at a young age and that it is the duty of professionals to expose youth to all different career opportunities including Architecture. One of Joe’s most beloved hobbies is the restoration of classic automobiles. He is hands on restoring his beloved muscle cars himself, having restored over a dozen vehicles over the last several decades.

Legislator Award Senator John Brooks

Since he was elected six years ago, Senator John Brooks has delivered for Long Island as a champion for our veterans, an advocate for our vulnerable communities, and a problem solver for complex issues that have impacted Long Island for years. With over 150 bills passed in the Senate, he has found success in government by focusing on his roots as a public servant, leaving partisan politics out of the equation.

As chair of the Veterans, Homeland Security, and Military Affairs committee, he has led the fight to give veterans a seat at the table in the budget negotiation process. His achievements include the elevation of the Division of Veterans Services to a full-fledged cabinet-level department, the statewide expansion of the Joseph P. Dwyer Peer-to-Peer Veterans Counseling Program, and millions of dollars in funding secured to NYS veterans organizations and local VFWs and American Legion posts. He has personally authored laws that grant our veterans and active-duty military personnel significant tax breaks, provide gold star families with free college tuition, establish a dedicated NYS veterans cemetery and more.

Legislative accomplishments include the EMS Cost Recovery Act, Brianna’s Law, the establishment of the South Nassau Water Authority, the banning of guns designed to look like toys, the providing of cost estimates for residential fire sprinkler systems, the appointment of a fiscal monitor for the Wyandanch School District, and numerous additional bills increasing veterans benefits and quality of life.

He has supported and voted in favor of a number of gun safety measures, the Child Victims Act, The Reproductive Health Act and supporting legislation, efforts to address the opioid epidemic, implementing the permanent 2% property tax cap, raising the income limit for property tax relief programs for seniors and persons with disabilities, and much more.

He has plans to significantly reduce property taxes for Long Island homeowners, including The Brooks Plan (S1388B) that will reduce property taxes by up to 20-30% for overburdened homeowners without affecting existing levels of education funding, and S4599A, a bill that grants a minimum 30% automatic property tax exemption for senior citizen homeowners.

Senator Brooks has been a volunteer firefighter for 53 years and is ex-chief of the Seaford Fire Department. He previously served as the Executive Director of Risk Management for Nassau County and had a long career in the insurance industry. He is a veteran, a proud father and grandfather, and a lifelong Seaford resident.

HONOR AWARDS

Membership Award Jacob Rivalsi, AIA

Jacob Rivalsi, AIA is a registered architect in NYS. Jake graduated from New York Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 2002 and began his architectural career soon after graduation. Jake has served as a Board member from 2012 to 2015. He has served as Secretary, Treasurer, President from 2018 to 2019, and Past President from 2020 to 2021. Jake is currently the Chapter’s New York State Director and works as an architect for RMB Development Consultants, Inc.

Educator Award John DeFazio, III, AIA

John DeFazio is an architect, writer, and teacher. He lives and practices architecture, urban planning, and design in Sunnyside Gardens, New York City. JOHN DeFAZIO AIA, Architecture, has been in practice since 1986.DeFazio received a Bachelor of Architectural Science and Bachelor of Architecture degree of the New York Institute of Technology (1979/81). Upon graduation, John was engaged as a design/project architect in the Philadelphia region, most notably at the Pritzker Prize and AIA Gold Metalist award-winning Venturi Scott Brown Associates office. VSBA had received the AIA Firm Gold Metal during DeFazio’s tenure there.

John DeFazio currently teaches undergraduate Architectural Thesis at New York Institute of Technology’s Manhattan Campus. Over the past seven years at NYIT, DeFazio has taught graduate studios, ecological site design, integrative architectural design, and urban design studios. John is also a Senior Project /Thesis Advisor at Drexel University’s Westphal College, a studio he has been teaching since 2013. At Drexel, John also teaches modern and contemporary theory and history in art and architecture, as well as special studies courses-- including one on Frank Lloyd Wight and another on Architecture in Film. In addition, DeFazio has conducted Drexel study-abroad courses in Japan, the Netherlands, and the Barcelona/Catalan Region of Spain. John has been teaching at Drexel University for over 30 years.

John DeFazio is also a writer on contemporary art, architecture, and planning and a contributor to Art in America and Residential Design Magazine. In addition to his teaching, writing, and practice, John DeFazio is a founder and executive director (along with co-director Charlotte Raymond) of the Raymond Farm Center of Living Arts & Design, a regional art and design forum in New Hope, PA.