Art of Form
where design matters
Starting with historic preservation and adaptive reuse, Art of Form has expanded their repertoire through collaborations and partnerships with other key firms throughout the Northeast.
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ART FORM 2 Architecture Leaders Today
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THIS PAGE: Renovation of Poleci, a retail clothing store, in New York, NY.
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hen Art of Form Architects was asked to work on the historic renovation of the circa-1882 Fulton Street restaurant Gage & Tollner in Brooklyn, firm founder, Ray Caliendo knew it would lead his firm to new opportunities. “The restaurant opened at about the same time as the Brooklyn Bridge,” he said. Both the interior and exterior were designated a New York City landmark in the 1970s. “We had to expand and completely remodel this building. It was a challenging project. We had to maintain the historical integrity while turning it into a modern, functional restaurant.” Everything in the restaurant had to be preserved and upgraded at the same time. “We had to really turn back the clock and look for original wall and ceiling coverings, basically recreate everything,” Caliendo said. The firm’s work on the $1.2 million renovation won a 2003 “ARCHI” award for outstanding achievements in architecture design. Caliendo and his business partner, Mark Searage, took top honors in the Historic Preservation and Adaptive Re-Use category. Caliendo started Art of Form Architecture in 1994 in his living room. “I always had an entrepreneurial instinct,” he explains. “From the minute I began in the profession I was always moonlighting. I was always aiming at eventually forming my own practice.” He grew his business mainly through networking. “I kept my eyes and ears open for opportunities,” he said. “I managed to affiliate with an excellent interior design firm, Art-Tech Restaurant Design, which led to my first out-of-state project in 1995, a gourmet restaurant on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, Fla. That project led to the historic preservation project in Brooklyn, which came from the same firm.” Two years after opening Art of Form, Caliendo brought Searage on as a partner. The two had talked about the partnership for some time. “I wasn’t sure we could work it our financially,” Caliendo said. The two found an inexpensive office space in the village of Babylon on Long Island – the firm now has offices in Manhattan and Amityville, and they were eventually able to purchase their office building in Amityville. “Our landlord in Babylon was one of our clients. We worked for the next couple of months painting, doing carpentry and hanging ceilings, whatever we had to do to fashion the space into an architectural office.” Art of Form got a career break when it began working with Steel Equities, a real estate development firm. One of the first buildings that Steel Equities purchased was a 1 million-square-foot structure previously owned by Grumman Corporation, a large employer on Long Island. THIS PAGE: New Construction of Habberstad VW Dealership in Huntington Station, NY Exterior Front View Lit Up at Night.
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THIS PAGE: The second floor showroom of the newly constructed Bay BMW Auto Dealership in Bay Shore, NY. All photos courtesy of Art of Form.
“Grumman decided to merge with Northrop Corporation and move most of its operations to California,” Caliendo said. Grumman had manufactured its F-14s, and many other planes in the one-quarter-of-amile-long building. “For the past 14 years we have been engaged in renovating it into a multi-tenant office park,” Caliendo said. The office park now includes a variety of businesses, such a USPS package sortation facility, and the business office for a major Long Island hospital. Each space was designed individually and tailored to the occupant’s needs. After seeing some of Art of Form’s work, Time Warner Cable contracted with the firm on several projects. “Now we do all the architectural work for them in the New York area,” Caliendo said. Caliendo credits part of his company’s success to an emphasis on performance based marketing. Instead of overtly marketing his firm to a particular company, he looks for an opportunity to showcase previous work. “That has been crucial to our success,” he said. “Virtually all of our work is from word of mouth.” Art of Form has a diverse portfolio and depth of knowledge that includes expertise in corporate office design, healthcare and medical facilities, not-for-profit, restaurant-hospitalityfood services, residential and retail industries, industrial and the highly specialized area of historical preservation. In the last few years, the firm has been doing a great deal of historic preservation in New York’s trendy meatpacking district. It won a special award for lighting design at the ARCHI awards in 2006 for work on Poleci’s flagship New York retail store on West 14th Street. The project required special, in-depth approvals, including public hearings for proposed work. Cool, light and iridescent floating product displays were designed in and juxtaposed against the earthy pre-existing building elements. The thick and rough-hewn timber floor beams supporting the upper level were left exposed. The pre-existing quarry tile floors I the rear of the store were reconditioned. The original pyramidal wire glass skylight above the one-story section of the building was retained as well. Several touches that echo the building’s history as a meat packing plant such as a huge stainless steel refrigerator door were preserved as a decorative element. With each project, the company focuses on
Spencer, ketcham & Sons builders Spencer Ketcham & Son Builders, started 51 years ago and now run by third generation Mark Ketcham, specializes in residential and commercial renovations and additions in central Long Island, NY. We appreciate Art of Form for their innovative design concepts and rapid response to the typical problems that project development entails. Fall 2010 7
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NOBLE CONTRACTING CORPORATION We believe that the most important aspect of the contractual obligation is creating a working partnership with the client and architect. Our clients include dental/medical, banks, retail, and corporate accounts. When in partnership, everyone including the client has a responsibility to everyone else. In this way, there is better understanding and communication, which is at the core of Noble Contracting’s practices. For more information, contact us at: 516-887-0808.
Noble Contracting Corporation 337 Merrick Road, Suite 5, Lynbrook, NY 11563
(516) 887-0808
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Interior Construction and Design We are General Contractors with expertise at performing all aspects of interior design and construction services for residential, commercial and retail interiors. We don’t have to do it all, but we can.
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individuality. In the healthcare and medical area, for example, Art of Form takes into consideration the personality of the doctor, the specialty of the practice and the sensitivity of the patient to design spaces that are both beautiful and functional. The firm recently completed the interior renovation of a building in the Queens Medical Associates in Fresh Meadows, Queens, New York. “It’s the largest private oncology center in New York outside of Sloan Kettering,” Caliendo said. Other recent projects include a new BMW dealership and service center in Bay Shore on Long Island and renovations to two major churches, one of which was The Church of the Ascension in Rockville Centre. The aging church needed to be retrofitted to accommodate a state-of-the-art pipe organ and sound system. Art of Form had to engineer a new structural system that augment the existing structure and support the new windpipes. The firm also had to determine if the existing church building could support the power and volume of the new organ. What it made it even more difficult is that the work had to be performed while the church served the needs of the congregation. And of course the entire renovation needed to be performed while church still served the needs of the congregation. Most of Art of Form’s work is concentrated in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Projects in other areas of the country include an upscale residence in Scottsdale, Arizona and a restaurant in Florida. Now a 20-member firm, Art of Form’s growth has been slow and ABOVE: Renovation of First Central Savings Bank in Glen Cove, N.Y. Interior view of bank lobby and teller windows.
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steady. Even in these difficult economic times, there have been no lay-offs or cutbacks. “Our employees have a passion for architecture and a passion for the process,” Caliendo said. Everyone in the company shows a loyalty and appreciation for clients. “Our clients repose a tremendous amount of trust in us,” Caliendo said. “Our company is all about the quality and the client relationship, not unbridled growth and expansion. Many firms grew and then collapsed. They lost a great deal of touch and rapport with their clientele.” That’s something Caliendo will never have to be concerned with. His passion for his work continues to grow. “There is nothing else I would rather be doing.” ALT RIGHT: Renovation of Time Warner Cable Store in New York, NY Interior View of Payment Center.
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