STUDIOS Announces New Principals in New York, Washington, DC, and Paris

Graham Clegg, AIA has been promoted to Principal in our New York studio. Since joining STUDIOS over 13 years ago, Graham has worked on some of STUDIOS’ most complex and award-winning repositioning and renovation projects and has established himself as a leader of this expertise within the firm. He works with clients to create new futures for aging assets in New York, finding true success when a project is viewed as a natural fit for the site, building, and neighborhood.

Graham is inspired by the challenge of design and seeks out solutions unique to each client and building. He takes pride in true collaboration, bringing together multi-disciplinary teams and fostering contributions from each team member—no matter their role—to elevate the work. These collaborations have included the transformations of 200 Fifth Avenue, Gantry Point, and 220 11th Avenue, among many others.

Sara Schuster has been promoted to Principal in our New York office. In Sara’s 17 years at STUDIOS, she has worked on a diverse range of projects from building renovations, to workplace and institutional design. She is motivated by designs that defy expectations, those that allow companies to work in new ways they couldn’t yet imagine or transforming a 400-year-old institution’s mission into tangible architectural solutions at Collegiate School. As a leader, she encourages teams to learn from clients, consultants, and team members as much as guide them through the design process to realize more enlightened designs together.

Sara also spearheaded STUDIOS’ initiatives in India, ultimately leading a large-scale residential development in Jaipur as well as competition entries and a headquarters collaboration for Godrej Industries in the region. Central to her work, both nationally and internationally, is a holistic approach to design, informed by her experience across traditional project roles and successfully leading projects responsive to each client, community, and context.

Erin Carlisle, AIA has been promoted to Principal in our Washington, DC studio. Since joining STUDIOS in 2011, she has been a key leader on many complex and award-winning projects.  Her ability to resolve complex design and construction issues across a range of project types, including corporate interiors, complex modernizations, headquarters, and building transformations, are vital to meeting clients’ goals, schedules, and budgets.

Erin’s passion and a strong background in higher education projects have led to the demonstrated success in the transformation of existing buildings in the Washington, DC area and beyond, including the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America, the Bellisario Media Center at  Pennsylvania State University, and KIPP DC College Prep, among several others.

Jes Smith, AIA, ASID, ARIDO, NCIDQ has been promoted to Principal in our Washington, DC office. Since joining STUDIOS in 2002, Jes has overseen the design, documentation, and implementation of many large-scale, demanding projects. His leadership and expertise in complex and highly sustainable projects, coupled with his background in both architecture and interior design, has made him a key component to the DC office, working with a variety of clients in the US and abroad.

His portfolio includes significant corporate and government work including MetLife’s Retail Headquarters, the CSEC-Long Term Accommodation Project (CSEC-LTAP), the Department of Defense/BRAC-133 consolidation, the MacDonald Block Reconstruction Project, and the Pentagon Renovation Wedges 2 through 5.

Eric Gratacap has been promoted to Principal in our Paris studio. Eric started with STUDIOS in 2003 in the San Francisco office. Fluent in both French and English, he joined the Paris agency in 2013, ten years later. With a passion for driving innovation and future thinking, Eric has led the transition to 3D modeling and developed the BIM strategy for all STUDIOS offices.

He has worked on a broad range of projects notably in developing campuses, both commercial and educational. His work includes Latitude, Safran, Le Jour, Metropolitan, and Shanghai International Dance Center.

Hidekazu Moritani, DESA, HMNOP has been promoted to Principal in our Paris studio. Since joining in 2005, Hidekazu has proven himself to be fully versatile, incorporating complex organizational challenges with a strong design vision to propose innovative tailor-made solutions both in architecture and interior design projects that have resulted in break through solutions for a diverse array of clients.His focus on detail, his thoughtful approach and his exceptional creativity bring significant added value to projects, meeting his clients’ needs but also exceeding their expectations.

Hidekazu has worked on a variety of projects including Boreal, Bearing Point, Microsoft, and Leo Lagrange sports complex.