Scott Spector, a principal with the Spector Group, an architecture and design firm based in Woodbury, NY, sat down with the New York Times to discuss surviving the downturn, defining his firm’s style and his favorite project. The firm is currently designing the new Christie’s auction house building in Red Hook, a high-profile retrofit project. But it’s the firm’s work with the Nasdaq Stock Market, a relatively less-glitzy outdoor signage project, that is Spector’s favorite current undertaking. “We’ve had Nasdaq as a client for eight years, and we have done everything,” Spector said. “We’ll change a light bulb for these guys.”

On a recent podcast,
appraiser Jonathan Miller spoke with Scott Spector, principal of architecture and
design firm the Spector Group, about the importance of interior
architecture, stringent budget cuts, and how his firm is performing
amid the downturn. Some notable projects include the HL23 near the High
Line and the BMW at Competition & Sports Cars in Greenwich,
Conn. Spector said that while starchitects are primarily focused
on a building’s exterior and main lobby, his firm handles the
individual offices, elevators and floor lobbies. “As the executive
architect, we are doing about 75 percent; we have a niche,” Spector
said, also discussing that his business has been able to remain afloat
during the downturn due to its small size of 68 people and a steady
flow of projects backed by affluent clients that haven’t stopped
building, such as BMW. But he said many companies are paying closer
attention to staying on budget than in the past. “But with construction
costs 15 to 20 percent lower, they are able to get a lot more with
their negotiated amount of dollars,” he said. [Housing Helix]
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