Andrea Steele Architecture
We are a collective of designers committed to cultivating the urban realm. We begin with relationship-building and draw on cross-disciplinary exchange and deep research.
About ASA
Andrea Steele Architecture (ASA) is dedicated to accessing the humanity inherent in the design process. We see architecture as the medium through which we define our shared experience and our practice as a catalyst for cultural advancement. Every project we undertake, from a modest private residence to a massive civic complex, is rooted in the idea of building a global community.
Made up of advocates, strategists, interpreters, and educators from all over the globe, ASA approaches architecture as a way of creating connections and alignment: between a client’s culture and the public sphere, between the local and the universal, between thought and action.
Whether we are creating large-scale developments, vibrant civic centers, academic campuses, or cultural arenas, we know that to conceive of architecture as an isolated building is to miss the opportunities that design has to offer. Every project, regardless of site, scale, or program, is a chance to extend and enhance the public space. We strongly believe the scale of a project is measured by its impact on people, resources, and sense of place, not its physical size.
Formerly the New York studio of TEN Arquitectos, ASA is the evolution of a rich collaboration between Enrique Norten and Andrea Steele, TEN’s North American principal for eight years. That relationship, which resulted in more than 20 built works, will continue as the two work on current projects and seek out future ones.
Team
Andrea Steele has more than two decades of experience overseeing a wide range of complex urban design projects throughout the U.S. With a focus on institutional, cultural, and community-oriented architecture.
Before establishing Andrea Steele Architecture, a firm which grew out of TEN Arquitectos’ New York office, where she served as partner and principal for more than 8 years, Steele practiced independently as Andrea Steele Architect. Steele received her Master of Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design; has taught several architecture studios, including at Cornell University; and is the recipient of numerous awards, most recently a New York AIA honor award for the New York Public Library project on Manhattan’s 53rd Street. She lectures widely throughout the United States, is a frequent participant in academic juries, and serves as an advisor to the Urban Design Forum and Pioneer Works.
Steele’s current projects include an innovative hub for NASA (part of the GSA Design Excellence Program) located on the Glenn Research campus in Cleveland, Ohio; a cultural heart for downtown Brooklyn that includes new cinemas and film archive for the Brooklyn Academy of Music; a production studio for the Brooklyn Public Library; galleries for the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts; and a variety of performing venues for 651 Arts in Brooklyn. In Queens, the firm has designed a community center for the immigrant-advocacy organization Make the Road New York.
She is currently completing the master plan for Pioneer Works, the experimental, interdisciplinary arts-and-science community center in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Phase 1 includes a new entry with reception, gift shop, and lounge; it will open in the Fall of 2019. Phase 2 will bring a public observatory and event and classroom spaces that, once constructed, will be the only observatory in New York City that is fully accessible to the general public.
News
We are happy to be highlighted in Residential Design magazine in the article “Parti Shot: Chelsea Townhouse by Andrea Steele Architecture”
By S. Claire Conroy. Read the excerpt below, and check out the article link for more.
“When Andrea’s client approached the firm with an ambitious program and an ample budget, ASA set about rethinking the townhouse typology from the ground up—or, more precisely, from below ground up to the sky. The first element to go was that party wall stair, which the architects moved to the center of the structure. “We tried as best we could to create a courtyard building,” she says.
(…)
The multilevel, reinvented townhouse weaves nature, light, and controlled views to the outdoors into nearly every space, while also creating a visually striking example of urban residential architecture.” – S. Claire Conroy
Our Chelsea Townhouse, a collaboration between Andrea Steele Architecture and Lissoni & Partners, is a 2020 NYCxDESIGN Awards Finalist! Thank you to Interior Design!
At Andrea Steele Architecture, we are committed to learning more about the communities we serve and are dedicating resources to apply this learning to current and future projects. Repercussions of the ongoing pandemic have been diverse, immediate and far reaching.
As a studio we are investigating its impact on our sense of purpose, place, and community. Please join us in investigating these topics by filling out our COVID-19 Community Survey.
Please be safe and take care of each other.
Our Studio welcomed Free Arts students, for an interactive workshop, where we presented past and future projects and engaged with them on a series of activities. We asked high schoolers to imagine vegetables/fruits as habitable spaces and explore modes of representation (section & plan).
Andrea announces the winner of the AIANY WIA 10th Annual Women in Architecture Recognition Award. Andrea was one of four jurors who selected Grace Yu as this year’s recipient.
This past Wednesday December 4th, our L10 Arts Cultural Center broke ground. A new home to several cultural institutions including the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Brooklyn Public Library, the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, (MoCADA) and 651 Arts.
Stay tuned as our team works towards completion in 2021.
ASA hosted a workshop at Cooper Hewitt ” Constructing a New Geography and the Future of Public Space”, where we presented past and future projects and engaged with the public on a series of urban analysis and interventions, then hosted a discussion of group discoveries.
ASA is proud to announce our Chelsea Townhouse project won an AIA NYS Design Award.
