Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 62
Occupation: Architect.
Instagram: @casscaldersmith_ai
Hometown: New York City.
Studio location: New York City.
Describe what you make: My firm is known for creating modern buildings and renovations that have an attention to detail, materiality, and authenticity.. We like to create things that are timeless, from ground-up houses to hotels and Michelin-star restaurants.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: We have been fortunate to work with some extraordinary clients, so it’s hard to pick just one. Some of our more notable projects include the first Tesla Showroom in Los Angeles and the recently completed Tin Building by Jean Georges at the South Street Seaport in New York City. Leaving a lasting impact on the surrounding communities is a truly special privilege. Residential projects are equally special. Each commission for a client’s home is an intricate, unique, and personal experience that challenges us. Any project we touch has the same level of importance. A few notable ones are Haus Martin in SF, the Palo Alto House, and the Lagoon House at Stinson Beach. It’s nice to work on urban houses, country houses, and beach houses.
Describe the problem your work solves:
Design problems come to us in all forms. Each project gets its own solutions. As architects and designers, we are problem solvers by nature. In restaurants, we try to establish engaging experiences and at the same time an essence of being lively public destinations. We aim for residences to be special, private, and very personalized. Gracious spaces with natural light and connections to views and the landscape are always part of our quest. In general, we aim for modernist results that feel casual, last forever, and look beautiful. We make as many aspects of buildings as sustainable as possible.
Describe the project you are working on now: We have multiple single-family residences in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Marin, and Sonoma, plus a new 32-unit condominium building in San Francisco on Nob Hill. In New York we are working on some new restaurants. One is a large modern Mexican bar and restaurant called Nizuk that’s set to open this spring near Hudson Yards. There’s a bar in Brooklyn, plus a bistro in East Hampton. We are working with The Grand Central Terminal as the executive architect on tenant spaces. Our largest and most innovative commissions are two ground-up mixed-use developments in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Those projects, which are both under construction add up to over one million square feet of combined commercial and public open space.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: Two new retail stores for Vrai Jewelry that just opened. One is in the Meatpacking District in New York and the other in Boston on Newbury Street. Vrai creates fine and unique jewelry using its lab-grown diamonds. We are about to start designing another one in London.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: Music and natural light.
What you do when you’re not working: Tour museums and galleries.
Sources of creative envy: The architecture of Le Corbusier.
The distraction you want to eliminate: Emails.
Concrete or marble? Marble.
High-rise or townhouse? High-rise.
Remember or forget? Remember.
Aliens or ghosts? Aliens.
Dark or light? Light.
