In this segment for HorizonTV, BD+C's John Caulfield interviews Mancini Duffy's CEO and Co-owner William Mandara about his firm's recent growth, which includes an acquisition and new HQs office.
Topics discussed:
- What prompted Mancini Duffy to open a third office in Red Bank, N.J., and how did the pandemic of the past two years shape how that office has been set up and staffed?
- Your company also expanded in May by acquiring Gertler & Wentz Architects, a New York-based firm. What attracted Mancini Duffy to that firm, and what did they bring to the party?
- That acquisition coincided with your firm moving into a new headquarters on Eighth Avenue, at a time when other companies have been walking away from office space. Please provide details about the new office, in terms of size, employee capacity, etc. It is my understanding as well that you tripled the size of your Design Lab — please elaborate.
- Mancini Duffy was on the design-build team for TSX Broadway, a $2.5 billion 550,000-sf mixed-use building that included lifting the Palace Theater 30 feet, or six stories, above street level, and creating a new entertainment location within New York’s Times Square. Talk about the clients’ vision, and why such a complex design and engineering maneuver was necessary.
- Your portfolio includes Peloton’s first real headquarters, on West 25th Street, as well as several high-profile building repositions, such as 888 Broadway. What were the clients’ design goals, and what were these projects’ challenges and noteworthy features?
- What’s next for Mancini Duffy? Do you see the firm expanding outside of the New York metro area? Are there other practices you are considering? What roadblocks will the firm need to navigate for successful growth? How id diversity, equity, and inclusion factoring into your plans?
Related Stories
| Apr 12, 2011
Metal cladding: Enhancing design with single-skin panels, MCMs, and IMPs
Single-skin metal panels, metal composite panels, and insulated metal panels can add both aesthetic and functional value to your projects, if you use them correctly.
| Apr 12, 2011
American Institute of Architects announces Guide for Sustainable Projects
AIA Guide for Sustainable Projects to provide design and construction industries with roadmap for working on sustainable projects.
| Apr 11, 2011
Wind turbines to generate power for new UNT football stadium
The University of North Texas has received a $2 million grant from the State Energy Conservation Office to install three wind turbines that will feed the electrical grid and provide power to UNT’s new football stadium.
| Apr 8, 2011
SHW Group appoints Marjorie K. Simmons as CEO
Chairman of the Board Marjorie K. Simmons assumes CEO position, making SHW Group the only firm in the AIA Large Firm Roundtable to appoint a woman to this leadership position
| Apr 5, 2011
Zaha Hadid’s civic center design divides California city
Architect Zaha Hadid is in high demand these days, designing projects in Hong Kong, Milan, and Seoul, not to mention the London Aquatics Center, the swimming arena for the 2012 Olympics. But one of the firm’s smaller clients, the city of Elk Grove, Calif., recently conjured far different kinds of aquatic life when members of the City Council and the public chose words like “squid,” “octopus,” and “starfish” to describe the latest renderings for a proposed civic center.
| Apr 5, 2011
Are architects falling behind on BIM?
A study by the National Building Specification arm of RIBA Enterprises showed that 43% of architects and others in the industry had still not heard of BIM, let alone started using it. It also found that of the 13% of respondents who were using BIM only a third thought they would be using it for most of their projects in a year’s time.