APPROACH
Our Story
SPAN Architecture LLC is an interdisciplinary architecture and design studio led by Karen Stonely AIA LEED AP and Peter Pelsinski AIA LEED AP.
With a multifaceted and collaborative approach, SPAN creates work that is responsive and inventive, oscillating between the natural world and the man-made to create places that are extraordinary, meaningful, and enduring. Every project is an opportunity to explore the relationship between people, place, and the living world through architecture that is thoughtful, authentic, and deeply rooted in context.
Over time, we have come to realize that it is not enough to simply build better. People need meaningful connections to the living world in their everyday lives to understand its value and what stands to be lost without that relationship. This way of thinking has guided the studio for decades and continues to evolve.
Long before biophilic design entered mainstream architectural discourse, SPAN was exploring many of the principles that now define it, integrating light, materiality, ventilation, landscape, sensory experience, and the character of place as fundamental aspects of architecture rather than applied aesthetics.
Our work spans residential, hospitality, healthcare, workplace, retail, mixed-use, and cultural projects, while extending to interiors, landscape, furniture, lighting, objects, branding, and art. Working across disciplines allows ideas developed at one scale to inform another, creating environments where every detail contributes to a coherent experience.
We believe architecture is most meaningful when it responds to the unique qualities of people and place rather than a predetermined style. Collaboration with clients, artists, craftspeople, and fabricators is central to our process, grounding every project in research, imagination, and technical rigor.
Based in New York City, SPAN approaches every commission with curiosity and optimism, creating architecture that enriches everyday life while continually expanding the possibilities of the built environment.
The Studio
Sustainable Design
SPAN has worked on several large-scale projects that sustainability as a core principle of the design, most notably the Gotham projects (Gotham West and Gotham BAM), and the Hyatt Times Square hotel. Sustainable design concepts are brought in early in the process, with methods of evaluation and guidelines incorporated as early as the schematic design phase. For most of these projects, we have worked in tandem with a sustainability consultant, and closely coordinate our work with their stated goals and objectives. All projects required the development of a sustainability report to ensure the project was on target to meet its goals.
Recognition
