2021 Year in Review: Rafael Stein AIA, Urbahn Architects

Name: Rafael Stein, AIA

Job Title: Principal

Company Name: Urbahn Architects

What was your greatest professional accomplishment or most notable project, deal, or transaction in 2021?
We’re working on several projects aiming at bringing humane conditions and quality healthcare to inmates housed at the Rikers Island Correctional Facility. One of them, in the design phase, is the adaptive retrofit of three floors at the NYC Health + Hospitals’ Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan and Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn, to accommodate 274 patients in the Dept. of Corrections’ custody. Among commercial projects, I am very proud of Urbahn completing the 93-unit, seven-story Tides Building 2 in Queens. Urbahn designed the entire two-building, 214-unit, market-rate rental Tides complex, located at the oceanfront community of Arverne, for developers The Beechwood Org. and The Benjamin Cos.

What are your predictions for your industry in 2022?
Public work and affordable housing will support the AEC industry for the foreseeable future, especially in the NY Metropolitan region. The injection of federal infrastructure funding will create a significant number of design and construction projects in the transportation, justice, utilities, and possibly education sectors. These will include numerous construction projects already planned by the MTA and NYC Transit. New York City is also contemplating projects within its program of creating affordable supportive housing for former detainees to reduce recidivism. This will also create opportunities for design and construction firms.

What is the best advice you received in 2021, and who was it from?
The best advice we received in 2021 was from Marty Stein, our 90-year old colleague, mentor and principal architect, who is still active at Urbahn Architects. With many markets served by our firm overheating–including justice and transportation–and the design industry suffering from skilled personnel shortages, he advised us to be selective in taking on work so as not to overtax staff. At the same time, he insisted we endeavor to serve long-term clients with urgent project demands to maintain relationships and client loyalty. We have learned that when the economy cools down clients remember that Urbahn always provided top service even when the marketplace was flush with work. Client loyalty and repeat work are the foundations of longevity for AEC firms.