David Katz of Katz Architecture On How To Design Office Spaces That People Love To Work In

Use warm, organic materials. Modernism is beautiful, but people respond to warm materials like natural wood and fabrics. Greenery makes a big difference in any space. I am always amazed at what a difference a simple vase of flowers at the reception makes.

As a part of our series called “How To Design Office Spaces That People Love To Work In”, we had the pleasure of interviewing David Katz of Katz Architecture.

David is an accomplished architect with more than 35 years of experience in the fields of architecture and design. His expertise spans a wide range of residential, commercial, retail, institutional, urban design, and preservation projects throughout the United States and internationally. As the founder of Katz Architecture, he is committed to guiding the firm towards its main objectives of achieving optimum design and construction quality through best-in-class client service and clear, honest communication. As a full-time presence in the office, David takes a hands-on approach, overseeing the organization and strategic goals of all projects, while advising, directing and mentoring staff.

Thank you so much for joining us in this series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

In the suburb of New York where I grew up, almost every house was a miniature example of a different architectural style — American colonial, Spanish Colonial, federal, tudor, modern. On my way to school everyday, I would pass them all, and I was inspired by the differences. Beyond that, from an early age, I liked to draw and make things. I was also good at math. I considered engineering, but architecture seemed like a more natural progression.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

I have a lot of stories, so it’s hard to choose one as the most interesting. You can file this one under “Things that might have been.” Shortly after I started my own practice, I was approached by a real estate broker acquaintance who invited me to interview for a loft project for Michael Strahan of New York Giants, Good Morning America and talk show fame. It was hard not to be star-struck when I met him. He has this great smile and a terrific laugh. He was such a big guy, when we shook hands, mine disappeared inside his. We had a wonderful interview, after which I was told he would be making a decision in a few days. After a few days went by, I shot Michael an email, asking about the project. To my extraordinary surprise, he wrote, “David, I really like your work and I would be delighted to work with you.” I was so overjoyed, I remember literally jumping up and down. I immediately sent a thank you note and an expensive box of chocolates to the broker and got things in order to begin the project. But after several days of silence from both, I began to worry. Eventually, I contacted the broker to ask what was going on. She explained that Michael had interviewed two people named David, and had confused me with the other one. Devastated, I thanked the broker, before realizing she had never acknowledged receiving the chocolates. I called her to make sure she had and she said, “Oh, those were from you! I thought they were from the other David!”

It was a crushing experience, but I got this great story out of it, and he did tell me he would love to work with me in the future, so #MichaelStrahan, if you’re reading this, you know where to find me.

It has been said that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake you made when you were first starting and a lesson you learned from that?

No specific mistakes come to mind, so either none were egregious enough to rise to that level or they were so horrendous, my memory refuses to acknowledge them! Seriously though, I’ve been doing this for well over 30 years and I learn something with every project I work on. No mistake is impossible to fix.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I don’t know if these are life-lesson quotes but there are two sayings that come to mind often. The first is something my father always said to me. “What is the worst thing that could possibly happen?” Architecture is a stressful career. Even under the best of circumstances, things sometimes go awry. Materials are delayed, a project is put on hold, we have too little work, or too much work, a contractor doesn’t perform as expected and the client is upset. Before going down the rabbit hole of doom and gloom, I try to put things in perspective by identifying the worst-case scenario. It is usually not as bad as I think, and it rarely gets to that point anyway.

The second is an old yiddish saying that I think of whenever I feel as if I should be doing more than I am. “With one ass you can’t dance at two weddings.”

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I have been fortunate to have several mentors. One of them was Murry Gelberg. I met Murry in 1985 when I began working in his office. I was a student at Cooper Union and had never experienced a working environment infused with such design passion. He brought immense joy to the process of creating things. We were all visual thinkers, but Murry involved all the senses. Everything was approached with the same seriousness of purpose, whether it was drawing a floor plan or arranging a plate of cookies.

Murry filled the office with wonderful people whose passion for design he cultivated. He created a studio that encouraged everyone to take pride and pleasure in their work. He surrounded the space with beautiful objects and images. The shelves were arranged to inspire all who entered. Even the coffee was chosen to best suit the atmosphere. None of this is to suggest that he was a micromanager. He motivated our creativity and took great pleasure in seeing what others produced. He would talk about spirit and soul and how important it was to do good work not so much for our clients as for ourselves. “It’s in our DNA!”, he would exclaim.

I modeled my office after Murry’s and channel him often.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?

We are working on several exciting projects at the moment. Presently under construction, we are working on a 7,000-square-foot office for Carhartt WIP and a five story cast-iron building renovation. Both of these are in Soho. Also in Soho, we just finished construction documents for a new ground-up office building. We have a couple landmark district apartments under construction, one in West Chelsea and one on the Upper West Side. And two of our most exciting projects, still in the very early stages, include an expansion project for El Museo del Barrio and the renovation of a West Village building for Donna Karan’s foundation, Urban Zen. Aside from these, we have multiple landmark district building envelope restoration and preservation projects.

Each of these projects will serve our clients and their communities, but in an equally important way, my office helps people by fostering communication. I remind my staff on a regular basis that with all the noise and divisiveness out there, we need to do our part to help bring people together. We work to understand other points of view and help others do the same through the process of our work. I feel strongly that by mediating and communicating honestly with the various parties we serve, we are connecting people.

What are your “Five Things You Should Do To Design Office Spaces That People Love To Work In” and why.

1. Provide as much natural light as possible. When you consider how much time we spend indoors and the amount of time we all spend at our desks, it seems obvious that whatever can be done to connect us to our natural surroundings is a step in the right direction. Science tells us that exposure to natural light promotes better sleep, increases productivity and puts us in a better mood. Our office is blessed with extraordinary light and we designed it to take advantage of that. Even spaces that are internal receive borrowed light through glass windows and doors. I don’t think anyone ever enters our office for the first time without commenting on the light.

2. Emphasize the views. Not every space will have great views to the exterior, but any view to the outside is important. Even a modest view across the street, or to an adjacent building, or to the branches of a tree can be framed to provide a distant view compared with your computer monitor. It helps relieve eye-strain, and it also gives you incentive to stand up and maybe walk over to a coworker to get the latest gossip.

3. Provide a variety of types of spaces. It is important to have an array of spaces to suit individual needs. We have an open studio environment, which is great for discussion and collaboration, but we also have some rooms where you can shut the door and have a private meeting or a phone call. It is important to have a place to get away from your desk, if you want to work on a laptop on a sofa. And of course, a pantry is important. We designed the studio with an extra long work table that serves as the setting for our weekly happy hours.

4. Get the acoustics right. While open offices are great for collaborating, they can get noisy and if someone is on the phone or trying to concentrate, that can be a problem. It is important to provide some soft, sound absorbing materials such as carpeting or wall treatments. Technology is available to mask sound as well.

5. Use warm, organic materials. Modernism is beautiful, but people respond to warm materials like natural wood and fabrics. Greenery makes a big difference in any space. I am always amazed at what a difference a simple vase of flowers at the reception makes.

If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I think we should all be communicating more instead of looking at our phones. I would initiate phone-free Fridays — one day with no technology. With all the time saved that day, you could prepare dinner and invite someone over for a meaty conversation.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why?

I would love to hang out with Leonardo da Vinci. Not only was he an extraordinary artist who redefined painting, he was an engineer and mathematician with further expertise in zoology, physiology, astronomy and urban planning. He was also an inventor. His sketchbooks from the 1400’s include early designs for a flying machine, calculator, scuba gear, parachute, and a robot! And he was quirky. All of his writing was backward, in mirror script. He was also a vegetarian. It would be glorious to spend an afternoon with him in a garden somewhere in Tuscany sharing a great bottle of wine and a plate of pasta. It would also give me an excuse to practice my Italian.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Our website (katzarch.com), Instagram (katzarchnyc), LinkedIn (Katz Architecture and Project Management), Facebook (Katz Architecture), and if you want to pop in for happy hour anytime, we have them weekly.

Thank you for these great insights and for the time you spent with this interview. We wish you only continued success!