Manuel G. Mergal, AIA, LEED-AP

589 Eighth Avenue
12th Floor
New York, New York 10018
(917) 292-2131
manuel@mergalarchitecture.com

About Manuel:

"I grew up in San Juan, a traditional city in PR. Its narrow streets protect from the intense sun, change occurs slowly and always refers to the local building tradition. Buildings are built for the ages, of durable and functional materials that perform well in the local climate. One can reach virtually any destination on foot. Today, we call this sustainability, but in San Juan this way of building and living has been around for over four centuries.

Prior to establishing my own office, I worked for 14 years with Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer, designing many building types such as: restaurants (the Rainbow Room and Windows on the World - both in New York City), and theaters (The Wilma in Philadelphia and The Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts in Harrisburg). I honed my skills in Classical Architecture working 4 years with Ferguson Shamamian, and 10 years with Cooper Robertson & Partners (7 as a partner) on various houses and small traditional buildings. My projects have been published in Architectural Record, Period Homes and Traditional Building. I have contributed articles for various publications including: The Classicist, Stone World, and Construction News.
"I have had many great mentors during my development as an architect. If I had to choose only 2,I would have to mention Hugh Hardy and Jaque Robertson. Hugh’s joy was contagious and he always inspired us to celebrate the clients’ wishes by designing buildings and interiors with exuberant joy and an expressive use of materials and forms. Jaque approached any commission, whether large or small, by lovingly focusing on every detail from the point of view of the end user and never his own ego".

I have taught in the Interior Design Department at FIT and been a guest critic at CUNY's Architecture School and a guest lecturer at NYU's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. I also lectured at several Traditional Building Conferences and taught a professional seminar at the Institute for Classical Architecture & Art. I am the recipient of the first prize for the first Hispanic Architectural Talent Search Competition. I am also on the Smithsonian Institution's Latino, Hispanic, and Latin American Art Collection and a member of the American Institute of Architects, the Congress for New Urbanism and a Fellow Emeritus of the Institute for Classical Architecture & Art. I am licensed in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and a member of the NCARB. I graduated with a first Master's in Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a second Master's in Urban Design from Columbia University."