American Building is a podcast series sponsored by Michael Graves Architecture & Design, headlined by Atif Qadir, AIA, and hosted at the Warehouse, the home of the late Michael Graves in Princeton, New Jersey.
With his unique perspective as both architect and developer, Atif interviews accomplished individuals who tell the stories of American buildings that they have designed and/or developed. His guests talk about their processes and products on a deeply personal level, highlighting the teamwork, integrity, ingenuity, empathy, and commitment that are necessary to produce exceptional works that grace the skylines of our cities and towns.
The Warehouse, once the home of Michael Graves, was converted into a residence from a 44-room rental warehouse built in the 1920s in a Tuscan vernacular style by Italian masons moonlighting from building Collegiate Gothic buildings at Princeton University. Michael Graves, the Robert Schirmer Professor of Architecture at the University, frequently entertained students and visiting scholars at the Warehouse. Owned today by Kean University’s Michael Graves College of Architecture & Design, it anchors of a two-building study center, making it a perfect location for the dialogue that American Building encourages.
Atif Qadir, AIA founded REDIST, a proptech startup based at the Columbia Startup Lab, and Amanat Properties, a development company focused on renovation of historic real estate in New Jersey. He was previously a member of the acquisitions and development teams at Extell Development for real estate deals across the United States and Canada. He also worked at Turner Construction and at Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman Architects. A licensed architect, he is a frequent speaker on real estate and entrepreneurship at Columbia, Harvard, MIT, and Yale. Atif serves as a city planning commissioner in Hoboken, where he lives. He sits on the boards of The Hudson School, Haven Adolescent Community Respite Center, and En Garde Arts. He received his bachelor’s degrees in architecture and in urban planning from MIT and his MBA from Columbia Business School.
Our fourth guest of the American Building series is Martin Ditto. Martin is the founder and CEO of Ditto Residential, an award-winning development firm based in Washington, DC. We are talking about OSLOadmo, an 8-unit residential development in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of DC.
Our third guest in the American Building series is Jon Pickard. Jon is a Co-founder and Principal at Pickard Chilton, an award-winning architectural design firm based in Connecticut. We are talking about 2+U (also known as the Qualtrics Tower), the studio’s recently completed 690,000-square foot next-generation office complex in the heart of downtown Seattle. 2+U consists of 2 separate towers of 38 stories and 18 stories joined atop a common podium.
The second guest on the American Building series is Samer Hanini. Samer is the founder and managing partner of the Hanini Group, a development company with an affiliated architecture firm, Brick Design, and a construction management firm, Hanini Construction.