Staten Island Advance
Island Business Upclose
Wednesday March 12, 2003
Island Architects Gain National Prominence
Award-winning architecture firm is one step closer to national recognition after publication in “Contract” magazine.
By Barton Horowitz – Advance Staff Writer
In May 2002, when Salvadeo Associates Architects David L. Businelli and Stephen Perrella received an award from the Staten Island Chapter of the American Institute of Architecture, Businelli interpreted it as a step toward his goal of national prominence.
“We knew we had something special when the project was being designed and when it was completed”, Businelli said. “Our next goal was to get the quality of the work recognized”.
The Eltingville resident, who owns and operates Salvadeo Associates with Cesare Giaquinto of Prince’s Bay, was honored with Perrella, an independent architect for their design of the early-childhood development center in the St. Clare’s Parish Cardinal Cooke Center, Great Kills.
Their design brought the renovated premise to life, with vibrant colors and architectural firsts. The interior boasts wavy walls and ceilings, and its exterior sports fiber-optic acrylic panels on the preschool windows.
Businelli and Giaquinto took over control of Salvadeo Associates, situated at 16 Flagg Place., Dongan Hills, from founder Nicholas J. Salvadeo in 1996. From the onset, the partners set out to turn the enterprise into a leading design firm, offering excellence in architectural design and client services.
“When we took the firm over, it had immense potential for this type of endeavor”, Businelli said at the center at St. Clare’s R.C. Church. “We had the talent pool here from the onset to handle work of this caliber”.
Recognizing that potential, Businelli’s and Giaquinto’s vision was to bring the excellence of the firm’s architecture to national and international prominence. They hoped to accomplish this by leading the development of innovative, cutting edge, high-profile work on Staten Island.
“The goal”, Businelli said “was to reposition ourselves from a local, regional firm to one whose projects would give our company national recognition–and at the same time place our borough on the map. We wanted to illustrate that good architecture can be created on Staten Island”.
The partners’ game plan was catapulted forward in February with the publication of the award-winning St. Clare’s project in Contract magazine, a national trade publication showcasing commercial interior-design and architecture.
“Having the opportunity to do quality, and then having that work published, has helped us achieve our goal much earlier than expected”, Businelli said. “The publication of the project–on the magazine’s cover–marks another step toward the realization of the vision upon which our firm was founded”.
For additional information, Salvadeo Associates may be reached at (718) 667-6340.