DXA Studio

DXA Studio is a New York City-based architecture firm known for its work on the conversion of the historic William Ulmer Brewery in Brooklyn  and the design of The Rowan Astoria, a large new residential development in Queens that set the record in 2021 for the most expensive condominium unit sold in the borough. DXA’s work combines art and the science of architecture, blending a modern outlook with a respect for history and context. DXA’s founders, Jordan Rogove and Wayne Norbeck, also co-founded Liv Connected, a modular home design company that aims to address the country’s housing shortage.

History
Founded in 2011 by Jordan Rogove and Wayne Norbeck, the firm emphasizes authenticity, sustainability, and originality in architecture, aiming to have a positive influence on the lives of those engaged with their projects.

In 2022, DXA Studio released its first monograph, DXA NYC: 10 Years of Building on History, published by ORO. The book explores DXA’s practice, exploring the relationship between the past and future of architecture through 14 projects that consider New York City as a laboratory, embracing history as a constructive and critical influence. The book also includes writing by leading thinkers, such as Robert Tierney, Cas Stachelberg, Gregory Rogove, Gregory Wessner, Russell Shorto, Patrick Cullina, and Judith Zilczer.

Leadership
Jordan Rogove and Wayne Norbeck founded DXA Studio in 2011.

Rogove has completed projects that span numerous typologies. Before DXA studio, Rogove worked with set designer Tom McPhillips, Lucien Lagrange Architects, and Morris Adjmi Architects in New York City. Rogove received his Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech in 1998 and is currently a visiting professor of Practice there. As of February 2024, he is on the board of directors of the Society of Registered Architects (SARA) New York and is a member of The Architects Council of New York (ACNY).

Wayne Norbeck has overseen projects from furniture design to urban-scale planning. His approach prioritizes architecture’s ability to resolve site complexities with distinctive design solutions, engage with public spaces meaningfully, and contribute to socially responsible initiatives. Before founding DXA studio, Norbeck worked with Ziger/Snead Architects, TEN-Arquitectos, and Gluckman Mayner Architects. Norbeck is a professor of Practice at Virginia Tech, has taught at Pratt Institute, and served as a visiting critic at various schools. He received his Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech and his Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.

Rogove and Norbeck’s work includes humanitarian projects, such as the development of an orphanage in Zambia, a health-focused community in Saint-Marc, Haiti, and collaboration with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) to develop architectural solutions toward the eradication of malaria in Namibia.

They co-founded Liv Connected, a tiny house concept redefining the housing market through modular construction, offering well-designed emergency housing following natural disasters.

Work
DXA Studio’s work includes multi-family and single-family residential, commercial, education/institutional, and hospitality projects primarily in New York, with an increasing number of projects globally. In 2023, the firm completed The Labs on 121, a new life science building in Harlem, New York, and 110 North 1st Street, a new residential project in Williamsburg, Brooklyn rooted in health and wellness.

Maverick Chelsea, located in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, is the firm’s largest project to date. Opened in 2022, it features two side-by-side towers with a faceted column and spandrel grid façade, offering condo and rental units, including affordable housing under the NYC Inclusionary Housing and Fair Housing Acts.

The Rowan Astoria, designed by DXA Studio, is one of the largest residential projects in Astoria, Queens and has also set records for condominium sales in the area. This six-story building consists of 16-unit condos attached to a glass lobby with a green roof surrounded by a landscaped entrance plaza and private garden. The façade features intricately detailed masonry that visually breaks up the size of the building.

DXA Studio has restored and renovated several landmark buildings across New York City, receiving unanimous approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission. In 2022, Justin Davidson of New York Magazine sought the firm's expertise for potential renovation ideas for the imperiled West-Park Presbyterian Church at 165 86th Street. DXA Studio proposed three options that preserved as much of the core structure as possible and added new apartments with a façade respecting the neighborhood context.

Other restoration and renovation projects by DXA Studio include:


 * The landmark William Ulmer Brewery restoration in Bushwick, New York. Originally designed by renowned architect Theobald Engelhardt, DXA Studio transformed it into a new commercial and manufacturing center.  The firm collaborated with the artist Aaron Asis for “Ulmer: Conveyance,” an immersive art installation and performance in this historic brewery. The exhibition celebrated the brewery’s history and was presented before the start of construction.
 * 827-831 Broadway, a 70,000 SF commercial building in lower Manhattan, once Willem de Kooning’s former studio space. DXA Studio restored the original 1890s cast-iron façade and design a new vertical enlargement that celebrates the cultural significance of the building.
 * 49 Greene Street in SoHo’s Cast-Iron District, the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church conversion on West 81st Street, and 102 Greene Street, a cast-iron building originally designed by renowned architect Henry Fernbach in 1881 and home to notable residents including William Tarr, the sculptor behind the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Sculpture in New York City.

Awards and Honors
The work of DXA Studio, both built and unbuilt, has received numerous design awards.

In 2023, the firm won a Society of Registered Architects (SARA) New York Design Award of Excellence for The Rowan Astoria. The firm was also recognized as the Best Residential Firm in 2023 in the Architizer A+ Popular Choice Awards.

The firm participated in the Venice Biennale in the Time Space Existence Exhibition in 2023, 2020, and 2018. In 2023, the firm exhibited a scaled mock-up of the reimagined West-Park Presbyterian Church. An animated LED lighting array and original audio recording, composed by Gregory Rogove accompanied this presentation. In 2020, DXA Studio presented a scaled mock-up of the Midtown Urban Pathway Viaduct, and in 2018, it designed a projected animation and scaled façade mock-up of an early design iteration of 827-831 Broadway.

In 2022, DXA Studio won the Urban Land Institute’s Global Awards for Excellence for Essex Crossing, a mixed-use project in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

The firm has won several recognitions from Interior Design Magazine’s NYCxDESIGN Awards. In 2021, the firm’s proposal for The Great Bridge: Path to Equilibrium was recognized in their On the Boards: Commercial category. The project reimagines the Brooklyn Bridge in ways that elevate people over automobiles to reclaim the land entangled by roads and ramps for civic use as parks, museums, local commerce, recreation and housing, making the bridge more accessible to adjacent communities. Maverick Chelsea was listed as a finalist in the residential category of NYCxDESIGN Awards in 2021. In 2020, DXA Studio was awarded the Grand Prize in the Commercial category for their design of a future Midtown Urban Pathway Viaduct. The firm proposed a pedestrian conduit that spans 9th Avenue and connects the new Moynihan Train Hall at West 31st Street to the High Line and Hudson Yards at 30th Street. The design references the historic interlaced steel plate work of the High Line and the intricate steel structure of the original inner concourse of the original 1910 Penn Station. The firm also won Interior Design’s or Design’s PowerGrid 50 Top Firms in 2018.

DXA Studio has won several Best of Design Awards from The Architect’s Newspaper, including Best of Design Awards Unbuilt – Urban Design category in 2020 for The Great Bridge: Path to Equilibriumand honorable mention for Maverick Chelsea in the facades category. The studio also won the Best of Design Awards’ Best Restoration and Preservation project in 2018 for 100 Barclay in Brooklyn, NY, the Best Unbuilt Residential Project in 2017 for their design of 14 White Street in Tribeca, NY, and honorable mention in the Unbuilt category in 2016 for their design of the In the Drawers: WWI Memorial: Path of the Americans project.

In 2020, the American Institute of Architects New York State (AIANYS) recognized the firm with an “Award of Merit” in 2020 for The Great Bridge: Path to Equilibrium design. Also in 2020, DXA Studio won a Society of American Registered Architects National Award in the Multifamily Housing: Condominiums and Apartments category for 280 St. Marks Avenue in Brooklyn and honorable mention for their Fighting Malaria in Namibia project that is a pilot program designed to assess the feasibility of improved ‘mosquito-proof’ housing as a sustainable malaria prevention in the country. This effort was created in partnership with The Namibia Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS), the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), and Archive Global. The firm also received a grand prize for Metals in Construction Magazine’s 2019 Design Challenge for its Midtown Pathway Viaduct design.

Select Awards

 * SARA National Merit Award, 2023
 * SARA New York Design Award of Excellence, Best Residential Building, 2023
 * Architizer A+ Popular Choice Award, Best Residential Firm, 2023
 * Urban Land Institute’s Global Awards for Excellence, 2022
 * The Architect’s Newspaper’s Best of Design Awards, 2020 (multiple entries)
 * The American Institute of Architects New York State (AIANYS), 2020
 * Interior Design’s NYCxDESIGN Awards, 2020
 * Society of American Registered Architects (SARA) National Award and Award of Honor, 2020
 * Metals in Construction Magazine’s Design Challenge, 2019
 * Interior Design’s PowerGrid 50 Top Firms, 2018
 * The Architect’s Newspaper’s Best of Design Awards, 2018
 * The Architect’s Newspaper’s Best of Design Awards, 2017
 * The Architect’s Newspaper Best of Design Awards, 2016