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WASA Studio
With 120 years of history, WASA Studio is one of the oldest continually operating architecture and engineering firms in the United States. WASA Studio originated in 1889 as Reed & Stem Architects in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1903, Reed & Stem won the design competition for Grand Central Terminal and, as a result, moved its practice to New York City. In 1923, the firm became Fellheimer & Wagner Architects and, in 1961, Wank Adams Slavin Associates, LLP. In 2005, designers Martin Kapell and Jack Esterson joined WASA and formed Studio A, the architectural design studio of the firm. With headquarters in New York City and branch offices in Caldwell, NJ and New Canaan, CT WASA Studio is now a fully integrated multi-disciplinary design firm focusing on the disciplines of architecture, engineering, interiors, preservation and planning.

Reed & Stem, 1889–1923
In 1889 Charles A. Reed (1858–1911) and Allen H. Stem (1856–1931) founded Reed & Stem in St. Paul, MN as an architecture and engineering firm. The firm made a reputation designing homes for wealthy aristocrats, along with notable structures like the St. Paul Hotel; Medical (now Wulling) Hall at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; and the Denver Auditorium. In 1903, Reed & Stem moved its practice to New York City where it won the competition to design Grand Central Terminal (1903–13), their most well-known train station. The firm, in particular, garnered wide acclaim for its railroad work, designing over 100 stations across the country and in Canada.

Fellheimer & Wagner, 1923–1961
Alfred Fellheimer (1875–1959) joined Reed & Stem and became a partner in 1911. Shortly thereafter, Steward Wagner (1886–1958) joined the firm, and by 1923, it became known as Fellheimer & Wagner. In 1927, esteemed Hungarian Modernist, Roland Wank, was hired as their chief designer. Building on the reputation of Reed & Stem, the firm continued to design train stations, the most significant of which is the Cincinnati Union Terminal, acknowledged as the classic Art Deco station, for which the firm won the AIA Gold Medal in 1933. Fellheimer & Wagner also designed an assortment of campus buildings, notably at Queens College (Queens, NY) and Farleigh Dickinson (Teaneck, NJ), as well as corporate parks in New Jersey, such those of Johnson & Johnson and Hoffman–LaRoche.

Wank Adams Slavin Associates (WASA), 1961–2005
Roland Wank, FAIA (1898–1970) came out of the Technical University of Brno, Czechoslovakia, a center of progressive ideas in Modern architecture. Wank later immigrated to the US in 1924, and by 1927, found employment with Fellheimer & Wagner. Two of his designs won Gold Medal awards from the AIA for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers’ Housing, NYC (1929) and the Cincinnati Union Terminal (1929–1933). During the Great Depression, Wank found work as the chief architect for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1933—only two months after its inception—where he remained for the next eleven years. There, he was responsible for the design of fifteen of the dams and their associated buildings, and is famous for imbuing these public works with a decidedly Modernist character. Upon his return to Fellheimer & Wagner in 1945, Wank became a partner and continued to design in the Modernist style, as exemplified by other noteworthy structures like the International Paper Company headquarters (Sterling Forrest, NY).

WASA Studio, 2005-2015
In 2005, designers Martin Kapell and Jack Esterson joined WASA and formed Studio A, the architectural design studio of the firm. WASA Studio is now a fully integrated multi-disciplinary design firm focusing on the disciplines of architecture, engineering, interiors, preservation and planning. On July 28, 2015 WASA studio filed for bankruptcy and ceased company operations pending outcome of several lawsuits vs past clients.

Architecture
The WASA Studio Architecture Group has been conceived as an intense and highly focused group of architects and designers whose purpose is to create distinctive environments for a wide range of institutional and private clients. Projects slated for completion in 2010 include 524 Myrtle at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY and the Jerome Robbins Theater at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York, NY.

Engineering
The WASA Studio Engineering Group provides comprehensive mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire/life safety engineering, lighting design and commissioning services. The work of the Engineering Group is highly influenced by the LEED™ process and focuses on systems integration, energy efficiency and sustainability.

Preservation
The WASA Studio Preservation Group is one of the nation’s leaders in historic preservation, with advanced expertise in building conservation technologies and architectural restoration. The group has been involved in some of the most important preservation projects of the last two decades, including Frank Lloyd Wright’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Fallingwater, the historic Breakers and Château-sur-Mer mansions in Newport, Rhode Island and Louis Sullivan’s Bayard-Condict Building in New York. Additional projects include theaters, academic structures, courthouses, museums and other iconic structures.

Interiors
WASA Studio's interior designers whose purpose is to design distinctive environments for the workplace, institutions and retail clients.

Planning
The WASA Studio Planning Group provides exhaustive pre-design services, including programming, planning and feasibility studies.

Selected Awards
2009

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
 * Archi Award, Award of Excellence in Historic Preservation—AIA New York State


 * Award of Excellence in Low-Rise Category—International Concrete Repair Institute


 * Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award—New York Landmarks Conservancy


 * Award for Excellence in Preservation—Preservation League of New York State


 * Honor Award—AIA Westchester/Mid-Hudson Chapter

Jamaica Performing Arts Center, Jamaica, NY
 * Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award—New York Landmarks Conservancy


 * Adaptive Reuse Award—Metropolitan Chapter of the Victorian Society in America

PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY


 * Brick NY Awards—Brick Industry Association

2008

Pratt Institute, 524 Myrtle Ave. Admin and Academic Building, Brooklyn, NY
 * Design Award, Projects Category—Society of American Registered Architects

Hofstra University, Hofstra University Performing Arts Center, Hempstead, NY
 * Archi Award—AIA Long Island

Harlem Stage Gatehouse, New York, NY
 * Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award—New York Landmarks Conservancy

Northstar Realty Finance, New York, NY
 * Design Award, Interiors Category—Society of American Registered Architects

Cadman Plaza US General Post Office & Courthouse, Brooklyn, NY
 * Award for Excellence in Preservation—Preservation League of New York State


 * Honor Award in Preservation—US General Services Administration (GSA) Design Awards


 * Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award—New York Landmarks Conservancy

2007

Harlem Stage Gatehouse, New York, NY
 * Citation for Architectural Excellence in Historic Preservation—AIA New York State

2006

Metro-North Railroad, Chappaqua Train Station, Chappaqua, NY
 * Citation for Architectural Excellence in Historic Preservation—AIA Westchester/

Mid-Hudson Chapter

Weeksville Hunterfly Road Houses, Brooklyn, NY
 * Excellence in Historic Preservation Award—Preservation League of New York State

2005

Cadman Plaza US General Post Office & Courthouse, Brooklyn, NY
 * New York Construction’s Best of 2005 Award of Merit: Adaptive Reuse—New York Construction

Bayard-Condict Building, New York, NY
 * Commendation—Victorian Society of America

2004

PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY
 * Citation for Architectural Excellence in Historic Preservation—AIA Westchester/

Mid-Hudson Chapter

2003

New York University College of Dentistry, David B. Kriser Dental Center, New York, NY
 * 2003 American Portfolio Award (Educational Design Excellence)—American School & University

Ruttenberg Cancer Ambulatory Treatment Center, Mount Sinai Medical Center
 * 2003 Citation of Merit—Healthcare Design

Bayard-Condict Building, New York, NY
 * Annual Village Award—Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation

Tick Hall, Montauk, NY
 * Residential Architect Design Award—New York Association of Consulting Engineers

Centennial Award for Continuous Practice