Sharing an uplifting message of housing crisis solutions while concurrently expanding the reach of their innovation in design of school facilities, RKTB Architects has unveiled a forward-looking leadership transition including the naming of three principals to lead the firm ahead. At the same time, RKTB has also announced that design principal and cofounder Carmi Bee, FAIA, who helped build the firm’s reputation as an innovator in architecture, will step away from his role as firm president and from day-to-day activities and devote his time to select pursuits.
This evolution of RKTB’s leadership is the beginning of a new chapter, with three of the firm’s most established and widely recognized architects coming to the fore: Peter Bafitis, AIA, who has held the role of managing principal since 2004, now serves as president of the firm, along with the seasoned principals Albert Aronov, AIA and Alex Brito, AIA, who respectively lead RKTB Architects’ successful studios in K-12 academic architecture and multifamily housing design. Bee, meanwhile, takes on the role of principal emeritus, says Bafitis.
Forged and strengthened over more than a half-century of responsiveness to changing needs in varied market sectors, RKTB’s core philosophy is to bring design innovation to help achieve their clients’ goals while also aligning with the broader imperatives of civic responsibility. This mission, articulated first in 1963 when the firm was established a Bernard Rothzeid Partners, has earned the firm a reputation for being a trusted and recognized leader among East Coast design professionals and the entire building community, yielding 60-plus years of groundbreaking work.
Images Courtesy of: C.C. Sullivan
“Our architects and designers strive to uphold our ideals and guiding principles, undergirded with a sense of public duty,” says Bafitis, who has served as co-chair of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) New York Chapter’s Housing Committee since 2014. “This has helped bring better and more beautiful architectural solutions where it is needed — as we say, making the places where we work better than those we have found there.”
A Pioneering Legacy
At the same time, the triumvirate of Bafitis, Aronov and Brito jointly announced Carmi Bee’s transition to principal emeritus, noting that the widely respected architect, still active and designing, started with the firm in 1965 as a student intern.
According to RKTB, in the 1970s Carmi Bee collaborated with firm cofounder Bernard Rothzeid on the design of a pioneering transformation of a Manhattan office and light-industrial building into an iconic multifamily residence, Turtle Bay Towers. With its attractive apartments enclosed by glass-walled terraces, the project heralded a boom in adaptive reuse throughout the region, with lessons informing office-to-residential conversions worldwide to this day. Bee rose to become a partner with the firm in 1981, and later he was enlisted by the National Endowment for the Arts to study the emergence of artist live-work spaces in converted structures.
In the following years, RKTB would become synonymous in professional circles with both multifamily design and historic adaptive reuse. Led by Bee, the firm won projects including 455 Central Park West and West Coast in Manhattan, as well as Brooklyn’s Eagle Warehouse. Over the years, the firm also designed new buildings such as the Memphis Downtown apartments in New York City’s Greenwich Village and the iconic South Orange Performing Arts Center in New Jersey. Most recently, Carmi Bee led RKTB’s collaboration with friend and colleague Lance Jay Brown FAIA to design a memorable new synagogue. On his own, Bee designed the celebrated expansion of an architecturally significant house in Truro, Massachusetts originally designed by revered Cape Cod modernist Charles Zehnder.
Carmi Bee
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With multifamily residential work as one of RKTB’s primary focus areas, Bee and his protégés Bafitis, and Brito led efforts to expand the firm’s range across the “continuum of housing” — from affordable and supportive residences to market-rate and luxury properties. RKTB has also built a strong portfolio in directing upgrades and renovations to public apartment buildings and shelters for unhoused people. With his RKTB colleagues, Bee also conceived of the award-winning Affordable Infill Prototype – a healthy, sustainable and neighborhood-friendly affordable housing solution ideal for vacant city lots in medium-density neighborhoods – and collaborated on its development and implementation. A national success story, the prototype resulted in hundreds of new housing units.
About RKTB
About Peter Bafitis
Peter Bafitis, AIA, has over thirty years of experience in the design and construction of a diverse range of projects including multifamily housing, schools, hospitals, transportation projects, adaptive reuse, and large scale urban design work. This experience has been concentrated in the New York metropolitan area but has also included work in Washington, DC and Florida as well as international work in Japan and Nigeria. Mr. Bafitis has focused his career on strengthening the urban environment by reinforcing the social institutions that sustain it. This has centered on neighborhood preservation achieved most prominently through the design and integration of affordable housing, K-12 schools, and transportation facilities. As managing principal at RKTB since 2004, Mr. Bafitis has been responsible for building design, new project development, and overall company management. Since joining the firm in 1995 he has directed some of RKTB’s largest projects for both public and private clients, advancing the firm’s already recognized expertise in multifamily housing and adaptive re-use. He has been especially instrumental in bolstering the firm’s commitment to public sector work which has included extensive experience with many New York City and State agencies. A registered architect in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, he currently serves as co-chairman of the AIA NY Chapter Housing Committee and is also a member of the CFA Foundation Scholarship Committee. Mr. Bafitis resides in Sea Cliff, NY where he has been prominent in the establishment of policy affecting the village’s rich architectural resources.
About Albert Aronov
A registered architect in New York specializing in building restoration as well as new construction, Albert Aronov, AIA, joined RKTB after completing his Bachelor of Architecture degree at The City College of New York School of Architecture and Environmental Studies. He was promoted to Associate in 2003, Senior Associate in 2007 and Associate Principal in 2014, and named a partner in 2015. Aronov has managed a range of projects at RKTB including academic, residential, commercial and historic preservation. He has led the education studio since 2004, supervising a large volume of projects for the New York City School Construction Authority. His high level of technical knowledge in exterior envelope work makes him an expert in the field. Aronov is a member of the AIANY Education Committee
About Alex Brito
Alex Brito, AIA, NOMA, is a registered architect in New York State with design, production and project management experience in a variety of sectors. An alumnus of The City College of New York School of Architecture and Environmental Studies, he joined RKTB in 1992 and was promoted to Associate in 2003, Senior Associate in 2007 and Associate Principal in 2014. He was named a partner in 2015. Brito has worked extensively on pre-design phases of projects such as zoning analyses and NYC building code analyses. Project types include affordable, supportive and market-rate multi-family housing; transportation; civic and cultural; and educational. Major projects he has managed include East Clarke Place Court, Salem House, Site 8 Apartments, Cathedral Gardens, Anchor House for Women, P.S.29Q, and The AirTrain terminal in Jamaica, Queens. Brito is a member of the AIANY Housing Committee and is also a board member of the Citizens Housing & Planning Council (CHPC).
Feature Image Courtesy of: C.C. Sullivan
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