Launching this June, the National Academy of Design is pleased to present “Kinetic Traces”, a group exhibition showcasing the work of the twenty-eight artists and architects elected as National Academicians in 2024 including CJA Principals, Sara Caples and Everardo Jefferson.
“Kinetic Traces” highlights three main focal points: performance, community engagement, and light. By framing the kinetic as both a conceptual lens and a theoretical tool, the exhibition explores movement, surface tension, and spatial expansion.
The newly inducted Academician class of artists and architects includes Ann Agee, Diana Al-Hadid, Sara Caples, Diana Cooper, Lise Anne Couture, Rochelle Feinstein, Chie Fueki, Gajin Fujita, Maren Hassinger, Hugh Hayden, Florian Idenburg, Everardo Jefferson, Mernet Larsen, Marilyn Lerner, Jing Liu, Anthony McCall, Beverly McIver, Amalia Mesa-Bains, Senga Nengudi, Sheila Pepe, Hani Rashid, Jesse Reiser, David Row, Amy Sherald, Ken Smith, Nader Tehrani, Masami Teraoka and Nanako Umemoto.
“Kinetic Traces” is curated by Associate Curator, Natalia Viera Salgado.
On view from June 12 through September 13.
RSVP for the opening reception here.
Join us tonight at Head Hi for a lively conversation on “Erasing Invisibility” with New York Review of Architecture, CJA Principals Sara Caples and Everardo Jefferson and MASS Design Principal Katie Swenson.
Sara Caples and Everardo Jefferson's book, Many Voices, assembles our firm‘s own work for underserved communities in New York City, case studies from around the world, and centers interviews with architects and designers, including Sara Zewde, Tatiana Bilbao, and Wanda Dalla Costa.
We look forward to seeing you! Architecture enthusiasts & non-architects are welcome. Diverse points of views are a constructive part of the dialogue.
Click here for tickets!
Caples Jefferson Architects received a 2024 AIA New York State Honor Award in the Institutional category for the Louis Armstrong Center in Corona, Queens.
Since 1968, the The American Institute of Architects New York State Design Awards have recognized architectural excellence, celebrating projects that exemplify innovation, sustainability, and cultural significance. This year, 29 projects were honored across 14 categories, including Adaptive Reuse, Institutional, Urban Planning, and more.
The awards jury praised the winning projects for their commitment to environmental stewardship, placemaking, and design excellence—values that guided our work on the Louis Armstrong Center.
Congratulations to all the award recipients!
To be a great architect—or painter or poet or almost anything—do you need a great patron? “Certainly that helps, but then you have to bring the talent and vision and invention,” says Sara Caples.
Listen to Randy Cohen, Everardo Jefferson, and Sara Caples in conversation at the Louis Armstrong Center for Episode 519 of Person Place Thing broadcasting Tuesday and Sunday afternoons at 1:30 on WNYE, 91.5 FM, and more broadly Friday night at 10:30 across WAMC Northeast Public Radio. You can also hear it any time as a podcast at PersonPlaceThing.org or download it free at iTunes.
Person Place Thing is an interview show based on this idea: people are particularly engaging when they speak not directly about themselves but about something they care about. Guests talk about one person, one place, and one thing that is important to them. The result? Surprising stories from great talkers.
Produced with Open House New York.
Principal Everardo Jefferson is exhibiting work at the Yale North Gallery exhibition, “A Repository of Black Knowledge” at the Yale School of Architecture through February 15th. This exhibition celebrates the rich history and knowledge of Black architects at Yale. Curated by the Yale Black Architecture Alumni Group (YBAA), this show brings together Black alumni voices, offering a space for dialogue and a Repository of Black Knowledge. As we honor the legacy of Black architects at YSoA, we look both to the past and the future of Black architecture.
Curated by:
Benjamin Johnson
Jess Mitchell
Precious Ndukuba
Featuring:
YBAA Members
The Black Workshop Archive
For more information visit: https://www.architecture.yale.edu/exhibitions/294-a-repository-of-black-knowledge
Join us on Saturday, February 1, 2025 for a Louis Armstrong “double-header” building tour in Queens: The Louis Armstrong Center and the Louis Armstrong House Museum. Sara Caples, AIA, and Everardo Jefferson, AIA, of Caples Jefferson Architects will lead us on a tour of the Louis Armstrong Center, the new state-of-the-art building which preserves and expands the legacy and ideals of America’s first Black popular music icon. The visit will continue with a docent-led tour of the Louis Armstrong House.
The Louis Armstrong Center celebrates Armstrong’s distinctive role in African-Diaspora history and vitality, offering year-round exhibitions, performances, readings, lectures, and screenings through an array of public programs for all ages.
Weeksville Heritage Center is an honoree in Interior Design’s 2024 Best of Year Awards for the Museum/Art Gallery category. This recognition underscores our commitment to designing spaces that foster meaningful connections between people, history, and culture. Thank you to Interior Design Magazine for highlighting the importance of architecture in shaping experiences and narratives. We are proud to be part of a community pushing the boundaries of design and building spaces that inspire.
We love to see the Jazz Room at the Louis Armstrong Center come alive with incredible talent during a recent performance featuring Michela Marino Lerman (Tap), Catherine Russell (Vocals), Miki Yamanaka (Piano), and Russell Hall (Bass). The energy in the room was electric, paying homage to Louis Armstrong’s legacy while showcasing the future of jazz.
The Jazz Room was designed to create an intimate, dynamic space for performances like this—blending Armstrong’s love for music with modern design. It’s an honor to witness the space serving as a hub for both historic and contemporary creativity.
We’re proud to see our design vision come to life with such powerful performances, furthering the mission of the Louis Armstrong Center to celebrate Armstrong’s cultural, historical, and humanitarian impact.
Principals, Sara Caples and Everardo Jefferson shared insights into their creative inspirations and design process during Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen. The event took place at their recently completed project, The Louis Armstrong Center in Corona, Queens and was hosted by Open House New York.
From celebrating architects of antiquity to honoring modern musical legends, it was an evening of surprises and enlightenment. Special thanks to Piedmont Blūz)—Queens locals—for their performance.
This conversation was hosted as part of Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen, an interview show where guests talk about one person, one place, and one thing that are important to them.
Stay tuned—you’ll be able to catch this amazing conversation on personplacething.org in the coming weeks.
Photos by Michael Lee
Copland House, the award-winning creative center for American music and the arts, based at legendary composer Aaron Copland's National Historic Landmark home in New York’s Lower Hudson Valley, today announced its selection of Caples Jefferson Architects to plan, design, and develop Bluestone Farm, its vast satellite venue on the New York-Connecticut border.
This project will honor Aaron Copland’s legacy by creating a vibrant space for creativity, learning, and community engagement. From state-of-the-art performance venues to artist studios and gardens, this expansion will welcome people of all ages and backgrounds into the exhilarating world of the arts.
As Principals Sara Caples and Everardo Jefferson explained their attraction to the project, "We love that the campus builds on the foundational legacy of Aaron Copland, whose compositions brought our nation’s music to new levels. We look to find ways, as Copland did, to create experiences that go deep into our art while providing accessible enjoyment to all. We’re excited by the game-changing possibilities that will result as Copland House’s compelling vision reshapes its new campus as a pivotal location for creation and performance. We’re deeply honored to be working on this verdant, hilly site, re-centering it in contemporary American sound."
Stay tuned as we bring this inspiring vision to life!
Caples Jefferson Architects has received an Honorable Mention in the American Architecture Awards for the Louis Armstrong Center. Presented by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum and The European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, this recognition celebrates projects that demonstrate innovation, design excellence, and meaningful community impact. The Louis Armstrong Center reflects a commitment to preserving cultural legacy through architecture that inspires and uplifts.
For nearly three decades, The American Architecture Awards remain the United States' most comprehensive public program that promotes the best new design worldwide. The American Architecture Awards reflect the changing state of US design and reveal new design trends by today’s foremost practitioners, as well as representing the largest, oldest and most comprehensive awards program of its kind in the United States.
Principals of Caples Jefferson discuss a person, a place, and a thing important to them, sparking new stories about their lives and work.
On December 3, Open House New York and Person Place Thing present a live, in-person conversation with Sara Caples, Everardo Jefferson, and host Randy Cohen at the recently completed Louis Armstrong Center. The program will feature live music from Piedmont Blūz, a country blues acoustic duo.
Person Place Thing is produced with the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan and sponsored by WAMC Northeast Public Radio. An interview show, it is based on this idea: people are particularly engaging when they speak not directly about themselves but about something they care about. Guests talk about one person, one place, and one thing that are important to them. The result? Surprising stories from great talkers.
Archello Awards 2024has revealed its longlist for Cultural Building of the Year. The longlists celebrate the very best building products, architecture projects, and firms selected from over 1,000 entries for the second edition of Archello's annual awards program. This year, Caples Jefferson Architects’ Louis Armstrong Center has been selected.
Designed as an extension of the historic Louis Armstrong House in Queens, the center explores the legacy of Armstrong’s life and work, offering a space for community, education, and cultural engagement. This recognition places the project among distinguished architectural works that shape and redefine cultural landscapes.
Caples Jefferson Principals, Sara Caples and Everardo Jefferson have been elected as National Academicians by the National Academy of Design This prestigious honor recognizes their visionary contributions to contemporary American architecture. The National Academy of Design, championing art and architecture since 1825, recognizes their profound contributions to the field of architecture, notably their commitment to cultural heritage, sustainability, and community-centered design.
With projects like the redesign of the Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn and the expansion of the Louis Armstrong Center in Queens, their work reflects a deep respect for history and the power of architecture to serve diverse communities. Their induction into this esteemed institution is a testament to their innovative and socially conscious vision for the built environment.
Prattfolio
2024 Alumni Books
The 2024 roundup of recently published work by Pratt Institute alumni shines a spotlight on the diverse worlds authored and illustrated across a range of genres and forms. These titles spans immersive design experiences and intimate personal narratives, poetic explorations, and engaging literary escapes for readers of all ages.
Many Voices: Architecture for Social Equity (RIBA Publishing)
Everardo Jefferson, BID ’68, and Sara Caples
This monograph from Everardo Jefferson and Sara Caples, cofounders of the architecture firm Caples Jefferson, presents insights from their work designing for social equity, emphasizing the importance of cultural understanding and community engagement. Through interviews with designers and international case studies, this book offers practical techniques for architects to create spaces with social equity as a design philosophy.
Learn more at routledge.com.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced last week that The Louis Armstrong Museum in Corona, Queens was the recipient of its National Medal for Museums. This is the nation’s highest honor given to libraries and museums that demonstrate significant impact in their communities. In 2023, the museum expanded its reach with the new Louis Armstrong Center, designed by Caples Jefferson Architects. By extending the capacity of the museum and its educational opportunities, the Center preserves and expands the legacy of America’s most-enduring Black popular music icon.
During the AIA Conference on Architecture & Design (AIA24) in Washington, D.C. CJA principals Sara Caples and Everardo Jefferson hosted a seminar titled: Many Voices: Erasing Invisibility in Equitable Communities.
Everardo Jefferson and Sara Caples’s session targeted ways of listening and engaging with assumptions and skills to produce better, more satisfying architecture. Architects should understand how to design for social equity, but too often this is presented as a choice between work that does good and work that looks good. When done well, building for social equity can directly enhance the formal, experimental and creative language of architecture.
Since founding their firm in the 1980s, Sara and Everardo have pledged to do more than 50% of their work in communities traditionally underserved by architects. Their work includes the Louis Armstrong Center and Weeksville Heritage Museum. This talk was informed by their histories of creating equitable and beautiful work, and their recent book Many Voices: Architecture for Social Equity.
The Louis Armstrong Center won a NYCxDESIGN Award in Entertainment. Now in its ninth year, the award amplifies the voices of design that make New York the design capital of the world. The NYCxDESIGN Awards are presented by Interior Design Magazine.
The Louis Armstrong Center won 2nd place in the Institutional, Cultural, Government, Urban Design and Planning Project category of the AIA Queens Design Awards. Thank you to the jury and congratulations to all the winners!
Queens is the city’s largest gateway for immigrants, and is also arguably New York’s most important launchpad to the middle class. Yet, given rising rents, climate change, an aging population and other challenges, Queens has significant work to do to ensure all of its residents can fully participate in the borough’s prosperity. This report presents bold policy ideas from 50 Queens leaders for what city leaders can do to create a stronger, more equitable Queens.
by the Center for an Urban Future
What’s the secret to success, when a project lasts years longer than planned?
What keeps us going when our work takes more time? How does the subject matter of a project relate to the form of a project? Why should we be thinking equally about the budget for what happens after a project opens? What is the “architecture of delight”? Why do “reverberations matter”? Which is more important: patience, or pushing? (Hint: it’s a trick question.) And most importantly, why should everybody visit the house of Louis and Lucille Armstrong in Queens, New York?
Regina Bain (Executive Director, Louis Armstrong House Museum & Archives) and Sara Caples, (Principal and co-founder of Caples Jefferson Architects) join host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners) to discuss the new Louis Armstrong Center project that all three worked on.
Along the way: why everyone should take acting classes, and what it’s like being inside a cello.
The Weeksville Heritage Center testifies to a long forgotten chapter in Brooklyn’s history. For the past ten years, visitors have been able to experience the physical vestiges — three restored houses and gardens — of a free and intentional 19th century African American community, hidden by successive waves of 20th century development. Earlier this year, WHC inaugurated a new era with the opening of a new building on this campus, designed by Caples Jefferson Architects, that boldly announces that this “multidimensional museum” is as firmly committed to its neighborhood’s present and future as it is to recovering and interpreting its legacy for contemporary audiences.
We are thrilled and honored about our Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize nomination for the Louis Armstrong Center! We are so excited and can’t wait to see the exhibition in Chicago at S.R. Crown Hall on March 20th!
“I hope that social equity will be more than just another box to check off and become a critical aspect of what and why architects create.
In 2023, World-Architects presented 39 US Buildings of the Week, featuring short Q&As with architects about recently completed buildings in the United States.
To bring this year's feature to a close, American-Architects is holding a Building of the Year poll and asking you to decide a winner from these Buildings of the Week. With just a few mouse clicks you can vote for your favorite building. The deadline is Sunday, January 28 and the winner will be announced on Tuesday, January 30.
Please vote for our building, the Louis Armstrong Center, for World-Architects’ Building of the Year 2023 competition. Hats off to our team and their hard work to bring this vision to life!
Many thanks to the Louis Armstrong Center, Severud Associates, DASNY, WSP USA, Arup Group, Arup Americas, CG Partners, Potion Design, Hill International, CUNY, Queens College, Steven Winter Associates, Paul J Scariano, Regina Bain, Jason Moran, The Dormitory Authority and the Art Guild!
Queens, NY – Today, the ribbon was cut to celebrate the completion of the new Louis Armstrong Center at the internationally renowned Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona, Queens. The Center opens to the public on Thursday, July 6. By extending the capacity of the museum and its educational opportunities, the Center promises to continue to preserve and expand the legacy of America’s most-enduring Black popular music icon.
Image: people adding a quote by Octavia Butler to a project fence in Weeksville. The full quote is “Paradise is one’s own place, one’s own people, one’s own world.” Image by Edward Marshall.
Everardo and Sara were honored to speak about their work. Here is how they began their talk:
We've been doing this work for over 30 years, and we started working before we really had a theory about what we were doing.
On Thursday, August 13 our Founding Principal Everardo Jefferson will be presented with the Rowena Reed Kostellow Award, designated by the Rowena Reed Kostellow Fund at Pratt Institute. The award is particularly meaningful to Everardo as it honors an instructor and mentor who has had a tremendous impact on his life and work.
Our founding principal Everardo Jefferson is the 2020 recipient of the Rowena Reed Kostellow Award. Below is an excerpt from Pratt Institute’s announcement:
Everardo Jefferson BID ’68 is an architect who spent the last forty years creating modern designs that engage with the cultures and communities of New York. Jefferson studied at Pratt under Ivan Rigby, Bill Folger, and Rowena Reed. When he continued his education at the Yale School of Architecture, he took with him an understanding and attention to form, building a design philosophy centered on the experience of a place. Rowena had a great impact on Jefferson’s education that stayed with him throughout his career….
We are delighted to announce that our Founding Principal Everardo Jefferson has been appointed Commissioner at the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. We would like to share his opening statement to the City Council committee that considered his nomination:
Good morning Chair Koslowitz and members of the Committee for Rules, Privileges and Elections. Thank you for the opportunity to stand before you and answer your questions. I would like to thank Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Johnson for the opportunity to appear before the Committee. It is an honor for me to be nominated to serve on the Landmarks Preservation Commission….