Camila Crazut, Formerly of Spivak Architects | Central Park West in New York City | Who's Afraid of the Cooperative

American Building

Today I sit down with Camila Crazut, former architect and interior designer for Spivak Architects. Camila and I discuss her Central Park West project located in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the benefits and challenges of projects in a cooperative structure, and the good & bad of client and designer relationships.

Located in an upper class residential area, the Central Park West building is a pre-war, 11 storey building in a family-oriented neighborhood. Camila goes into detail about how the scope of the renovation is centered around its relation to Central Park and how they incorporate millwork throughout the design.

This particular project is located inside of a cooperative structure, which brings its own challenges for architects and designers. Camila talks us through the challenges she faced when renovating in this space, as well as the benefits to working with family-owned vs. commercial residences.

Lastly, Camila discusses how a budget affects the outcome of a project and the importance of designers and clients working together to form a relationship of trust and respect in order to accomplish the goals of each project.

Tune in to this episode to learn more about cooperative structures and find out what qualities you should seek in your next designer.

About the Guest:

Camila Crazut is an architect and interior designer and the Director of Interior Design at Linear Scape, a New York City design firm. Previously, she was a Senior Interior Designer at Spivak Architects and an Interior Designer at McKinley Design and TPG Architecture. She is a graduate of the Pratt Institute and Universidad Central de Venezuela.

Topics Covered:

• Camila Crazut’s background in architecture and interior design
• Who makes up the neighborhood of Central Park West
• An apartment walk through in Central Park West
• How to renovate inside cooperative structures
• The qualities of good designers and good clients
• Renovations on a small budget

About Your Host

Atif Qadir is the Founder of Commonplace, a company dedicated to tackling one of the biggest barriers to more inclusive, affordable, and sustainable development: improving access to capital. Commonplace helps impact-driven developers and capital providers with shared values discover and connect with each other.

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• Connect with Camila on LinkedIn
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• Learn more about Spivak Architects

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