Raad specializes in creating objects and spaces that emphasize the process of construction — knowledge gleaned from close and continued collaboration with builders. This collaboration leads to clean, rich, imaginative designs that marry strikingly innovative thinking about function with a deep respect for the traditions of everyday living. A focus on the materiality, joinery and detail of design is apparent in all of raad’s work and is always considered within the context of the relationship between open space and cozy enclosure.
James Ramsey is the principal of raad and the creator of the Lowline. James’ experience in design began at Yale University, where he won a Bates Fellowship to study cathedral design in Europe. He then went to work as a satellite engineer for NASA, where he was a part of the team that created the Pluto Fast Flyby and the Cassini satellites. After his time at NASA, James gained large firm experience at DMSAS in Washington, DC and small firm knowledge, upon relocating to New York, at the boutique outfit, Penny Yates Architects. While teaching design at the Parsons School of Design, James worked to put the pieces in place to start his own design practice in 2004. Raad has since built over a hundred projects, both in NYC and across the country. James Ramsey is the inventor of the Remote Skylight and founder of raadStuff.
The Team
Kibum Park is a partner at raad. He has worked as lead designer on a number of projects in Korea, China and throughout the New York metropolitan area. Kibum oversees the design of all of the firm’s projects and is an expert across various markets with a focus on single and multi-family residential, commercial and hospitality projects.
Sang-yun Han is an architectural project manager at raad. He earned an M. Arch from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2009 and a Master of Science in Architectural Engineering from Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea in 2006. He has received numerous awards in several international design competitions including the Evolo Skyscraper competition. Sang-yun has worked for leading Architectural firms in both the US and Korea and is an expert in residential and commercial design and construction.
Mike House is in charge of the firm’s large scale hospitality and multi-family residential projects and has completed many single family residential projects throughout New York City. He received a Bachelor of Architecture, cum laude from Pratt Institute. His undergraduate thesis work, exploring architectural interventions involving abandoned housing sites throughout the South Bronx in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis earned him an honors thesis award. Having gained first hand building experience renovating abandoned buildings on the Lower East Side as part of that area’s homesteaders movement, Mike is particularly interested in the intersection of architectural design, community planning, and sustainable real estate practices in New York City. Mike was promoted to partner in 2013.
Yuri Miyamoto holds a Master’s Degree in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University and a Bachelor in Architecture from Tec de Monterrey. She’s been doing design and architectural work since 2004. Yuri is currently a part-time lecturer at Parsons, The New School For Design.
Bren Galvez-Moretti (b Lima, Peru) is a designer, educator, and researcher. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of California at Berkeley with a Bachelor in Arts, and received a Master of Architecture from M.I.T. Prior to joining raad, Bren was a designer at Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, where she focused on sustainable systems research for large scale buildings, as well as architectural design competition work; and a design researcher at The Meme in Boston, where she worked as a researcher on technology based projects, working with interaction and product designers to create better consumer experiences. She is currently a design critic at Parsons the New School for Design, and has taught design, drawing, and theory classes at Catholic University of America and The New York Institute of Technology. Bren has also worked at Smart Design in New York, as part of the research and strategy pod, where she participated in the designing of frameworks for product and interaction design.
Heinz Meza is an architectural designer at raad. He has worked for leading Architectural firms in both the US and Peru and has extensive experience working as project designer for large scale hospitality and multi-family buildings as well as commercial and residential clients throughout the East Coast. Heinz is an expert in construction detailing, DOB documentation, and maintains the office’s CAD standards.
Jaeyual Lee is a designer at raad. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and received the Earl Prize in Design. In 2014, he received a Master of Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a graduate scholarship. Prior to joining raad, Jaeyual was part of the design team which was one of three finalists in the international competition for the National Library of Israel.