Gabellini Sheppard Associates is a multi-disciplinary architectural and interior design firm based in New York City. The 30-person firm has gained international acclaim for its signature design aesthetic in which space and light are used as sculptural materials. This sensibility evolves from the intent to design pure, functional spaces that operate as graphic backdrops to what is contained within them. The firm has approached each of its projects as an individual research enterprise, investigating each site’s historical context, programmatic possibilities, and potential to stimulate the development of a fresh spatial vocabulary.

Gabellini Sheppard designs on multiple scales ranging from urban and commercial masterplans to private residences, fashion boutiques and contemporary art galleries. With its inaugural commission of the Jil Sander flagship store in Paris, the firm set a new standard in retail design by creating a richly subtle stage for the interaction of volume, light, and materials. The firm has subsequently designed major retail environments such as the Bergdorf Goodman Contemporary Floor and Nicole Farhi boutique and restaurant in Manhattan, the 100,000sf retail center for Giorgio Armani in Milan, numerous boutiques and showrooms for Salvatore Ferragamo, and 90 stores and showrooms for Jil Sander worldwide.

Exemplifying Gabellini Sheppard’s ability to complement historic architecture with contemporary design, the dramatic Top of the Rock project at 30 Rockefeller Center creates a richly layered urban, spatial experience. This highly public space within one of New York’s classic Art Deco skyscrapers followed a previous commission to restore and enhance Rockefeller Center’s landmarked Fifth Avenue façades. Interested in urban design and history, the firm won an international competition for its plan to revitalize the ancient Piazza Isolo In Verona, Italy.

Residential design has always been central to the practice. Homes for individual clients as well as hotel and condominium projects have allowed the firm to evolve a philosophy of design highlighting the basic pleasures of everyday living. Michael Gabellini’s expertise and passion for contemporary art has led to exhibition design and facilitation projects with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the Venice Art and Fashion Biennale, and Swarovski Crystal Palace. The firm has also designed gallery spaces in New York for the Marian Goodman Gallery and Anthony Grant Fine Art, among others.

In 2006, Michael Gabellini received the National Design Award in Interior Design from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. The firm has also won the prestigious Progressive Architecture Award, 17 awards from the American Institute of Architects, and multiple awards from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design, Architectural Record, I.D. magazine, the International Interior Design Association, and the Municipal Art Society of New York.