Intro

TRA: Latin for ahead of, or in the midst of things; simultaneously the edge and the link to beyond

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Intro

TRA: Latin for ahead of, or in the midst of things; simultaneously the edge and the link to beyond

tra believes that architecture can transform, both our environment and our behavior

TRA studio is the New York and Venice based firm led by Caterina Roiatti, AIA, and Robert Traboscia. TRA explores transdisciplinarity, finding the equilibrium between art and design, cultural and practical constraints, uncovering opportunities for innovative but programmatic interventions. We strive to achieve surprisingly simple and meaningful built design our solutions that enhance the client’s values, promotes the user’s self esteem and strives to solve society’s collective challenges; we call it “design with integrity’.

The Studio’s experimental attitude searches for the balance between the operational and conceptual space, developing environments that are unforgettable yet performative, remaining always, site-specific, responsive to the current conditions and cost effective. Our open-minded, but rigorous, design process has been shaped by working in New York, where is no coincidence that most of our work is located.

We know how to build: we see the execution as part of the design, as proven by the longevity and resale value of our spaces. Our work always strives to transcends expectations.

Our diverse body of work spans a wide range of projects, including new construction, modular challenging buildings, additions, adaptive re-use, contemporary restorations, commercial and residential interiors. Since 1995, the firm has worked with leading cultural Institutions, art foundations, global corporations, international fashion labels, nonprofit organizations as well as developers and private clients.

TRA embraces the responsibility that comes with working in the Historic Districts, where the interventions will likely last and have a reaching effect on the city and its users; from interiors to new buildings the sum of the singular interventions, rises at the urban scale as part of the larger fabric, becoming neighborhood enhancing. The studio’s work in Landmarked areas, has defined our own brand of contextualism, where content and context inform each other and the contradictions between old and new are the generator of creative processes.

TRA received the Regina Kellerman Award from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation,was selected as a top finalist in the Grand Army Plaza Competition in 2008, was one of the ten finalists of the AIA NY Interiors Committee best Community OInteriors in 2017 and was named one of the best Design-Build Firms by NY Architects in 2018. TRA’s projects have been featured in several publications including the, New York Times, Architectural Record, the AIA Guide to New York City, 101 Cool Buildings: the best of New York City Architecture, Masterpieces: Roof Architecture + Design, the Real Deal, New American Luxury and Design Bureau Magazine.

Portraits

Studio Portrait

Portraits

Studio Portrait

TRA STUDIO architecture, PLLC was founded in 1997 and combines the strengths of Robert Traboscia, an environmental designer and an artist and Caterina Roiatti, an architect educated in France, Italy and the United States. Their collaboration draws from their prior experience in leading projects, varied in type, scale and geographical location and informs TRA’s interdisciplinary project approach and diversified portfolio.

Caterina and Bob met while at Vignelli Associates, with whom they still collaborate, working on complete identity projects; that experience assists them in designing spaces that are both TRA’s as well as they depict the client’s brand.

CATERINA ROIATTI, AIA, NCARB
Principal, Co-Chair of the AIA New York Historic Buildings Committee.

Caterina co-founded, in 1995 with Robert Traboscia, TRA studio Architecture PLLC, a firm that as implied in the name, strives to find the equilibrium between design and functional constraints, working in between all the disciplines and across all scales. Caterina has been Co-Chair of the AIANY Historic Buildings Committee since 2012 and serves on the AIANY Exhibition Committee.

Prior to opening her own firm, she worked at Vignelli Associates, Pei Cobb Fredd and Partners and Fox Pedersen Conway. Caterina received her Doctor in Architecture Degree from the IUAV Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia in Italy and her Masters from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, which she attended as a Fulbright Scholar.

Full Biography

ROBERT TRABOSCIA
Managing and Creative Director

Robert graduated from the Parsons School of Design, where he later also taught, with a degree in Environmental Design, a multidisciplinary program whose approach still informs his work and the studio’s philosophy. His unusually broad background, passion for the “‘active” side of architecture, his negotiating skills and ability to motivate people, greatly assists the studio in collaborating with clients and contractors and, ultimately, in getting complex projects realized.

He personally writes all the contracts, which hew sees as the first phase of any project.

Full Biography