The Podcast
American Building is a podcast series that shares how iconic buildings came together from the perspective of their designers and developers. These innovators discuss on a deeply personal level what they faced in the entire building process and connect to specific challenges for cities today, showing that they go far beyond vocation to improve the places and people around them.
Press:
New Podcast Tells the Story Behind Buildings
Can Architecture Foster Diversity and Inclusivity?
The Warehouse
The Warehouse, once the home of Michael Graves, was converted into a residence from a 44-room rental warehouse. It was built in the 1920s in a Tuscan vernacular style by Italian masons moonlighting from building Collegiate Gothic buildings at Princeton University. Michael Graves, the Robert Schirmer Professor of Architecture at the University, frequently entertained students and visiting scholars at the Warehouse. Owned today by Kean University’s Michael Graves College of Architecture & Design, it anchors a two-building study center, making it a perfect location for the dialogue that American Building encourages.
The Host
Atif Z. Qadir, AIA founded Commonplace, a new company focusing on improving access to capital for impact real estate, and Amanat Properties, a development company focused on the renovation of historic real estate in New Jersey. He serves as a Planning Commissioner in Hoboken, where he lives, and sits on the board of The Hudson School.
Atif was previously a member of the acquisitions and development teams at Extell Development for real estate deals across the United States and Canada. He is a licensed architect and received his bachelor’s degrees in architecture and in urban planning from MIT and his MBA from Columbia Business School.
The Co Sponsor
Michael Graves Architecture & Design is a unique multidisciplinary practice that offers a wide range of design services to clients worldwide. It was founded in 1964 by the iconic American Institute of Architects’ Gold Medalist, Michael Graves, and is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey with other offices across the country.
Michael's global portfolio of architectural work ranged from the Ministry of Culture in The Hague, a post office for Celebration, Florida, a prominent expansion of the Denver Public Library to numerous commissions for Disney. It also includes the scaffolding design for the 2000 Washington Monument restoration. Michael was recognized as a major influence on architectural movements including New Urbanism, New Classicism and Postmodernism.
The Co Sponsor
Commonplace is a new company founded by Atif Z. Qadir, AIA, and Jonathan Kuo and funded by venture capital investors Hometeam Ventures, Park West, and New York Ventures. It was founded in 2023 and builds on a previous company founded by the pair, REDIST.
Commonplace is building the technology infrastructure enabling and accelerating the impactful development and funding of commercial real estate.
