BOSTON—On Jan. 26, 1991, Al Spagnolo AIA, NCARB, Bill Gisness, AIA, BSA and Jeff Tompkins, IIDA, LEED AP got together and founded Spagnolo Gisness & Associates Inc. Thirty years later, the Boston and New York City-based practice, now known as SGA, has emerged as one of the nation’s leading Architecture and Interior Design firms.
In the last 30 years, SGA’s portfolio is approaching half a billion square feet of commercial space across the country. SGA cemented its place in the market by delivering notable works such as the corporate headquarters of clients such as life sciences pioneer Biogen, retail giant Staples, gaming technology company GTech, mathematical computing software firm MathWorks and the US headquarters of banking and financial services firm ING.
In addition to corporate headquarters, SGA has designed projects for some of the nation’s leading institutions of higher learning, including Vanderbilt University, Williams College, MIT, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Tufts University, and Northeastern University.
As it grew, SGA diversified and today it is known as a leading designer of Life Sciences labs and facilities. SGA serves as the architecture and design firm for top Life Sciences developers and institutional investors in current and emerging clusters including Cambridge, Greater Boston, New York City, New Jersey and Philadelphia.
Recently under the guidance of the new partners, SGA was awarded 11 Architecture and Design awards in 2020 from industry peers and publications, which recognized the firm’s innovative and tech-forward design ethos in projects such as TitletownTech, Vanderbilt University, 50+60 Binney Street (the home of Sanofi Genzyme and Bluebird Bio), LogMeIn, the Autodesk BUILD Space, Williams College and Wheaton College.
“I am very humbled and excited to say it has been a spectacular journey of doing what we really enjoy at SGA, and that is pioneering tech-forward design that redefines how projects are visualized and delivered,” said Mr. Spagnolo. “Architectural design was quite different 30 years ago. New technology has changed the face of architecture today, and we are very proud of leading this technological revolution to serve our clients better.”
In its 30th year, SGA, has diversified and expanded its Architecture, Interior Design, Planning, Branded Environments, Virtual Design and Construction, and Building Sciences practice, and added new ones, such as Science + Technology Planning.
“We would also like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to SGA’s clients, consultants, vendors, our talented staff and construction partners for supporting and collaborating with us during the last three decades,” said Mr. Spagnolo. “Thanks to our clients and partners, SGA today is celebrating its landmark 30-year milestone.”
