Happiness Within Communities: Studio V Design's Kathy Chan on Being Calm in Adversity, Agile in Opportunities, and Thoughtful in Relationships
By Julia Gamolina
Kathy was born in Hong Kong and raised on the Lower East Side. She grew up with six older siblings, attended NYC public schools and graduated from Cornell University CALS for Business Management. The urban settings of her youth encouraged Kathy to explore spaces within neighborhoods and influenced her to seek strategies to reconnect communities.
As partner and founder of STUDIO V Design, Kathy brings her experience with strategic planning and management to redesigning cities. In her interview with Julia Gamolina, Kathy talks about entrepreneurship and how to find the right staff, advising those just starting their careers to continually ask questions.
Tell me about your foundational years — where did you grow up and what did you like to do as a kid?
I grew up with a strong family foundation. Arriving in New York as an immigrant family of nine, I was the youngest of seven siblings. My mother, father, and older siblings labored hard every day to pay off our debt to come to America. My next youngest sibling and I learned to cook, so dinner would be ready when they came home from a long day at work. We learned to rely on and support each other, and work together as a family to achieve a better life.
Growing up in the Lower East Side in the 70’s, I loved to be outside, going to the local park and playing basketball or handball. I would also enjoy exploring different neighborhoods in New York City by train and by foot. I was extremely fond of the financial district with the tall skyscrapers, historic buildings, alleyways connecting into larger thoroughfares, and the pulse of professionals rushing through. I would love to take the 6 train to Brooklyn Bridge and pop out under the Municipal Building with the soaring arches and Guastavino ceiling tiles. Later in life, I worked at WNYC which had its offices on the 25th floor of the Municipal Building.
Aerial view of proposed rooftop gardens in Silo City, Buffalo, NY. Rendering courtesy of STUDIO V Design + Planning.
River view of proposed residential complex in Silo City, Buffalo, NY. Rendering courtesy of STUDIO V Design + Planning.
Your expertise is in business — tell me about this, and your roles prior to entering this industry.
As my family got assimilated to New York, my parents started their own business, including a garment factory and a coffeeshop that served the community from the old country, Taishan in Guangdong providence of China. When my family was in China, they owned a wholesale business selling cured fish before the communists took it away. My brothers eventually opened their own garment factories. The entrepreneurship bug was in our family. I went to Cornell University for Business Management and Marketing. I started in office administration and moved into account management running and overseeing marketing projects.
My two mentors were my mother, Ying Lan Chan, and Julia Jacobs, my third boss. Both were very strong, smart, steadfast, and resilient women. Ying Lan raised seven children, worked tirelessly to support the family, and ran the garment business operations. She taught me to be calm in adversity, agile in opportunities, and thoughtful in relationships. Julia was a savvy senior account person with an advertising agency; she taught me about sales and how to negotiate, as well as putting out quality work, loving what you do, and mostly speaking up for yourself. At 4’10” Julia was the biggest person in the room.
“I would love to see more tolerance and equality in the world. With our design and planning projects, we work to create better open spaces, housing options, personal agency, and mindfulness to the neighborhoods.”
How did you get your start in architecture?
At Cornell, I found many friends including architecture students. After college and many not right boyfriends, I met Jay Valgora, who studied architecture at Cornell and with whom I shared many friends; we married soon after and have two children. In 2006, we decided he should open his own architecture studio, STUDIO V Architecture. I was supportive while keeping my day job. In 2008, I decided to quit my marketing job and joined Jay to build STUDIO V with my marketing and management expertise.
I’ve always had an appreciation for arts and architecture, and we taught one another. Jay gave me a continuing education in architecture, urban design, open space, and history, and I to him with business, marketing, and management. Through the next eight years, we built the studio, developing innovative design, transforming communities in underutilized or abandoned sites, and designing buildings that reinterpret and contribute to the neighborhoods.
How did you start Studio V Design? What are you focused on these days?
In 2014, we decided to start a sister firm, STUDIO V Design + Planning to pursue creative designs for public work as well as institutions and non-profits. New York City and New York State were promoting infrastructure and planning projects and focused on allotting percentages of fees to Minority and Women businesses. As an Asian-American and a woman, I applied and received a Minority and Women Business Enterprise Certification with NYC and NYS.
STUDIO V Design redesigns and transforms urban edges and gaps, including waterfronts, underutilized, and former industrial areas into thoughtful, community-centric micro-hoods. We work with government agencies, non-profits, and institutions as well as engineering and other architectural firms on a range of project types.
I have been working with VHB and HPD to rezone Edgemere in the Rockaways. The rezoning was approved by DCP and now I am working with VHB and Edgemere Community Land Trust to develop housing typologies for affordable home ownership construction. We are on-call with New York State Canal Corporation on projects for “Reimagine the Canal” changing a once vibrant industrial Erie Canal to a recreational destination. I am also working with Parsons and MTA to re-habilitate and upgrade multiple NYC subway stations. In a green space desert in Long Island City, we are designing a public space with a playground, dog run, and sculpture court under a series of highway ramps called the Underline. On Atlantic Basin, we are creating a marine terminal and homeport for the NYC Ferry with McLaren and the EDC. We are designing a new mixed-use community over the railyards in Long Island City with WSP, FX Collaborative and the MTA. The projects are very exciting and varied. I enjoy the diversity of our work, but most importantly the commonality is making better spaces in New York in which people can live, work, commute, and play.
Proposed pathway with moveable planters of native species for The Underline at Dutch Kills. Rendering courtesy of STUDIO V Design + Planning.
Proposed children’s playground for The Underline at Dutch Kills. Rendering courtesy of STUDIO V Design + Planning.
Proposed sculpture courtyard for The Underline at Dutch Kills. Rendering courtesy of STUDIO V Design + Planning.
Looking back at it all, what have been the biggest challenges? How did you both manage through perceived disappointments or setbacks?
Some of the challenges I faced were to navigate the bureaucracy of government paperwork including applying for certifications and responding to city, state, and federal Request for Proposals (RFP) to build my business. To overcome the first hurdle, I reached out to many people who have come before me, asking for advice and guidance, to finally overcome the systems to became MWBE and DBE certified.
As a small business, it was difficult to obtain public work — we were responding to RFPs and rarely winning. I quickly learned it was easier to be a strong and effective sub-consultant rather than a prime consultant. I reached out to larger engineering and architecture firms who often win the contracts — setting up meetings with them directly or meeting them at conferences. We are now gaining traction and becoming the go to firm for large engineering and architecture firms seeking an innovative and effective partner.
Having a community of peers and mentors is essential to make things work, and to continue to grow. Looking back, I can see how the strength of my family growing up, the mentors in my early career, the community of MWBE firms that helped me start my business, and now my own staff and the people I mentor help me grow my business. When you’re always stretching and pursuing new goals, there will always be disappointment and setbacks. The trick is to minimize and learn from them. Now if I don’t win a job, I always request feedback to ask how I can do it better and go for the next one.
“Having a community of peers and mentors is essential to make things work, and to continue to grow.”
What have you also learned in the last six months?
In the past six months I learned it is very important to have the very best people working with you. Covid was a disaster for so many. It shifted the paradigm — safety, security, family, work. During the pandemic, I had a hard time finding staff, as many other firms also experienced. I learned when staff are not the right fit, it’s better to stay on top of it, make decisions sooner rather than later, and in the long run it works out better for all parties involved. Ironically, the pandemic became an opportunity to attract some of our best talent, offering people better, more creative work and growth opportunities. When you work with the right people, everything flows smoother.
What are you most excited about right now?
I am very excited STUDIO V is exhibiting at the Venice Biennale now till November 2023. The exhibit, ON EDGE, in the European Cultural Centre (ECC), presents a cross section of our work investigating the reinvention of the contemporary city.
Who are you admiring now and why?
I am admiring Michelle Yeoh — she is a bad ass. I am also admiring Maya Lin, Vera Wang, Tammy Duckworth, Kamala Harris, and Ali Wong. I’m so excited that Asian women are breaking barriers.
VENICE, ITALY - European Cultural Centre, Palazzo Mora. On Edge (4-channel video, 18 minutes), Archer Ave, Silo City (architectural models with custom-made pedestals). Photo Federico Vespignani/European Cultural Centre.
Aerial view of how Brooklyn Yards will address an exposed rail line. Rendering courtesy of STUDIO V Design + Planning.
Proposed garden walkways throughout Brooklyn Yards. Rendering courtesy of STUDIO V Design + Planning.
What is the impact you’d like to have on the world? What is your core mission? And what does success in that look like to you?
I would love to see more tolerance and equality in the world. With our design and planning projects, we work to create better open spaces, housing options, personal agency, and mindfulness to the neighborhoods. I hope these will ultimately offer greater happiness within communities. Success to me is seeing people and communities live contently in the areas we design.
Finally, what advice do you have for those starting their career? Would your advice be any different for women?
My advice to new graduates is to continually ask questions and be aware of what is happening around you in the workplace and be accommodating to help if you can. Being passionate and indispensable is a sure way to move up.
My advice to women is to speak up for yourself. In too many instances women do not speak up with what they want for a better work environment.