American Building

Today we speak with Camila Crazut, an architect and interior designer working as a Project Manager at Spivak Architects in New York City. After training and becoming licensed as an architect in Venezuela, Camila came to the US to extend her training with a degree in interior design. Regardless of the title, Camila identifies as a designer capable of a wide range of creative projects, including the project we focus on today, a Central Park West residential apartment. We discuss the unique challenges of executing a renovation project in today’s climate with the increased cost and delayed schedules caused by the pandemic. 

For young professionals entering the design and architecture field, it might be easy to accept any project that comes through your door. Camila dives into the characteristics that define a “good client” including trust in the designer, openness to new ideas, and a clear idea of the desired end result. She also shares her experience in identifying signs that a client and project might be a bad fit. Camila shares how design thinking transcends a project’s budget and can provide a satisfying result regardless of the cost of the furniture and finishes. 

About Camila Crazut

Camila is an architect and interior designer. She currently works as a Project Manager at Spivak Architects in New York City. Previous to joining the firm, she worked at TPG Architecture and McGinley Design. Her experience as a designer is concentrated in residential and hotel projects, but she has also worked on fascinating public projects like the Islamic Cultural Center near the World Trade Center site. Although she now identifies as an interior designer, Camila was trained and is licensed as an architect in Venezuela. In addition to her current project, Camila shares the differences she identified between her education in the US and abroad and how she navigates different perceptions of the title “interior designer”. 

About your host: 

Atif Qadir is the Founder & CEO of REDIST, a technology company making it easy for commercial real estate professionals to find and use the $100B of real estate incentives given out every year in the US.

Resources & Links:

• Connect with Camila on LinkedIn
• Learn more about Camila's projects on her website
• Learn more about Spivak Architects
• Follow Spivak Architects on Instagram
• Grab our exclusive guide Seven Tips on How to Stand Out in Your Field
• Connect with Host Atif Qadir on LinkedIn
• Follow American Building on  Instagram