PEOPLE
MPA’s team of highly qualified staff members encompasses a range of backgrounds and expertise from architecture to landscape, and urban design. As academics and practitioners, the partners share a commitment to mentorship that fosters an environment of collaboration and learning at all levels.
Sandro Marpillero
FOUNDER/PRINCIPAL
Sandro Marpillero is a founding partner of MPA. As a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, he is registered in the US and Italy, with more than 40 years of professional experience. Sandro has received numerous honors, including fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Design Trust for Public Space, and the Fulbright Program. His firm has received 10 AIA Design Awards, including AIA/HUD Secretary’s “Community by Design” Award, as well as awards from American Society of Landscape Architects, Environmental Design Research Association, Wood Design Award Institute, La Biennale of Venice, and MAXXI Rome. Sandro’s work has been exhibited widely, including the Urban Center, the Architecture Center, Storefront for Art and Architecture, and the Triennale of Milan.
Sandro has realized urban design and architectural projects in the United States, Italy and Japan. His productions, designs, and writings have been widely published in international books and periodicals, including Architectural Record, New York Times, Daidalos, Architectural Design, Lotus International, Casabella, and Vesper. He is author of Environmental Refractions, a monograph on the work of artist James Carpenter.
Sandro received a Master of Architecture from the Institute of Architecture, University of Venice (1979) and Master of Science in Architecture and Building Design from Columbia University (1983). He is Adjunct Associate Professor in Architecture and Urban Design at Columbia University, since 1990, and has led design studios at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, University of Toronto, Parsons School of Design, and the Institute of Architecture in Venice.
Linda Pollak
FOUNDER/PRINCIPAL
Linda Pollak is committed to the power of design to create a more just, equitable and sustainable world. She collaborates with clients and communities to transform existing spaces and structures in ways that support and enhance the interplay between environmental and human health and well-being. Her current projects include the James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center, Library Learning Gardens, and Watershed Farm. She participates regularly in civic initiatives, including Fit City and NYC Active Design Guidelines.
Linda is Adjunct Professor at The Cooper Union since 2017, and has taught at RISD, Penn Landscape and Cornell. She was a member of the faculty of Architecture at Harvard GSD from 1992 to 2004.
She received her Master’s Degree in Architecture from Harvard, where she also studied Landscape Architecture. She has a BS in Plant Science and Environmental Design from the University of Vermont and studied Liberal Arts at Yale University.
Linda is co-author, with Anita Berrizbeitia, of the award-winning book, Inside Outside: Between Architecture and Landscape. Her essays have been featured in books–Case: Downsview, Landscape Urbanism Reader, Large Parks, Imperfect Health, and Reconstructing Urban Landscapes, and journals, including Praxis, Daidalos, Lotus, Public Art Issues, and Surface. She has received awards and grants from NEA, NYSCA, ASLA, AIA, and EDRA, and is a Wheelwright Fellow, a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, and the Design Trust for Public Space. She serves on the boards of the Storefront for Art and Architecture and the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize. She is an Honorary Member of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
Matthew Saacke
ASSOCIATE
Matt has been with MPA for over eight years, taking on leadership roles as Project Architect and Project Manager on projects of multiple scales. He contributes to maximize the firm’s productive relationships with clients, consultants, and contractors through fine grained understanding of MPA’s philosophy and design approach, including refinement of techniques of representation, enhancing communication flows, and overseeing quality control standards.
Matt was Assistant Project Manager for DDC Design Excellence projects of Elmhurst Library and Staten Island Children Museum, coordinating the construction of MPA’s innovative design approaches to institutional identity and environmental performance with a focus on equity. In both instances, he has overseen the development of the project’s drawings, coordinating the work of consultants towards the production of exacting Contract Documents, taking on the task of assuming the quality control of submittals and providing necessary clarifications of design intent in the construction phase.
Jose L. Mateluna
SENIOR DESIGNER
Jose Luis is a Senior Designer at MPA, working on multiple architectural and urban projects including Belz Hall at Yeshiva University. He has 13 years of work experience in the United States, South America, and Europe. As a registered Architect in Chile, Jose successfully designed and implemented architectural spaces and buildings, including sport centers and community spaces, with active involvement of local communities.
In 2009-10, Jose worked with Kengo Kuma and Associates on projects in France, Belgium, and Spain. Jose was part of the winning team of the Design Competition and Development of Entrepôt Macdonald, which consisted of transforming a 2021 feet long distribution center completed in the 1970s on the north edge of Paris into a community-based facility for education and interaction.
Jose has been with MPA since 2019, focusing on the development of public and private projects with particular attention to sustainability, resiliency, and technical resolution. Jose’s diverse professional experience and knowledge contributes to the team a spirit of collaboration and production facilitating coordination with clients and consultants. With a strong conceptual and technical approach, Jose looks to integrate MPA’s design philosophy throughout various phases of a project.
Samantha Ngai
INTERN
Samantha combines her interest in architectural and landscape design with her experience in journalism and creative writing to reimagine architectural storytelling at MPA. As an honors student in New York University’s Urban Design and Architecture program, Samantha has studied the modern built environment from a multidisciplinary perspective through practical analyses of urban phenomena, hands-on studio design, and investigation of architectural theory. Her writing has been published on academic and international platforms including NYU Cooper Square and reSITE.
Samantha is currently leading a renovation of MPA’s website that will present MPA’s values and accomplishments to the public. Using her interest in new technologies for modeling and 3D printing, she is also assisting on current projects including Belz Hall at Yeshiva University and the Venice Giudecca Apartment.
Sandro Marpillero
FOUNDER/PRINCIPAL
Linda Pollak
FOUNDER/PRINCIPAL
Matthew Saacke
ASSOCIATE
Jose L. Mateluna
SENIOR DESIGNER
Samantha Ngai
INTERN
CLIENTS + COLLABORATORS
Clients
- 22nd Street Associates
- Arts Commission of Greater Toledo
- Blue Marble Ice Cream
- Brooklyn Public Library
- Brown Boven
- China Institute
- The City of Nagoya, Japan
- The City of Udine, Italy
- Columbia University Weatherhead East Asian Institute
- Contract Design Magazine
- Coral Realty
- Daewoo Corporation
- De Plano Group
- Ecole Bilingue
- Edmund Burke School
- Eraclit SPA
- The Estate of David Smith
- Fantoni Italia
- Hell’s Kitchen Neighborhood Association
- HFZ Capital Group
- The Horticultural Society of New York (HSNY)
- House of Ruth Kidspace
- IMRS
- Istituto Automono Case Paplari
- James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center
- Jean Rubert LTD.
- Maeda Corporation
- Mount Manresa Jesuit Retreat
- The Municipality of Rome, Italy
- New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
- New York City Department of Design and Construction
- New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene
- New York City Department of Parks and Recreations
- New York City Department of Economic Development Corporation
- New York City Housing Authority
- The Parks Council
- Piaggio USA
- Queens Borough Public Library
- Radio Television of Spain
- Robert Goldberg
- Robin Hood Foundation Library Initiative
- Staten Island Children’s Museum
- Studio Legale Bisconti
- Takahachi
- Valdadige SPA
- Yeshiva University
*Note that private clients are not listed here
Collaborators
- Allan McCollum
- Arup Engineering
- Appliet Design Initiative
- Campi Pessina Piazzoli, Lugano
- Cathy Ho
- CLEAR
- Design Trust for Public Space
- Garofalo Miura Associati
- GrowNYC
- HealthxDesign
- HSNY GreenTeam
- Julio Slacedo
- Kane AUD
- Margie Ruddick
- Michael Singer
- Macola Redini Valle
- Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects
- Nina-Marie Lister
- Pentagram
- Rafael Vinoly
- SCAPE Landscape Architecture
- SheltonMindel
- Sciame Construction
- SITU Fabrication
- Studio Pameggiani
- Tamarkin Techler Boston
- Thomas Juul-Hansen LLC
- Tinmouth Chang Architects
- Town & Gardens, Ltd.
- WASA LLP
- WRT Planning + Design
- Wetlands Reserve Program
Consultants
- 2147 Code
- Accu-Cost Construction Consultants, Inc.
- Ambrosino, Depinto & Schmeider Engineers
- Assemblage Landscape Architecture
- ANZ Engineering
- Buro Ehring
- Code Consultants, Inc.
- Concost Associates
- Construction Specifications, Inc.
- D’Antonio Consulting Engineers
- Future Green Studio
- GZA GeoEnvironmental of NY
- H2 Consulting
- Jenkins & Huntington, Inc.
- Langan Engineering & Environmental Services
- Leni Schwendinger Light Projects
- M.A. Rubiano, P.C.
- Metropolis Group
- Mottola Rini Engineers
- Plus Group
- Richard Balser Engineers
- Robert Silman Associates
- Rosenwasser Grossman
- Rudell Associates
- See/Arch
- Severud Associates
- Steven Winter Associates
- Studio James Long
- Thomas Thompson Lighting Design
- T-Squared Design, Inc.
- TM Technology
- Walter B Melvin Architects, LLC
- Weidlinger Associates