Level Eight Architecture + Design is an architecture and interior design firm with experience in the field of residential design, new buildings, remodeling and gut renovations, bespoke fabrication, and interior finishes. Level Eight Architecture + Design (LEAD) provides our knowledge and design skills to help you create an environment that is tailored to the needs of it's clients. As designers, we are fundamentally attentive to detail. We believe in possibilities and we thrive in the optimism that all of our projects can be exceptional when we do our best: guide our clients through big dreams on an inventive path filled with ambition. Our goal is to deliver inviting spaces to live in, to work in, to learn and play in. We can guide you through the process of design. From our experience, we recognize that budgets and values go beyond construction and start from early planning and guidance and go all the way through overall life cycle costs. We can guide you from the early stages in creating an architectural feasibility study and conceptual studies through project programming and project completion.Otto Ruano, principal of Level Eight Architecture + Design, is also an active visiting professor at the Pratt Institute School of Architecture.

Visiting Assistant Professor Courses Taught in the Core Curriculum:---Construction Documents---Representation 1---Representation 2---Representation 3---TechnicsThesis Consultant:Spring 2008 Thesis Class taught by Lawrence Blough and Deborah GansDesign 400 Consultant:Fall 2007 400 Level course taught by Zehra Kuz

John Powers is a Brooklyn based post minimalist artist. We have worked together on various projects, from sci-fi to theoretical urban proposals to proposals for installation competitions. Projects include:Indianapolis International Airport Installation CompetitionRe-imagining Downtown NYC Dan Flavin Light SabersSaamlung Gallery "No One Can Hear You Scream" a show including nine Freedom Towers transplanted from New York's WTC site to Beijing's Tiananmen Square as well as previous work reconstructed through 3dPrints2H2K: A collaboration with John Powers & Greg Borenstein on Object Oriented Speculative Fiction

Designer and Project Manager / Project Architect focusing on high-end residential projects & institutional designs for The New School Select Residences:---Grady Residence - La Jolla, California 10,000 sq.ftProject Highlights: Extensive Sweeping Views of the Ocean using Vitrocsa Ultra Slim Sliding Doors2008 proposal---Milillo Residence Addition, Sands Point NY4,000sf Project Highlights: Project has been included as a backdrop for many high end companies for photo-shoots, included Vera Wang, and most recently Design Within Reachcompleted 2008---Ocean House, Hawaii7,000sf homeProject Highlights: Aimed to be an extremely efficient home using thermal & solar energy, pools near prevailing wind locations for natural ventilation & geothermal wells for cooling, 2008 Proposal---Isthmus House2,000sf vacation home in Nova ScotiaProject Highlights: The entire house rested on an isthmus allowing it to "float" over the water during high-tide.2009 Proposal---Wilson Residence - Muttontown, New York10,000sf---Klein Cabin Home - Tres Lagunas, New Mexico2,000sf---Stanley Residence - West Lake Hills, Texas 8,500sf Select Institutional:--- NYU---- ---IFA Renovation Schematic Design Proposal 20125,000sf--- The New School----Gut Office Renovations: All offices included a very similar scope of work including partial gut renovation, new private and open office, entry lounge, "grid" conference rooms, new mechanical units, electrical systems upgrades, and lighting. The following is a select list of premier renovations:--- Loeb Student Hall Renovation8,000sf--- 12th Street Cafeteria & Wollman Hall Entry Vestibule4,000sf ---Offices of Student Health9000sf ---Offices for Parsons/TED and Finance including a premier conference room for international study.15,000sf---Offices for the Office of Design and Construction and Facilities Management10,000sfOther ProjectsMillwood Fire Station A new 18,000sf Volunteer Station currently in construction

Having worked at Milgo Bufkin, their description best describes the lessons I learned: "MILGO/BUFKIN is the foremost custom fabricator of architectural metal, combining high technology with old-world craftsmanship to transform stainless steel, steel, aluminum, bronze, titanium, and other materials into objects of beauty and utility."My experience involved the crafting digitally and fabrication of many sculptures, facades, custom screens, decorations, and spaces. Collaborating with specialists, contractors, & engineers on projects with ShOP, Steven Holl, Tishman, & Permasteelisa I gained incredible insight into the building industry and the level of specialization that is required to create accurate and coordinated constructions.

Worked on an entry for the Venice Biennale From Kol/Mac:Conception:Aerial views of Manhattan indicate the extreme scarcity of horizontal public terrain on the ground, on one hand, and a potential for the roof-scape of 5th Avenue to be defined as a second urban datum, on the other. Our proposal is based on these two interconnected observations. Air-rights practices have shaped the Midtown skyline and streetscape alike through vertical accumulation of compacted private space and horizontal extrusion of impacted public space. Our strategy suggests a different relationship between these two domains with productive benefits to both. The proposed structures occupy “Soft Sites”, sites that are ‘underbuilt’ according to Zoning Laws, and co-sites Central Park -Manhattan’s foremost horizontal public terrain and a 5th Avenue Landmark- by installing a decentralized system of quasi-parks at the second urban datum.

As one of my first experiences in the architectural world, i worked on a town house construction in Brooklyn and developed drawings and renderings for client presentations and animated walk-throughs. This was my first experience in understanding the importance of communication and media and the power of representation toward helping others envision proposed spaces.