January 1, 2024
Hello from Ground Up!
2024 is looking bright.
2023 was our second year in business. It was our pleasure to help you build new spaces, places, and ideas. We completed projects from Toronto to Miami, New York to San Antonio, including our largest built project to date: Roadrunner Venture Studios’ 10,000 square foot Innovation Hub in New Mexico (read about it below!).
As you continue to grow in the coming year, we’re here to help bring narrative-driven, community-loved spaces and ideas to life. Reach out!
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Last Year in Review
A Snapshot of Three Projects in 2023
Last year, Ground Up completed the second phase of design for one of the most impactful and meaningful organizations in New York City: Silicon Harlem. In partnership with C-Better Foundation, we brought to life the AT&T Digital Learning Lab, a space where children in Upper Manhattan can come to learn, explore new technologies, and discover career pathways.
Our goal was to design a space that lives up to Silicon Harlem’s powerful mantra: “Everyone needs a connection”. We worked to strike a balance between futuristic, high-tech features that would create a sense of wonder, and empathetic design principles of warmth, openness, and collaboration that would make those ideas and technologies feel accessible. Learn more about our work here.
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“Sometimes the true nature of reality beckons from just beyond the horizon.” -Brian Greene, American Physicist
New Mexico’s place in the history of American innovation has a legacy of biblical proportions. The headquarters for a new national incubator, Roadrunner Venture Studios, created to commercialize scientific breakthroughs, is calling Albuquerque home in a decommissioned factory.
Ground Up was hired to set the creative vision and narrative for the space, direct design including aesthetics, programming, and materiality, and to oversee the build out through completion. Our priority was to honor the state’s tremendous history, while setting the stage for the next chapter of entrepreneurial growth that will happen here.
Inherent in this concept was, of course, a celebration of local talent. Ground Up collaborated with an all-local team—from our architect of record to our general contractor, fabricators, and artists. We also spearheaded a partnership with University of New Mexico Architecture School on a large-scale installation of innovative materials. Founder Karen Zabarsky Blashek was interviewed about the design in New Mexico Inno. Learn more about the project here.
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Co-founded by Bjarke Ingels, Roni Bahar, and Nick Chim, Nabr’s goal is to put more people on a path to owning a high-quality, environmentally friendly home in urban environments. This innovative company is at the intersection of real estate development, proprietary technology, and consumer product, making it both extremely out-of-the-box, and complex to communicate.
For Nabr, Ground Up served as fractional Creative Director, leading the direction, and overseeing the execution, of all visuals, creative, marketing, and communications for the team. We served in an intensive capacity leading up to their large launch, and in a maintenance role afterwards. Learn more about the project here.
Let’s Connect.
Ground Up is a multidisciplinary creative studio for the built environment, grounded in the values of Jane Jacobs urbanism. With backgrounds in real estate development, city planning, architecture, and proptech, our collective of creatives comes together to breathe life into spaces, both physical and digital.
STRATEGY | BRANDING | DESIGN | COMMUNICATIONS
Learn more about how we work or reach out. Let’s get building!
