The roughly 30-person financial district studio of Moed de Armas & Shannon (MdeAS) has revisited many modern masters, including Walter Gropius, Edward Durell Stone, and Gordon Bunshaft, among others. In addition to new construction, they've also been breathing new life into lesser-known buildings, such as recladding 1095 Madison, an office tower on Bryant Park, thereby helping developers revive aging real estate. They approach these projects with surgical precision, whether it's designing a new lobby or giving a building an entirely new skin.

Principals Leon Moed, Raul de Armas, and Dan Shannon are all SOM alums, and their commitment to simple, typically gridded forms reflects that firm's midcentury heyday. "We believe in clean, strong modernism," de Armas said. In their renovation projects, they tend to take a light hand. "We like to make things look like they've always been that way," added Moed. For example, the firm redesigned the lobby and plaza at Stone's General Motors Building, turning an overlooked outdoor space into a popular civic gathering place, where the Bohlin Cywinski Jackson—designed glass cute that forms the entrance to a subterranean Apple store blends seamlessly with the plaza.

The firm has redesigned numerous lobbies of office buildings, and they often pick one material, like marble, to wrap an entire space, creating a strong first impression for existing buildings. When recladding towers such as 1095 Madison Avenue, they design elegant new curtain walls, often increasing the amount of daylight inside.

The studio's new construction, while restrained, feels decidedly contemporary. Rectilinear geometries reflect the principals' modernist convictions, but the buildings are tightly knitted into the urban fabric.

Residential and mixed-use projects have generous outdoor spaces, and many of their designs strive for high levels of sustainability. These are not architects on a midcentury nostalgia trip.