WXY is happy to announce a new leadership structure for the studio. Farida Abu-Bakare, David Vega-Barachowitz, Chris Rice, and Jacob Dugopolski have been appointed Principals, joining Founding Principals Claire Weisz, Mark Yoes, Adam Lubinsky, and Layng Pew and bringing the studio’s leadership to eight.

These are the first Principal appointments since the firm’s founding. WXY has grown to more than 70 people, and the appointments reflect that growth while recognizing the stewardship and vision Farida, David, Chris, and Jacob already bring to the practice. Each will take on greater responsibility for the studio while continuing to lead projects in their respective fields.

“Farida, David, Chris, and Jacob have each helped shape WXY through the projects they lead and the people they mentor,” says Founding Principal Claire Weisz. “WXY will benefit greatly from their expanded role in guiding the studio, building on the experience and judgment they already bring to our practice.”

Farida Abu-Bakare leads WXY’s institutional and cultural architecture work, drawing on experience across North America, Africa, and the Middle East. Alongside her design practice, she has helped expand access to the profession through advocacy, mentorship, and reforms to the licensure pathway.

Farida helped lead our campus plan for the Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn, which led to the Garden House, a mass-timber expansion recognized with a 2026 AIANY Design Award. She led WXY’s building assessment and test fits for New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC)’s Together for Kingsbridge Vision Plan for the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx. She has also brought the studio’s work to Venice during the 2023 Architecture Biennale with the Palaver Bench, a circular conversation bench designed to bring strangers into dialogue, and in 2025 at the Arsenale, where WXY and RISE presented The Dunes: Resilient Communities in Carlo Ratti's curated exhibition, Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective. She heads the WXY Canadian office in Toronto, where she leads Squig Space, an adaptive reuse project with Studio of Contemporary Architecture (SOCA) that transforms a former autobody shop into a ceramics studio and culinary space.

Her commitment to creating opportunities for others extends across the profession. A Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC), she co-founded the Black Architects + Interior Designers Association (BAIDA) in Canada and, as a member of the Ontario Association of Architects’ Council, helped advance reforms to make the internship application process more accessible. Her curatorial and teaching work further connects architectural practice with education and cultural exchange.

David Vega-Barachowitz leads WXY’s urban design, master planning, and mobility practice. Throughout his career, he has helped shape how American cities design their streets and public spaces. At the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), he spearheaded the Urban Street Design Guide and Urban Bikeway Design Guide, giving public agencies practical tools to rethink streets around the people who use them.

David’s portfolio at WXY has included a range of ambitious projects in New York City and beyond. He led the NYC Greenways Plan, BQE Corridor Vision, and the Meatpacking District Western Gateway Plan, alongside public realm strategies and master plans for cities across the country. In Albany, his work at Empire State Plaza explores how stronger connections between the civic and cultural complex and its surrounding communities can help heal the scars of urban renewal. The seven-mile Linden Green Line in Columbus (OH) and Glass City Riverwalk in Downtown Toledo (OH) have expanded WXY’s purview beyond New York, focusing on creating urban landscapes that regenerate post-industrial downtowns and their adjacent communities. A former senior urban designer at the New York City Department of City Planning and co-author of Start-Up City, David combines design leadership with an understanding of how public institutions advance ambitious ideas.

Chris Rice leads WXY’s community-based planning and policy work, designing processes that bring community voice and priorities into public investment, policy, and design. His practice spans neighborhood and citywide planning, as well as work with public school systems, cultural institutions, and community-based organizations, and he is committed to expanding communities’ influence over the decisions that shape their lives.

Across his projects, Chris translates community priorities into policy, plans, and tools that people and institutions can act on. He led community engagement for MoMA PS1’s courtyard and campus and the Linden Green Line in Columbus, Ohio, helping shape future design direction for both projects. Under his leadership, WXY recently developed ADU for You, a digital platform and toolkit that helps New York City homeowners navigate adding an accessory dwelling unit to their property. Previously, as Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice in the NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice, he led the development of EJNYC, New York City’s first comprehensive environmental justice report.

Chris also works with school districts across the United States to navigate change and plan for more equitable school systems, connecting decisions about school boundaries and facilities with students’ experiences and opportunities. He guided WXY’s District 15 Diversity Plan process, which helped reshape middle school admissions in Brooklyn and produced measurable gains in school integration.

A founding member of the BlackSpace Urbanist Collective, Chris grounds his practice in a commitment to racial and social equity and to ensuring that communities of color have greater influence over the policies, investments, and design that shape their lives. He serves on the Urban Design Forum’s Associate Board and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP).

Jacob Dugopolski leads WXY’s urban development work spanning architecture, urban design, planning, and policy, drawing on more than 15 years at the studio. From starting as project architect for The Drawing Center to building the firm’s pre-development practice, he leads complex projects from planning through construction. With a deep foundation in zoning and development strategy shaped by projects across New York City and the region, Jacob focuses on how design and policy can realize new possibilities for the growth and transformation of cities. His work connects large-scale planning and infrastructure with the experience of streets, public spaces, and communities.

He has helped reinvent waterfront districts through planning for Anable Basin, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and Brooklyn Army Terminal and shaped new mixed-use neighborhoods including the Peninsula, Stevenson Square, and Broadway Junction. He has led the rethinking of streetscapes and connections between communities from the Brooklyn Strand to Lower Manhattan. Jacob also works at the intersection of design and policy, developing tools and testing ideas that support citywide change. He led the design and prototyping of NYC’s Dining Out initiative and helped develop zoning and resources for homeowners through ADU for You.

As a 2024 Urban Design Forum Global Exchange Fellow, he explored affordable housing policy through his Big Swings project, “Removing Regulatory Barriers to Staffing and Building Affordable Housing.” Jacob taught urban design studios and workshops at Cornell’s NYC program for seven years, taught a studio at the City College of New York, and will teach urban design at NYU Wagner in Spring 2027. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP).

“Our work begins with dialogue, and who’s leading the conversation makes a difference,” says Founding Principal Adam Lubinsky. “Farida, David, Chris, and Jacob each bring a distinct perspective that pushes everyone’s thinking. They will open up new possibilities for WXY, as well as for the future of cities.”

Together, the four new Principals, alongside the Founding Principals, will share responsibility for WXY’s direction as its work expands in scale and reach. Their collaboration reflects the studio’s interdisciplinary approach to projects, drawing on architecture, urban design, planning, and policy to address challenges that extend beyond any one discipline.

All photos by William Pew.