Richard Liloia

Richard Liloia was raised in a household surrounded by creative minds. His father, a civil engineer, schooled him in the ways of functional design and civic responsibility. His mother, a talented bronze sculptor, instilled in him an aesthetic sense derived from close observation of space, material and form.

Even his older brother loved the craft, taking up woodworking and eventually becoming an accomplished carpenter. Throughout his childhood, Richard developed his own drafting and design skills, aspiring to be like his family. When he reached age 18, he applied to architecture school and was accepted.

At the City College of the City University of New York (CUNY), Richard Liloia tackled a rigorous 5-year undergraduate program in architecture. Here, he learned the architectural basics of history, structure, material, technology, lighting and acoustics. He also had exposure to ideas about urban sustainability, environmental design and communications.

Working long, heavily-caffeinated nights in the workshop studios, Liloia honed his vision and skills until he could build elegant table models of buildings, parks and roadways. Drawing inspiration from the 20th century modernist architects, such as Walter Gropius, and reflecting often on the teachings of his parents, Richard Liloia at first followed a clean and practical aesthetic: form follows function.

However, in his final year at City College during which he was working on a senior project designing a proposal for a reconstruction of the Crestwood Metro-North station, Liloia found himself inclining towards an aesthetic that valued experiential form and interactional dialogue with space. In his proposal, he sought to introduce an element of liberty, rather than strictly defining the structure based on its purpose.

He proposed a wide-open terminal flanked by a green park and garden, sloping down to the platforms and with parking in a subterranean garage. His design gave equal attention to the "waiting" aspect of transportation as much as to the "going" aspect. Unfortunately, Richard's design lost to a professional firm, but he gained valuable experience and self-knowledge from the exercise.

Since graduating, Richard Liloia has continued to cultivate his architectural ability and has successfully had his designs turned into reality. He assisted in the design for a new agricultural museum in his hometown in upstate New York and also designed a public garden just outsi