The Family Promise of Hudson County (FPHC) recognized Urbahn Architects with a 2025 Mark the Moment Award during its third annual Mark the Moment: The Promise Awards event. The organization acknowledged Urbahn’s role in sustainable community development and its contributions to New Jersey’s growth through numerous civic and educational projects.
Family Promise of Hudson County (FPHC) operates under the umbrella of Family Promise National. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization supporting families with children who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness. FPHC provides rental assistance, shelter diversion and short-term shelter to help families stabilize and secure permanent housing. Since our Hudson County founding in 2018, we have assisted over 133 families—316 children and 167 adults. The Promise Awards celebrate compassion, leadership and the power of community by recognizing business and political leaders.
“We recognized Urbahn for its role in sustainable community development and contributions to New Jersey’s growth through numerous civic and educational projects. Most recently, Urbahn provided pro-bono design services for FPHC’s proposed headquarters and transitional housing building at 3-5 Storms Avenue in Jersey City, which will house several residential units for families supported by our organization,” said FPHC Board of Trustees President Sr. Georgette Gavioli, SSJ.
“Urbahn Architects believes deeply in the power of equitable, affordable communities. I have witnessed how access to stable housing can change lives of individuals and entire families. A safe home is more than just a roof, it is the foundation for dignity, opportunity and hope,” said Urbahn Architects Senior Marketing Coordinator Brad DeBose, Assoc., AIA, NOMA, who serves as a FPHC Board of Trustees member and leads the FPHC Building Committee.
Urbahn, which celebrates the 80th anniversary of its founding this year, has designed several municipal and educational projects serving the Jersey City community, in addition to FPHC’s headquarters and transitional housing. These include the Jersey City Municipal Services Center, BelovEd Charter Middle School and BelovEd Charter High School.
Serving as a ‘Green Gateway to Jersey City,” the $59 million, 152,000-square foot Jersey City Municipal Services Center was built for the Jersey City Department of Administration on a 15-acre site. The complex is an ultra-low energy usage building and has received the coveted Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum-level certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The $12.5 million, 53,000-square foot, four-story BelovED Community Charter High School, located at 535 Grand Street in Jersey City, serves 480 students in grades 9 to 12. The recent 22,000-square foot expansion of the BelovED Community Charter School at 508 Grand Street added, originally designed by Urbahn as well, added a new wing housing specialized computer, music and art facilities. The project also added natural disaster resiliency to the school.
Urbahn Architects
Celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2025, Urbahn Architects is a full-service planning and design firm based in New York City. Since its founding in 1945, Urbahn has designed projects for organizations and institutions that operate in the education, public and governmental, transportation, hospitality, healthcare, science, justice and public safety, multi-family residential and infrastructure sectors. The firm also operates a regional office in Jakarta, Indonesia, focused on projects in the Far East. The current value of Urbahn’s current domestic and international projects totals approximately $4 billion.
Four principals and eight associate principals lead the firm: Donald E. Henry, Jr., AIA, LEED AP, CPHC; Natale V. Barranco, AIA, LEED AP; Rafael Stein, AIA; Ranabir Sengupta, AIA, LEED AP. Associate principals include Bridgette Van Sloun, AIA, CPHC, WELL AP; Christopher Young, AIA; Daniel Kohn, AIA, LEED AP; Enrico Kurniawan, AIA, NOMA; Ijeoma D. Iheanacho, AIA, LEED AP, NOMA; Lawrence Gutterman, AIA, DBIA, LEED AP; Nandini Sengupta, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, NOMA and Ryan Bieber, AIA, LEED AP. This diverse group brings perspectives from varied cultural and career backgrounds, having worked across healthcare, sciences, public safety, governmental facilities, transportation, hospitality and multifamily housing markets. Their expertise informs the firm’s increasingly global practice.
Building Design & Construction magazine ranks Urbahn as the nation’s 79th largest architecture and planning firm overall and 30th largest local government building designer. Engineering News-Record New York magazine recently recognized Urbahn as the Design Firm of the Year. The studio designed some of the nation’s most iconic structures, including the Vehicle Assembly Building and Launch Control at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, FL and the Fermi National Accelerator Lab in Batavia, IL.
Urbahn’s recent public safety and justice work includes the $2.9 billion Bronx Borough Jail in the Bronx, NY; The Horizons and The Crossroads juvenile detention centers in the Bronx and Brooklyn, NY; new occupational therapeutic housing units at the NYC Health + Hospitals Bellevue and Woodhull hospitals in Manhattan and Brooklyn; and the Centro Medico Correccional correctional hospital in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.
The firm’s other work includes the City University of New York (CUNY) Lehman College Nursing Education Research & Practice Center; renovations and accessibility upgrades of multiple MTA subway stations in New York City; numerous projects for the Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit; 454-unit Tides North residential development in Arverne, NY; 154-room Four Points by Sheraton at the Piarco International Airport, Trinidad and Tobago; 140-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Timehri, Guyana; New York City Hall Mayoral Offices and Emergency Situation Center; Jersey City Municipal Services Complex, Jersey City, NJ; SUNY New Paltz Engineering Innovation Hub in New Paltz, NY; and Usha Martin University Master Plan in Ranchi, India.
In addition to its extensive portfolio of domestic projects, Urbahn has worked as a planner and architect delivering design services around the globe, including hospitality, healthcare and commercial projects in Indonesia, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Saudi Arabia, India, Somalia, Uganda and Nigeria.
Additional information: www.urbahn.com
Feature Image Courtesy of: Urbahn Architects
