(Photo: Lisa Kereszi)

Giuseppe Lignano and Ada Tolla
Founders Of Lot-Ek Architecture Firm, 55 Little W. 12th St.
Giuseppe Lignano and Ada Tolla moved into this raw space in the meatpacking district in 1992, and immediately experimented with paneling and window shades made out of metal from the side of a truck. Now it’s a ten-person firm, and space is tight. “We tried to move last year, but we couldn’t find anything we liked, so we decided to maximize the space.” That meant a lot of shelving, a prim row of desks, and a new conference area festooned with a detergent-bottle lamp. And they can watch the construction of André Balazs’s hotel out the back window. “We thought it would be fun to stay and watch the transformation of the area—it’s become a very different kind of meat market.”