The MSa office in particular has a lot of traction on Houzz, ultimately being awarded one of the 10 best home offices on the Houzz website last year.   On any given day you can find David, Matt and many configurations of employees and interns working in this office in David’s home in Harlem.   The office is posted in 15,556 ideabooks and counting.

See our work here on Houzz.  Or see the nine other most popular home offices on Houzz.

Harlem School Left in Cold on Fundraising

HARLEM — Parents and administrators look at the closed-off space outside P.S. 180′s cafeteria, filled with thick brush and weeds, and envision an expansive oasis where kids learn about nature by planting a garden, practicing yoga or relaxing in the sunshine.

…They found David Mabbott, an architect with a son and daughter at the school, who waived the 10 to 12 percent fee he would typically charge on top of the $325,000 construction costs to design the project. “I did it for free because I’m invested in this school,” Mabbott said.

Officials at the school found construction firms willing to donate volunteer construction hours and materials. But with no cash in place, they said it’s hard to solicit money from others.

“We need that first donor in to start it,” said Mabbott. “If we could just get money to do the doors that would help a lot.”  Read more of the dnainfo.com article by Jeff Mays…

“Because we place a strong emphasis on project budgets–soft costs as well as hard costs–we find [fixed fees are] the most straightforward way to arrive at an initial project budget for the client as well as for ourselves,” says Matt Seidel, R.A., partner at Mabbott Seidel Architecture PLLC.  Read the whole article by Tracy Kaler in Brick Underground.

BrickUnderground.com is the leading editorially driven website for the NYC real estate consumer.

Houzz featured our Harlem Duplex on their blog post with eight important questions to ask that will help you sift through the ‘green’ marketing hype.  They used a photo of the kids’ room by Ofer Wolberger to show a great use of Flor tiles.

Check it out: 8 Questions to Help You See Through Green Hype

Hundreds of people marked it as a favorite and added into multiple ideabooks. Up until then, to us it was just the room we spend the most time in: our office. But it’s been great to see it through other people’s eyes and read what they have to say about it.

This week, Houzz blogger Rachel Grace included the Mabbott Seidel office in her blog about great wall sconces.

Their home, an MSa project, is featured in an AT House Call.

“Architect David Mabbott and his wife, artist Susie Reiss, bought a cookie cutter apartment in Harlem in 2005. Working in stages, they re-designed the duplex to accommodate a studio for Susie, a new office for David’s firm, and more functional bedrooms for their two children. The clean, warm spaces reflect a balanced blend of Susie’s love of color and David’s love of wood (he’s a former furniture maker).” by Catrin Morris  Read more…

“For families, having a dynamic home that can change and grow with your kids on a daily — and yearly — basis is ideal. How great would it be if you could just move your walls and doors around as you needed? What if a bedroom could also function as a playroom? What if a child’s zone was both private but not too segregated from the rest of the home? New York City-based Mabbott Seidel Architecture has come up with a great solution for two of its clients by installing oversized sliding doors between rooms.” by Catrin Morris

More at Apartment Therapy.

David Mabbott and Matt Seidel, principals of MSa have been involved from the beginning; donating their time and skills to design the garden and navigate the rules and regulations of the DOE and SCA.

The PS/IS Garden Alliance was formed with the mission of enhancing the quality of life for PS/IS180 students by turning this barren land into a thriving center for learning. The schoolyard garden was designed to give students critical outdoor access that not only would improve cafeteria lighting and ventilation, but also be a living classroom for learning food cultivation for healthy eating, exploring wildlife and the environment and as an arts and culture family center.

Read more about or get involved with the Garden Alliance.