Ramy Issac
Ramy Issac lived in the north part of Israel Galil in a small town Tzfat which is located on the mountains above Tiberias. Tzfat was the most well know “artist colonies” in Israel that was a house for many famous artists, some of them internationally known. Growing up in the artist colony, I got a lot of inspiration from Art and mainly painting and Ramy Issac started to work as an artist at the age of 16 and also dedicated much of my later time to art and painting while in the Israeli Army as well. Ramy Issac had a few art exhibitions and received awards for some of my paintings. I will try to attach a picture of some of my paintings that were done at that time and period of my life. Ramy Issac served in the Israeli army for 3 years from 1971 to 1974 and unfortunately I participated in the 1973 terrible war and lost approx. 50% of my class members from High School.
At the age of 21 after the army, I moved to Haifa to study in “Technion” which was the only institute that had architectural school in Israel at that time. Ramy Issac studied at Technion for 5 years and I graduated cum laude where my average scores exceeded and were above 90. (I can attach transcript from Technion that I received in 1979). Based on my high scores, I was selected with an award trip to Sweden to work in Sodertelge (30 miles south of Stockholm). This is a small town and I worked for the mayors office from August of 1978 to November of 1978. I prepared few renderings for the city and designed with an engineer two new bridges that in fact were published in the Swedish newspaper and I have attached a picture from the newspaper and the publication. Upon completion of my diploma in architectural design and city planning in 1979, Ramy Issac worked in Israel for a period of 18 months and then decided to continue with a master degree moving to the United States and registered for that degree in Pratt Institute in Brooklyn NY. I completed my master degree in Pratt Institute also cum laude in 1983. Once I immigrated to NY in 1981, I looked for full time job and was hired in the famous know “Emory Roth & Sons” that were a three generation office in New York responsible for one of the most famous and attractive buildings in NYC such as the World Trade Center, City Corp, Sonia Hotel, and many other mega-structure buildings. I worked at Emory Roth & Sons from April of 1981 to August of 1988. During these seven years, I became a project manager and was the project manager for 375 Hudson Street (500,000 sf building) and to the famous new G7 Headquarters which was also published in the architectural magazine. Pictures are attached. I created Issac & Stern Architects in August of 1988. With the market running down, and the interest rates skyrocketing (15%) most of the work for architects in the city was mainly renovation of existing buildings and most commercial jobs with very little residential work. During the 90’s there was not much new construction in NYC. During this time, I designed multi community facilities, synagogues, churches, and hundreds of restaurants and food established business. At the end of the 90’s, I started to receive some assignment and contracts for new buildings; residential, commercial, and mixed used buildings throughout the city. Our office was very busy and hectic throughout 2000’s up until 2008. We worked on multi developments in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, as well as the Bronx. In 2008, the market slowed down and later we also decided to work for a bank (Builders Bank) that is no longer in business today. The bank awarded us with all kinds of buildings to be completed. These buildings were abandoned by previous developers and the banks took over to finish development and used our skills and knowledge to obtain all the required approvals from the city. Subsequent to 2009, the market started to improve and our office grew and developed and isnc then until today we have completed hundreds of projects where most of them were located in Manhattan and Brooklyn with a few in Queens and the Bronx. What we were best known for is incorporating very efficient layouts and maximizes and incorporates air rights for development for the clients that choose to use our services. Today, we are very dynamic architectural firm that can turn a project very quickly and efficiently and save the developer a substantial amount of money in construction and increase his revenues. Regarding hobbies and spare time, I still like art work and whenever I have spare time I still like to get involved and do some work. Music is also a passion of mine. Between the age of 12 and 16 I studied the piano full time and played as an amateur. I do not practice much today but this is where my background in music and my hobby comes from. |