WHO's WHO in Architecture & Design: Roger P. Smith

Principal/Architect

Burton, Behrendt & Smith

When Roger Smith joined Burton, Behrendt & Smith in 1985, it was basically a civil engineering and surveying firm. Smith brought his architecture degree from NYIT to the mix, plus five years experience in architecture and construction. "I wanted to get as much of a round base as possible," he says. Today, under Smith's leadership the practice is arch i tecture-d riven but still multi-disciplinary, with 10 architects and a five-person engineering among a staff of 85.

"This gives us an advantage in doing renovations and additions, immediately evaluating an existing structure and making estimates," he says. "We can really take a project through from the beginning to the end."

The firm 's focus is educational and institutional and is beginning to branch out from its is Long Island base. The schools concentration happened by accident. "We found ourselves doing school rehabilitation and preservation," he says.

Smith feels the need for updated, quality educational space is a national problem that will take 15 or 20 years to correct because the tax dollars have not been invested.

A school building should motivate children and unite a community, he says. This can mean creating awardwinning masonry for a school like Monsey Park Elementary, an historical building, or for designing a school that reflects a sense of the community. For Washington Drive Elementary in Harborfields, due to open in the fall, it's the seafaring look.

Eastport-South Manor High School. serving the two newly merged districts, is under construction "and probably will be the imagery for the community to come together." A new elementary school in Fast Moriches will reflect a farming venacular.

Sometimes an imagery challenge is involved, Smith says. "Trying to give kids a sense of ownership in a 1960s building is tough. Philosophically, we joke that kids are motivated by the mall. But we bring the symbolism and barrage of imagery into the architecture - like food-court-style cafeterias. Kids are excited because it's theirs."

Smith expects the practice of architeture on Long Island to change dramatically over the next 10 to 20 years.

"We're becoming a built environment, especially Nassau County, and the next challenge will be to reconstruct and rethink. How do you revitalize downtowns? Redesign public and institutional spaces?"