Gil Schafer III
Founding Partner
“As residential architects, our highest achievement is to successfully create places our clients can call home. That word ‘home,’ to me, has everything to do with comfort, family, and friends — and memories, most of all. Growing up, I learned that if a house is going to feel like home, it has to create opportunities for memories, even in the smallest moments of life.”
Award-winning architect Gil Schafer, AIA , is recognized as one of the nation’s leading experts on contemporary classical architecture. He established G. P. Schafer Architect in 2002, and in 2023, the firm was renamed to become Schafer Buccellato Architects.
The grandson and great, great grandson of architects, Gil grew up with a strong sense of how a well-built, thoughtfully-designed home can bring pleasure to daily life. Over the course of his childhood he was fortunate to be exposed to life in a variety of places, including the Midwest, the Northeast, Georgia, California and the Bahamas, each contributing to his sense of what makes places unique and how architectural traditions and lifestyle are influenced by context.
Following undergraduate studies in Growth & Structure of Cities at Haverford College and its sister institution Bryn Mawr, Gil graduated from Yale School of Architecture with a Masters Degree. While at Yale, Gil studied under several noted practitioners including Thomas Beeby, Robert Venturi, Josef Kleihues, Frank Gehry, and Benard Tschumi and was the recipient of the H. I. Feldman Prize, Yale’s highest honor for studio work, in his final semester. Upon graduation, he worked at several highly respected (classical architecture) firms and spent (nearly) a decade at Ferguson & Shamamian Architects, working on major projects there.
In addition to his architectural practice, Gil regularly lectures around the country on the relevance and livability of traditional residential architecture today and is the author of two bestselling books, The Great American House and A Place to Call Home. His third book, Home At Last, is being published by Rizzoli Books in Spring 2023. Gil is a longstanding member of Architectural Digest’s AD100 list, a winner of Veranda’s “Art of Design Award,” and a recipient of the Arthur Ross Award for Architecture. His work and the firm’s projects have been widely published both here in the U. S. and abroad in both magazines and newspapers, including Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, House Beautiful, Veranda, Town & Country, Vogue, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, among many others. Under Gil’s leadership, the firm’s work has also appeared in over 30 books on design.
Gil serves on several non-profit boards and advisory councils, including the Yale School of Architecture’s Dean’s Council, the Dutchess Land Conservancy, and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello. Gil served as the President and then Chairman of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, the nation’s leading resource for the classical tradition in architecture and its allied arts, for nearly a decade. Gil currently maintains architectural licenses in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Texas, Massachusetts, Virginia, Tennessee, Rhode Island, Vermont, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Arkansas and is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB).
He and his family divide their time between New York City, the Hudson Valley, and the coast of Maine.
Aimee Buccellato
Partner
“Our work is defined by our belief that good architecture can both elevate and deepen the meaning of the lives that we lead and our relationships with the people we love, live with, and work with. Our unwavering dedication to our clients, craft, and community comes from that commitment and the desire to build houses that are beautiful and meaningful.”
Aimee Buccellato, credits her childhood in California for fostering an interest in architecture from a young age. She and her family split their time between the manicured, side-walked neighborhoods of Orange County and the bucolic countryside of Sonoma County. Experiencing these different ways of living, she realized early on that how a house is crafted and how the land (it sits on) is cared for can impact not just one life, but generations.
Aimee graduated with her Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Notre Dame in 2000 and earned a Master of Design Studies degree from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University in 2005, where she studied early Renaissance theories of composition. It was at Notre Dame, on the first day of an architectural drawing class, that she met Kevin, and as business and life partners, the two have been each other’s best critics and champions ever since.
Aimee started her career at Curtis & Windham Architects before joining G. P. Schafer Architect in 2002 as the firm’s very first employee. While at GPSA, Aimee led several of the firm’s first award-winning projects and was a formative part of the firm’s development.
In 2008, Aimee accepted a position teaching at the University of Notre Dame’s School of Architecture and received tenure in 2017. She founded Buccellato Design with Kevin Buccellato in 2011, designing residences around the country. In 2023, Aimee, Kevin and their team at Buccellato Design joined forces with G. P. Schafer Architect to create Schafer Buccellato Architects.
It’s no surprise that Aimee would continue to practice architecture, even during her time in academia. “I love every step of the design process, but what really motivates me is what happens long after the process is complete—the experience of architecture: the floor that squeaks, the feel of the knob when you open the door, the smell of the landscape that’s particular to the place you’re in. Like a great story or a beautiful painting, a house captivates the senses. People come to us because they want to cultivate a particular sense of place, a certain rootedness for themselves and their families, to feel thoroughly at home.”
In addition to having projects featured in an array of national media, Aimee has authored and co-authored 28 academic papers — remarkably completed in conjunction with faculty across six disciplines — and served as both a member and Vice President of the board of the City of South Bend Venues, Parks, and Arts Commission, appointed by Mayor Pete Buttigieg in 2015.
Aimee, Kevin and their four children live in Essex County, New Jersey.
Kevin Buccellato
Partner
“Great architects must be more than just great designers — we must be great communicators, able to intuit our clients’ needs and desires, then effectively express them to everyone involved in the project: the artisans, craftspeople, builders — all who join together in the making of a beautiful house.”
Before joining forces with G. P. Schafer Architect to create Schafer Buccellato Architects in 2023, Kevin Buccellato, AIA, ran Buccellato Design, the award-winning architecture and design firm he founded with his life and business partner, Aimee Buccellato.
Kevin’s passion for design and craft started at an early age, when he started taking painting classes at the Ridgewood Art Institute not far from his childhood home in Bergen County, New Jersey. His instruction continued throughout his youth and was central to his decision to study architecture in college.
Kevin earned his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Notre Dame in 2000, but often says that the most important part of college was meeting Aimee on the first day of their very first drawing class. Since that day, the two have worked “elbow-to-elbow” and have built an impressive portfolio of projects around the country, as well as their own beautiful family. “Having a family really impacts how we think about design and certainly gets woven into our work. It’s important to create a personal connection to the arrangement of a house knowing the many ways this can enhance and enrich daily life for our clients. We always consider what life looks like for our clients today, but also what they will want — and need — in the years to come.”
After graduating from Notre Dame, Kevin worked at Curtis & Windham Architects, where he received a strong foundation in exceptional residential design. In 2003, he joined G. P. Schafer Architect as one of the firm’s first employees and became a crucial player in the firm’s first major commissions and early leadership.
In 2008, Kevin accepted a faculty position at the University of Notre Dame and established the Building Arts Concentration within the undergraduate curriculum of the School of Architecture, promoting an intense focus on craft, material connections, and fine architectural detailing. After getting the School’s program off the ground, Kevin and Aimee founded their own practice, Buccellato Design, in 2011. Their designs for houses and small institutional buildings inspired by historic precedent but conceived for comfortable contemporary living have received multiple awards from the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art and the American Institute of Architects.
In addition to working on projects across the country, Kevin has presented his joint academic research on the origins of the Doric order nationally, and his findings were published in 2015 in The Classicist magazine. He served for 4 years on the Board of the Historic Preservation Commission of South Bend and St. Joseph County. He is licensed in New York State, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois, and is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB).
Kevin and Aimee live with their four children and beloved family dog in New Jersey.
Louis Taylor
PARTNER, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION
“It’s incredibly fulfilling to see the kind of beautiful, detailed work our team creates. That moment when you see a home completed — there’s nothing like it.”
Director of Finance and Administration and firm partner Louis Taylor graduated from the University of Delaware with dual degrees in Business Administration Management, and Finance and received his Master’s of Business Administration from the Rutgers University Business School. Before joining G. P. Schafer Architect in 2010, he worked at a major public accounting firm. It was GPSA’s artistic environment that first drew him to the firm. “Architects and design-focused people are truly passionate about their work, making our office an inspiring place to be on a daily basis.” He was named a partner of the firm in January 2017 and was instrumental in the reorganization of G. P. Schafer Architect to become Schafer Buccellato Architects in 2023.
Involved in nearly every aspect of the business, Lou oversees the company’s finances and handles general planning and strategy, contracts, human resources, and facilities management. He lives in New Jersey with his family, where he coaches youth sports teams and enjoys golfing on weekends.