Gregory Okshteyn of Studios Go - Biography

From Chernovitz, Ukraine, to Jay Z’s corporate headquarters in New York City, Gregory Okshteyn has tread the path of a driven architect. Born in the Ukraine, Okshteyn earned his degree in architecture at New York’s prestigious Pratt Institute in 1998, which he followed up with a masters in advanced architectural design from Columbia.

While at Columbia, Okshteyn studied with some of the top architectural practitioners of their day, including Sulan Kolatan, Gregg Pasquarelli, and Hani Rashid, among others. Already proving himself a leader, Okshteyn was elected class president in 2002, acting as student representative during Columbia’s transition from Dean Bernard Tchumi to current Dean Mark Wigley.

Before to receiving his masters degree, Okshtyen had already worked at various architecture firms, including Gensler, HLW, and Peter Eisenman Architects. So by the time he graduated in 2003, and despite being just 28 years old, Okshteyn was ready to set out on his own. That year he established Studios GO in New York City. An award-winning, tight-knit collective of young designers, Studios GO employs innovative fabrication techniques in the service of a contemporary design aesthetic, with close attention to function and social interaction—no doubt why several of Okstheyn’s high-profile clients are restaurants. Since its founding, the firm has grown from two staff members to 16.

Commercially successful yet still very much driven to explore his craft, Okshteyn has taught for five years teaching at Pratt Institute’s Graduate Program, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, and University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Fine Arts, Department of Architecture.