Shaping the
About Us
Northeast Collaborative Architects (NCA) delivers quality, inspiring designs for diverse project types. Our award-winning solutions address the evolving challenges of the built environment.
NCA provides architectural, planning and interior design services, taking responsibility for all aspects of the project process including direction and coordination of all engineering disciplines and specialty consultants to suit your needs. We are recognized as a national leader in historic preservation (qualified per the US Secretary of the Interiors’ guidelines), adaptive reuse, and unique retrofits.
We pride ourselves for receiving smart growth awards even for new structures. Sustainable design is an integral part of our process and an inherent result of our projects.
we excel in design for diverse project types including:
- Educational Institutions
- Municipal Buildings
- Multi-Family & Mixed-Use Developments
- Workspaces
- Museum & Cultural Resources
- Transportation
- Advanced Technology
- Places of Worship
Decades of design experience
Our commitment to providing great design began over 35 years ago and we take pride in continuing that legacy. We excel at the full range of professional services, from initial feasibility & concept studies, to successful occupancy and use of new or transformed space. Our strength is most evident at the most challenging part of a project.
We believe true collaboration is that the best idea can come from anyone on the team. This approach to design propels us to create and transform environments such that Architecture is more than a sum of materials, it is space crafted for you: your unique history, your present need, and your sustained future.
Our services
NCA is a full-service architectural design firm, providing services which include:
- Architecture
- Master Planning
- Preliminary Design & Feasibility Studies
- Educational Space Programming
- Historic
- Specification Coordination
- Code Expertise
- Interior & FF&E Design
- Cost Estimating
- LEED & High-Performance Building Consultation
- Project Development & Management
- Design/Build & Integrated Design Process
Team approach
NCA is a highly motivated team of architects, planners and designers who work in a studio environment. Our dedicated professionals share and develop ideas critical for collaboration to develop tangible and workable results.
At NCA, our teams find excitement in the challenges of each project. Our firm is founded on helping you achieve your project’s goals through creative design solutions. We enjoy involving you in the design process, using traditional and electronic tools, to communicate wide-ranging design possibilities. Our practice constantly evolves by adopting the latest technical tools available. We were early adopters of computer-aided design and building information modeling (BIM). We continue to utilize cloud-based technology to transform our design ideas into 3-dimensional images, welcoming clients into our collaborative design process.
We listen, we learn, we engage, and we collaborate.
Our Principals
Our principals oversee the continuity and quality of design for each of our projects. They collaborate with the full team of architectural, planning and interior design professionals from project conception to construction closeout and remain your primary contact. For the majority of our projects, a second principal will review design drawings and construction documents to provide enhanced Quality Assurance/Quality Control.
Our Clients
- 545 Main Realty
- Amity Region 5
- Blackstone Heritage Corridor
- Church Community Housing Corporation
- City of Keene NH
- Columbus House
- Community College of Rhode Island
- East Bay Community Action Program
- Hajjar Management
- Liberty Bank
- Mary and Eliza Freeman Center for History and Culture
- Mercy High School
- Portsmouth Housing Authority
- State of RI Department of Labor and Training
- State of RI Department of Transportation
- State of RI Division of Capital Asset Management & Maintenance
- State of RI Master Price Agreements
- State of RI Public Transit Authority
- State of RI Turnpike & Bridge Authority
- St. Vincent de Paul Middletown
- State of CT Community Colleges
- State of CT Department of Administrative Services
- State of CT Judicial
- State of Vermont
- Stone Point Properties
- The Arc Eastern Connecticut
- The Salvation Army
- Town of Brattleboro VT
- Town of Cumberland RI
- Town of Glastonbury CT
- Town of Granby CT
- Town of Old Lyme CT
- Town of Medway MA
- Town of Narragansett RI
- Town of Old Saybrook - Old Saybrook CT Board of Education
- Town of South Windsor CT
- Town of West Hartford CT
- Town of Wolfeboro NH
- Wesleyan University
- Xavier High School
- YMCA
- YWCA
John Scheib
PRINCIPAL, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
John D. Scheib, Jr. has strong design and management skills that seek to achieve the delicate balance of quality design, budget consideration and timely completion. Throughout John’s career he has served projects as both a design architect and as a project manager. One of his key strengths is coordinating the efforts of the entire design team, working collaboratively to ensure that appropriate solutions are realized. This is exemplified in his key role as project manager on the complex, award-winning renovations undertaken at Lyme-Old Lyme High School and J.M. Wright Technical High School. Each project set benchmarks for sustainability, with J.M Wright becoming the first technical high school in Connecticut to receive any LEED Certification. As a LEED Accredited Professional, John has become knowledgeable in, and a strong advocate for, sustainability in educational project design.
To complement and broaden his focus on project design and management, John has been an active member of the AIA and the Association for Learning Environments (A4LE). He has presented at AIA Committee for Architecture in Education and A4LE International conferences. He served as the Chairperson of the Hartford Chapter of the ACE Mentor Program from 2008 to 2016, providing career direction to high school students in the fields of Architecture, Construction and Engineering.
Mr. Scheib is committed to design excellence, environmental sustainability, and community involvement and is a leader who strives to champion design and project delivery excellence on each project.
Andrea T. Baranyk
PRINCIPAL, AIA, LEED GREEN ASSOCIATE
Andrea T. Baranyk is the managing member of the company and leads the firm from Rhode Island. Andrea has extensive experience in preserving and re–imagining historic structures. She is qualified per the U.S. Department of the Interiors and National Park Service guidelines, as a Historic Architect.
Her work includes historic renovations that incorporate innovative and sustainable solutions. She has documented projects to receive federal and state tax credits. From historic structures to new buildings, Andrea has worked on a wide variety of project types in her career including luxury hotels, public and private schools, housing, offices, fire and police stations, town halls, medical offices, and laboratories.
Her community service work includes supporting a local organization HELO Haiti that provides Home, Education, Love, & Opportunity, to orphaned and abandoned children in Haiti. She also volunteers on the Town of Richmond’s Planning Board as Secretary.
Andrea is recognized for successfully managing complex adaptive reuse of historic structures that incorporate challenging code requirements. She is an expert at maintaining a calm, collaborative, and systematic approach throughout the design and project delivery.
Synfoni Bailey-Green
PRINCIPAL, AIA
Synfoni is a Principal and manages the firm’s Washington, DC operations.
During her 20+ years of working in the profession, Synfoni has worked on a variety of projects, ranging from the rehabilitation of historical buildings, single& multifamily residential (mid& high rise), educational, and commercial as well as public sector buildings. These projects ranged in all design phases from conception to completion (schematic, development, and construction) including furniture and technology integration.
Due to her work on diverse building types and phases, the knowledge she has gained is implemented when approaching a new project, regardless of the building type. Her experience with historic buildings started at the beginning of her career. Throughout her career she has enjoyed working on existing & historic buildings and having a positive role in revitalization of the properties and the community.
Her ability to envision the client’s desired purpose of the space brings a range of depth and humanness to the project involves working closely with the end users, building committees, and building officials. By coordinating all aspects of the project, the clients vision along with the architectural aesthetic is coordinated and appropriate within the community. Synfoni has been praised by Clients for her ability to translate their visions from dreams into reality.
While leading the firm in the region, she has maintained an active role in the community and profession, such as church and professional groups including LAI, ULI and DCBIA.
Sean Donadio
PRINCIPAL, AIA
Sean Donadio is an accomplished designer with experience in all phases of architectural practice. His focus of working with clients to transform their programmatic needs, into spaces that support the activities within a sensitive design, has resulted in continued praise from clients.
His role as Principal includes experience in various building types including educational, institutional, residential, commercial, and religious. He illustrates strong leadership in the management of the design team, facilitating coordination and communication. In addition to his experience in private practice, Mr. Donadio has taught Architectural Design Studio at Roger Williams University for a number of years. His compassion and focus on the education of interns is a valuable attribute in supporting the growth of our team.
Sean once comprised a team of interns, from the NCA firm, with students from Bielefield Elementary School to create a sculpture entirely of cans for the CANstruction Competition. This demonstrates his willingness to share his belief in the importance of design and community outreach. The sculpture won “Best Meal Award” for Connecticut and went on to win internationally in the Best Meal Category, resulting in a food donation of over 4,300 cans.