CAPLES JEFFERSON ARCHITECTS is a design and architecture firm, based in New York City. Since its founding in 1987 by principals Sara Caples and Everardo Jefferson, Caples Jefferson has created work at the intersection of social equity, education and culture.
Among its most notable projects are Heritage Health & Housing social services agency, located in a former garage in Harlem; Queens Theatre-in-the-Park, expanding a World’s Fair building into a public theatre; and Weeksville, a new visitor’s building and campus built around a rediscovered freedmen’s preservation site. Their new Louis Armstrong Center, a museum and administrative building that complements the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona, New York has just opened.
In addition to their professional practice, Everardo has served on the boards of social justice and educational institutions and is currently acting as a Commissioner of the New York City Landmark Preservation Commission.
In 2017, the firm was honored with AIANY’s President’s Award. CJA was awarded the AIA’s New York State Firm of the Year in 2012. With work widely published from Architect Magazine and Domus to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, the firm was listed among the ‘Top 50 Sustainable Firms in the United States’ in Architect 50, a nationwide ranking by Architect Magazine, in 2013.
Everardo and Sara frequently teach as guest educators in schools of architecture, most recently jointly as Davenport Professors at Yale University, and Sara as a Fellow for Innovation in Engagement at Pratt Institute.
Their most recent book is Many Voices: Architecture for Social Equity.