Forging a New Path for the Waterways of New York City

Born-and-bred New Yorkers Amanda Schachter and Alexander Levi of SLO Architecture moved to Spain after getting their master’s degrees in the late 1990s, and they had no intention of returning. While abroad, the married couple taught at Barcelona’s ESARQ-UIC and started their own architecture practice in Madrid in 2005. When their home city eventually beckoned in 2007, they found themselves strangers in their own land. "It was very exotic coming back," Levi says. "We felt like we were seeing everything anew." The couple embraced their new outsider status by taking long walks and bike rides around the five boroughs.