Robert J. Nilsen, 28
Project Designer at H2M Architects + Engineers
Robert J. Nilsen is on his way up — quite literally.
The Staten Island native, who did his undergraduate work at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and graduate work at Harvard, is currently revamping hundreds of elevators around Gotham for the New York City Housing Authority.
“I’ve come to love it,” Nilsen said. “It’s oddly specific, but that makes it more interesting. You’d be surprised how many common misconceptions [there are about elevators]. That they’re scary. It’s like a black box. But there are so many safety mechanisms — it’s safer than escalators.”
Nilsen is involved in everything from design, to permitting (he reviews the relevant codes and ensures buildings are compliant), to construction sets on this big NYCHA project. But Nilsen’s career history is not limited to elevators, despite his fondness for them. Back in 2021, Nilsen also helped turn Midtown’s Lord & Taylor building into Amazon’s New York City headquarters.
“That was ultimately the biggest project,” Nilsen said of what he’s worked on. Collaborating closely with the city Landmarks Preservation Commission, he helped restore the building’s Italian Renaissance Revival cornice and other parts of the exterior.
“It exposed me to working with existing conditions. What really shaped me from that project — working on such an iconic building — was there was so much attention to refining and refurbishing,” he said. “I didn’t really understand historic preservation — how much effort goes into it, and the predetermined methods of repair. In school, a lot of what you do is hypothetical new construction. But a lot of my career, thus far, is working on existing construction and repairing it.”
Nilsen credits his grandfather, a welder who worked for the city’s Sanitation Department, for sparking his interest in this crossroads of construction, engineering, civic projects and design. His grandfather mentored a number of people at the department, one of whom went on to teach Nielsen how to weld.
“In his spare time he liked making sculptures,” Nilsen said of his grandfather. “If it’s genetic, it was transferred to me. I have a tattoo of a flower he made.”
