Introducing Augustin Peytchinov

Introducing Augustin Peytchinov, Architect and Senior Project Manager at AB design studio.

Augustin’s life has always been about moving across cultures, adapting and learning in new ways. Born in Bulgaria and raised in New York City, he’s embracing life in Southern California. The son of an acclaimed opera singer, he speaks five different languages and is passionate about music, especially Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.” But an equal joy may be simply playing Legos and baking with his kids.
    
Over his career Augustin has worked at nearly every architectural scale, from interiors to facades and schools to towers. He believes coming to AB design studio marks a new career chapter. “I craved working in a more collaborative environment, where I can lead a team” he says. “I think it's that piece that made working at AB design studio super-appealing.”

Bulgaria to Greenwich Village

Augustin was born in 1988 in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, just as his father, Valentin Peytchinov, faced a life-changing moment. A gifted pianist, while undergoing mandatory military service Valentin had broken his wrists, impacting his playing ability. After studying composition at the Bulgarian National Conservatory, his singing was heard by the Italian composer Gian Calo Menotti, who invited Valentin to study opera singing at The Juilliard School. This experience enabled what became a long professional music career, including joining the Metropolitan Opera Company as a principal artist in 2000. Augustin was named after Augustin Peytchinov, who was his father’s sponsor to Juilliard and owned New York’s exclusive Box Tree Inn.

[Image credit: Augustin's father with the opera - https://www.valentinpeytchinov.com]

“He left for the United States two days before I was born,” Augustin recalls. “The Bulgarian government was holding my mom and me as collateral for his return.” They joined Valentin two years later, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. 

Six years later, with his dad struggling to build a music career and his mom working in retail, Augustin moved back to Bulgaria to live with his grandparents for first and second grade. He returned to America for good in third grade, as the family moved to New York’s Greenwich Village and Augustin attended the Abraham Joshua Heschel School, a private Jewish day school in New York, where Hebrew became his third language after Bulgarian and English. He’s since become fluent in Spanish and Japanese as well. “Languages come pretty naturally to me. I enjoy interacting with people from all over the world and being able to participate.”

[Image credit: Augustin and family in Bulgaria - Augustin Paytchinov]

Going to Temple

Though his high school grades were good enough for Augustin to get accepted to numerous top-ranked design schools, he attended Philadelphia’s Temple University after earning a full scholarship. He’d known from a relatively young age that he wanted to be an Architect, a profession that his father inspired him to pursue. 

“I was very specific that I wanted to graduate with a professional degree that would eventually allow me to sit for my licensing exam,” he says. Coming from a family of more limited means, “I think that struggle to earn a scholarship really pointed me into more practical decision-making.” While many of his peers were enjoying the relative bubble of college life, Augustin was interning at a construction company. Yet it would be a mistake to say he didn’t have some fun along the way.

[Image credit: Temple University Architecture School - Temple University]

Early Career

Augustin’s resume features experience at several noteworthy New York City-area firms, having provided him with opportunities to get involved with a variety of project types and scales. His first year post-college, Augustin worked in interior design for a Manhattan based firm with projects ranging from luxury residential projects in Manhattan and the Hamptons to the 40/40 Nightclub for JayZ and Gaby Karen’s Italian-inspired Restaurant in SOHO. From 2014-17, he worked at an NYC firm specializing in high-end residential, including an $8 million townhouse featuring a subterranean basketball court. But Augustin was getting restless. “I started realizing I wanted to get into much bigger and grander project types— architecture with a capital A, for lack of a better word,” he remembers. 

[Image credit: Jacob K Javits Convention Center expansion - TVS Architecture and Interior Design]

From 2017-2020, Augustin worked at a large firm with high-profile public and private commissions. Most notably, he served as the Lead Architectural Code Enforcement official for the $1.5 Billion, one million square-foot expansion of New York’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Additionally, Augustin was the lead architect for the renovation of the $9 Million Queens Performing Arts Center theater renovation and the $10 Million Queensborough Community College Cafeteria renovation and atrium expansion as part of his firm’s term contract with CUNY and DASNY. This experience, along with leading other multifamily, higher-education, and public school construction projects, culminated in his firm listing him as lead Architect for a partnership with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill as part of a public contract with New York City’s Affordable Housing Authority. 

[Image credit: Queens Performing Arts Center - Goshow Architects]

From 2020 to 2022, Augustin served as lead architect for three different mixed-use towers, the largest of which was a 29 story residential tower, his largest project to date. 

Augustin has since become a licensed architect in New York, New Jersey, California, Hawaii, and Arizona; a LEED AP BD+C accredited professional; is a member of the American Institute of Architects, and a member of the Free And Accepted Masons of New York and Pennsylvania.

[Image credit: Summit Tower - MVMK Architecture]

At Home

When he’s not at work, you might find Augustin cooking with his wife Jill or baking with their two sons, five-year-old River and four-year-old Rain. “I am a master crepe-maker and I love baking because for me, it's therapeutic. Within that recipe, you still have some flexibility to do something fun. And I absolutely love the smell of fresh baked cookies and cupcakes. I like doing that activity with my kids a lot.”

Another activity Augustin started doing with his kids, building with Legos, has become a particular passion. “I just absolutely love it,” he says. There's something very calming about it.”

Working at AB design studio

Augustin and Jill moved west to California in 2022 to be near her family. Augustin joined AB design studio soon afterward, emboldened by conversations with the firm’s founders. “Josh and Clay empowered and inspired me to feel like I can contribute something that was missing,” he says. Yet Augustin realized he was done doing it alone, adding: “I had worked for years trying to reach the summit by myself. But then I looked back and kind of wanted to come down with everybody else.” 

Augustin is backed up by the support of our talented and experienced architecture, interior design and urban planning team of professionals. Our 30 person staff is well-equipped to tackle a multitude of signature design driven projects of all sizes and typology. Our team develops well-rounded and thoughtful solutions to today's greatest design challenges. We deliver by leveraging the talent of awesome people, like Augustin, who deliver our proven process each day; we deliver using a simple formula - LISTEN | STRATEGIZE | CREATE | DELIVER.

AB design studio, We produce signature designs for those who want more than just a building!