About Us

Jose Saye, Principal

The newest partner named to the firm, Jose has been a much-appreciated asset since he joined Manny Synalovski and Merrill Romanik in 1999. As an associate and project manager, he excels at overseeing all aspects of even the most complex projects: from developing budget proposals to ensuring that deadlines are met, documents are precise, and work quality and integrity meet the highest standards. As partner, he expands client relationships and monitors the progress of projects to ensure that clients' needs and expectations are fully understood and met, and that they are kept advised of advancement.

Bilingual (Spanish/English), Jose has a personality that easily connects with clients. As a skillful communicator, Jose is a "people person" who enjoys working with clients and teammates, and coaching all participants to bring the design concept to an aesthetically pleasing and exceedingly functional material reality.

Originally from Bogota, Colombia, Jose came to Miami in 1998, after progressive experience as an architectural associate and construction manager, gaining field as well as design experience. He lives in Aventura with his wife and young children.

Bashayr Aloufi, ASID

Bashayr has traveled halfway around the world, from Saudi Arabia, to live in the United States, to study, to work, and to raise a family here. Like many people who have come from other places, Bashayr shares the American dream of achieving success in the field she is passionate about.

The youngest of six siblings, Bashayr has been enchanted with the notion of creating colorful houses since childhood. She dreamed about rainbow-hued rooms, thinking them through in crayon and color-penciled drawings upon drawings. At college, she was one of the first girls to enroll in Taif University’s brand-new interior design program. Still hungry for further education, Bashayr, with her husband, settled in Miami, where she pursued a master’s degree in Interior Architecture.

While Bashayr has mastered the hard skills of design application — Revit, AutoCAD, and Adobe Photoshop — she is equally confident in design ingenuity, artistic intuition, and the functionality of a practical solution to a client’s need. In this regard, she considers the physical and material details of an interior — colors and textures of walls, ceilings, and flooring; selection and arrangement of furnishings and decorative accents; as well as the utility of the space in response to its purpose. Bashayr anticipates designing spaces for the workplace, healthcare, hospitality, and retail projects as part of the SRS team.

A young mother, Bashayr’s family time includes fun with her husband and son, whether horseback riding, kayaking, or beach visits.

Francisco Andrade

Francisco Andrade’s entry into the art and science of architecture coincided with the start of the new millennium. As he was about to complete his bachelor’s degree in architecture in Cali, Colombia, he was accepted as an exchange student at Woodbury University, Burbank, California. Soon the magic and opportunities of America transported Francisco from a childhood dream to the reality of a dynamic junior architect position in New York City. As he plunged into restoration projects, landmark renovations, and apartment drawings and plans for the NYU campus, he learned English and the meaning of working with an innovative architectural team.

In the years that followed, Francisco worked with a number of prestigious architectural firms in New York City, on projects ranging from workplace, hospitality, healthcare, institutional to retail and commercial. His retail experience includes the premier names in worldwide fashion – Chanel, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, and Saks Fifth Avenue – as they expanded in various locations around the country. In 2023, Francisco relocated to South Florida where he is surrounded by family and friends.

As a child, Francisco loved to draw, and was especially intrigued by city life, by the complexity of buildings, monuments, crisscrossing streets, family homes, highrises and lowrises, parks and gardens, highways and bridges. He observed from airplanes, building roofs, mountain terraces, always drawing and allowing his imagination to take flight. He has traveled far and wide around the world – through Europe, South America, and at least 35 of these United States. But here, in South Florida, it is the serenity of beaches at sunrise, a place of meditation and calm that most inspires him.

Francisco believes in the “law of attraction” — that positive thought and visualization of a positive outcome attracts a positive response, inviting success. It is no coincidence that Francisco has found his place with SRS, a team whose motto is, “Think Success.” Here, his role will be amplified as SRS continues to serve government, not-for-profits, and commercial clients to better secure a safer, more enduring community life.

Christopher Bray

With more than three decades' experience, Chris contributes his expertise to managing projects of all types and sizes to successful completion. From his first job with SRS, he has honed his skills and grown as an architect and manager. Chris is expertly knowledgeable about construction materials, methods, systems, and components specific to South Florida. He is meticulously detail oriented and coordinates all project elements to maintain quality control and a smooth process. He is consistently adept at recognizing and servicing a client's needs, from conceptual design to turnkey operation. He is a collaborative professional, working with and often supervising the design team.

A South Florida native, Chris was born in Hollywood and attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale. He lives near the water and enjoys boating and aquatic activities of all sorts. With SRS, he has participated in a variety of projects throughout South Florida: Mixed-use, academic, municipal, commercial, and recreational facilities.

Education

Bachelor of Science, Architecture, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, Florida

Mercedes Civantos Capella

Mercedes joined the SRS team in 2021, a year that challenged the world to reimagine our “normal” way of life and find new solutions to conduct business safely, to manage public health concerns, to overcome economic challenges of supply and demand, to respond to climate and sustainability issues, and to stay on track to deliver on promises made. These are the conditions under which SRS has navigated and succeeded for more than three decades, and has earned the respect of its peers with the 2021 AIA award of “Architectural Firm of the Year.”

Born into a family of architects in Spain, Mercedes has been fascinated with imagining and drawing floor plans since a child. Educated in Spain, Mercedes faced her own personal transition when she relocated to the U.S. 20 years ago, starting a family and continuing her professional development in the Virginia/Washington, DC area. Since then, Mercedes has achieved proven success in working on multidisciplinary projects with complex requirements. With the benefits of blended European and American cultures, Mercedes is well-qualified to absorb and thread her way through the specific and varied protocols, regulations, and codes demanded in an ever-changing industry.

She is, she says, “passionate about creating sustainable buildings and healthy spaces.” Her creative practice begins with establishing a collaborative working relationship early in the design process to create a strong foundation for success. Mercedes’ community ideal is based on the European model of a walkable, harmonious, sustainable, and interactive environment designed to promote mental and physical health and well-being.

The mother of two young sons, Mercedes loves to travel with them, exploring beaches and new destinations where they’ve never visited before, or delving into nooks and crannies of their South Florida hometown, always curious and inspired by the architecture they discover wherever they are.

Shalina Chugani

Traveling the world as a child with her artist-sculptor mother and family of brothers and sisters, and visiting venerated sites known for their iconic and unique structures, even as early as age twelve, Shalina Chugani knew her future would center on architecture so that she, too, could create “breathless spaces” like those she toured in Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

Shalina was born and raised in Panama and earned her architecture degree at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. In the nation’s capital, she explored the Classical and Federal architecture of the United States. In Panama, during summers, she interned at an architectural firm and was tasked with large-scale model making and laser cutting for a metro system plan, creating and assembling a plastic replica of the city replete with houses, office towers, shopping centers, schools and churches, and its connective traffic arteries.

After her graduation, SRS leaped at the opportunity to invite Shalina to join our team, starting her “real world education” in creating contemporary American architecture. At SRS Shalina has dived in to create architectural drawings and interior design renderings, using the technical skills of the profession: AutoCad, SketchUp, Adobe Illustrator, Revit, Photoshop, and InDesign. Her first design ventures, collaborating with the team, include a wide range of projects: a restaurant, a fire station, a Miami cultural center, and a variety of commercial buildings.

Recognizing her creative talents, curiosity, problem-solving abilities, and aptitude for learning and teamwork, SRS handpicked Shalina to begin her career with us, where she can focus her passion to infuse architecture with the magical, timeless qualities of the world’s architectural treasures that inspire her — and us.

Carlos Diaz

The field of architecture challenges and engages both sides of the human brain, as we understand neuroscience today. The left side: analytical, verbal, and sequential in thinking. The right side: perceptual, visual, and more globally conceptual.

With visual imagination, architecture can be dynamic, adaptable to changing human progress and life. With analytical detail, a structure can be viable, sustainable, and endurable.

Carlos Diaz is an architectural draftsman, whose work integrates functions of both sides of the brain. He is impassioned by envisioning building elevations as well as the precise technical drawing that is the basis of all civil, structural, electrical, and mechanical engineering construction documents. Like an orchestra, there would be no harmony or success in constructing a building without a conductor to coordinate the structure’s interdisciplinary components.

Carlos has been an architectural draftsman since 1992. In Puerto Rico, he worked with architects Horacio Diaz, F.A.I.A., and Eduardo Diaz, A.I.A., for 22 years until his 2015 relocation to Fort Lauderdale.

Carlos and his wife, Carmen, are raising two sons, Dennis and Dan, now teenagers. He hopes one day to help expand SRS' reach into Puerto Rico.

Education

Architectural Drafting, Liceo de Arte y Technologia de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Bachelor’s Program, Electric Engineering, Universidad Polictenica de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico

PJ Gumbe

Born in New York City, educated in Puerto Rico, New York, and Miami, PJ Gumbe brings a depth of multicultural experience and multilingual skills; production expertise in the arts, communication, and social media; and a broad spectrum of management and marketing capabilities derived from artistic, corporate, and entrepreneurial endeavors.

While his career path has embraced a wide range of professions – from advertising to mortgage banking, graphic design to music engineering, IT creation and development, one theme is key: loyalty to the team, vigorous gusto, and commitment to the effort. The results are notable: successful outcomes, innovative and effective solutions, strategic out-of-the-box approaches, and recognition of his leadership.

As SRS marketing coordinator, PJ prepares custom-tailored proposals, presentations, and narratives responding to the desired outcomes of each project, while illuminating the firm’s integrity and expertise, budget and scheduling acumen, and team-based programming and execution. Using his dynamic approach to relationship building and his propensity for cutting-edge tools and processes, PJ is a propelling force in SRS’s continuing trajectory of award-winning projects.

Steven Hatzidakis

Since 2004, Steve has applied his creativity and technical skills to produce architectural designs that shape a concept to satisfy SRS clients' needs and expectations. Born and raised in Red Bank, New Jersey, Steve worked in New York and New Jersey for 10 years before relocating to South Florida, and brings an urban context to his work here. He manages the day-to-day design process of each project, while maintaining concept integrity and working closely with clients, contractors, and the architectural design team.

Steve and his wife met as students while at Pratt Institute, and moved to South Florida to raise their family. They live in Miramar.

Education

Bachelor of Architecture, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York

Pedro Lasalde

Since joining the firm in 2007, Pedro has filled a leading role in projects from design concept to completion. Focusing on clients' objectives, he works as part of the architectural design team to ensure ultimate client satisfaction. He steers each project to achieve successful results as envisioned, overseeing cost control and scheduling. Using sophisticated graphic techniques and media, he creates and develops design concepts that are both dynamic and appropriate to each project. Pedro is an outstanding communicator who builds strong relationships with clients, the design team, and construction partners.

Originally from Puerto Rico, Pedro and his young family live in Fort Lauderdale.

Moshe Laniado

A successful architectural project is more than design, more than clever innovation, more than striking material components. It demands purity of purpose and intention, and ethical responsibility to the community it serves.

Serving community is a passion that inspires Moshe Laniado. As a rabbinical student in Miami, his first calling, Moshe volunteered to work on the process of building a new synagogue. The development intrigued him: from construction drawings to buildout and to the ultimate purpose of serving the congregation. The experience opened a new pathway for Moshe and a decision: as an architect, he envisioned, he would not only serve the community and public interest, but change and improve the human environment to a more purposeful level.

Since 2016, Moshe has worked as a project architect on design-build assignments, in both residential and commercial fields; as an architectural designer, creating interior design packages for tenant improvements and renovations; and even as part of the consulting team for two new synagogues.

At SRS, Moshe brings well-articulated views, a fresh perspective, diverse experiences, and a sense of purpose arising from a revered tradition.

Cristi Marin

Cristi joined the firm in 2002. Since then, she has been responsible for a variety of administrative duties to ensure that the organization runs smoothly and efficiently. With exceptional administrative skills and attention to detail, Cristi completes assignments under pressure with a smile and without missing a comma. With the aplomb of the most gracious receptionist, she provides exceptional customer service. Her excellent written and communication skills in both English and Spanish make her a most valuable asset to the firm.

Born in Medellin, Colombia, Cristi relocated to Miami in 1986 with her mother, who inspired her work ethic, sense of responsibility, and positive "I can do it" attitude.

Education

Graduate, New World School of the Arts, Miami, Florida

Javier J. Reboyras

Javier is a natural team player who brings leadership, passion, and immense vitality to all his endeavors. With familial and cultural ties to Puerto Rico, Javier is an only child to parents who nourished his curiosity and encouraged his education. Born in Fort Lauderdale, he grew up surrounded by a large extended Puerto Rican and African-American family and regards his many cousins as brothers and sisters.

He was bitten by the architectural bug while at Pompano Beach High School, when he volunteered for Habitat for Humanity community construction projects. His interest in the “design aspect of things” was advanced by the school’s special focus on the arts. Later, at Florida A&M University, Javier earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture, then returned for a fifth year to complete a second degree, Bachelor of Arts in Architecture. His multifaceted intellect, capacious energy, and enthusiastic teamwork as a former SRS intern convinced SRS to add Javier to the practice upon completion of his architecture qualification.

Inspired by lifestyle changes during COVID, and a self-described “snazzy dresser,” Javier recently created a “luxury unisex streetwear” business called Fiasco Apparel, which specializes in comfort clothes one can wear from the couch to Main Street.