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OUR TEAM
BEAR Architects is an architectural design practice led by Beth Eckels and Andrew Ruggles. We bring together vast experience delivering a broad range of projects, from single-family homes to complex academic, commercial, and mixed-use projects.
Through our collaborative process, we strive to create space that brings joy and wellbeing to those who experience it. For each new project, we view the existing site through a lens of opportunity, embracing its unique characteristics to inspire outcomes that are truly responsive to the particular place and client aspirations.
BEAR offers holistic design services, inclusive of enclosure, interiors, custom furniture and millwork, from conceptual planning through permitting and construction.
Beth Eckels
During her 12 years of professional experience, Beth has worked on some of the most complex New York City projects built in the last decade. Beth has led large teams of sophisticated design professionals to execute successful projects, from early planning through construction. As a Founding Partner of BEAR Architects, she is committed to creating buildings of high quality that positively impact the environment and local community. Beth is a registered architect in New York, Massachusetts, and South Carolina.
Beth is currently leading the Gish Mill redevelopment project, Black Bear Lodge renovation/addition, and a guest house + ceramics studio in Rhinebeck, NY.
Prior to BEAR, Beth worked at notable NYC firms, including SHoP Architects, Weiss/Manfredi, WXY, and Ten to One. As a Project Director at SHoP, Beth led the team on COMPANY @ 22 Vanderbilt, a 200,000-square-foot gut renovation to transform a 1980s office tower into a hospitality-forward vertical tech campus in midtown Manhattan. Other SHoP projects include the New Academic Building at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Westtown School Town Commons project, and a 1,000-foot-tall mixed-use residential and commercial building in Toronto. Throughout her eight years at SHoP, Beth contributed to various research projects on innovative urban and residential design, including an initiative to rethink home design in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Beth earned her Master of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a BA in Architecture and Art History at the University of Pennsylvania. Her graduate studies included a semester in Rotterdam with Rem Koolhaas/AMO, conducting research and developing exhibition materials for the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale and Elements of Architecture, published by Taschen.
Andrew Ruggles
Over the 16 years Andrew has been practicing architecture, he has successfully executed several prestigious, award-winning projects. He has extensive experience working with institutional clients across the country on a variety of project types. He has a unique ability to find elegant solutions to complex design problems that balance aesthetic and pragmatic concerns and create buildings that possess effortless functionality and beauty. Andrew is a registered architect in New York.
Current projects include the Walton Pond Restaurant & Event Space, the pro bono New Kingston Community Space, and a planning study for Margaretville Telephone Company's facilities.
While at Weiss/Manfredi prior to BEAR, Andrew served as the project manager for the Longwood Gardens Restaurant and Event Space. Previously he was the project architect for the Tulane University Dining Commons, Greenhill School Marshall Family Performing Arts Center, and the Novartis Visitor Reception Building. He was also a key member of the project teams for MIT Kendall Square Initiative, the University of Pennsylvania Krishna P. Singh Center for Nanotechnology, Taekwondo Park Master Plan, and competition entries for Full Circle: St. Louis City + Arch + River, the Sylvan Theater at the National Mall, and the La Brea Tar Pits Museum Master Plan.
Andrew received a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania where he won the E. Lewis Dales Traveling Fellowship Competition. He earned a BA in Studio Art with a concentration in painting at the College of Charleston. Andrew has taught Architecture and Visualization at the University of Pennsylvania and is currently teaching Architecture Studio and Digital Design at SUNY Delhi.