Two Awards for Early Career Success for Interior and Spatial Design Graduate 

Danielle Kadtke earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior and Spatial Design at Russell Sage College in 2021 and is an interior and spatial designer at the international architecture and engineering firm Stantec. She’s based at Stantec’s Hauppauge, New York, office but collaborates with teams all over the country on everything from New York City transit projects to Boston’s National Women’s Soccer League stadium. 

Another high-profile project — the renovation and expansion of Stony Brook Children’s Hospital’s Pediatric Emergency Department — helped her stand out for Long Island Business News’s 2025 list of Emerging Leaders Under 30 and the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce’s 30 Under 30 Award. 

“It’s benefiting my local community and the most vulnerable of our community,” said Kadtke, going on to describe the multiple design considerations involved in the ER expansion: a space that functions efficiently for medical teams, meets healthcare standards as well as LEED environmental criteria, is easy to clean, and is comforting for children. 

“Since it is an emergency department, we need to phase the project so it can remain open throughout construction, so that’s another puzzle piece,” she said. 

Kadtke’s responsibilities include construction document sets, which encompass everything from floor and ceiling plans to furniture, finish selections, and more; internal coordination among the different disciplines contributing to the project; and client presentations. She’s also looking forward to being involved in construction administration. 

“The design was inspired by Long Island’s coastal waters,” she added. “It is truly beautiful, and I can’t wait to see it actually built.”

Kadtke joined Stantec in 2022, thanks to a lead from Russell Sage College Professor Lynn Capirsello and former adjunct instructor Cori Emery. 

After earning her BFA, Kadtke continued to work remotely for d2d Green Design in the Albany area — where she interned as a Sage student — while looking for a position close to her Long Island home. Capirsello knew that Emery was hiring for her team at Stantec and encouraged Kadtke to apply. 

Kadtke had taken Emery’s class as a student. “She’s the person who I started learning commercial design from,” said Kadtke. “It is such a wonderful, full circle moment to be using all of the programs and skills I learned from her, in my professional career with her.”

Overall, Kadtke said Russell Sage’s Art and Design faculty “focused on making sure that we left with the best possible portfolios.”

She mentioned a class with Capirsello that emphasized polished resumes, print portfolios, and web presences. “I left Sage with a whole branded identity, both paper and digital,” she said. 

Another highlight was CoLab, an interdisciplinary course with the Graphic + Media Design BFA program. In this class, student teams are assigned a hospitality project and work together to develop a full set of deliverables — from branding and interiors — that they present to faculty, acting as clients. 

“This mimics a real-world experience,” said Kadtke. “You’re collaborating with different disciplines all the time.”

Her team won the hypothetical contract, and the project was a great addition to her portfolio. 

She added to her portfolio again during her internship and first full-time professional position at d2d Green Design — former professor Baani Singh’s company — where she assisted with site photography and the documentation of existing conditions for a project at Sing Sing Penitentiary in Ossissing, New York. In addition to being a great onsite experience, she said it’s an unexpected conversation starter.

“It’s a little bit of a club. It’s government work, and a lot of designers have worked on projects there. I’d be in interviews, and they’d ask, ‘What buildings did you go to? I’ve been there, too.’ That would help break the ice.” 

Kadtke said the experience at d2d is one more example of how instrumental Sage’s Interior + Spatial Design professors have been to her post-graduate successes.

In high school, Kadtke knew she wanted a creative career that would also help people. Her grandmother suggested interior and spatial design, and later pushed her toward Russell Sage’s table at a college fair. Her grandmother’s advice proved to be just right. 

“I speak with other designers and a common thread between all of us is looking back at our childhood and being like, ‘Wow, it was always there,’” Kadtke said, listing interests like video games, doodling, puzzles, and — especially for her — strong opinions about set design in movies and Broadway shows. “There’s so many things out there that you don’t realize as a kid is interior design, you’re space planning, you’re designing.” 

Now, three years into her role at Stantec, Kadtke is accumulating the professional experience required for the interior design licensure exam and is also studying for LEED and WELL accreditations, which denote expertise in design standards that prioritize environmental sustainability and human health. 

“The big thing that I always wanted out of interior design was to touch as many things as possible,” she said. She’s excited to have found that at Stantec.

“Interior design is a team sport. We’re working with other interior designers all the time and collaborating. We are also a huge part of the coordination effort between the other disciplines and are often the ones who are ensuring the best possible experience for the end users of a project.” 

She added great advice for Interior and Spatial Design students and grads just starting out.

“Get involved in your company, you absolutely should,” she said. She’s a member of Stantec’s group for young professionals and participates in an initiative that matches employees in offices around the world for informal Zoom conversations over coffee. 

“It’s a great way to open doors and network,” she said, “and the more people who know you, the more interesting opportunities you have. Getting to collaborate with different offices is one of the highlights of my time at Stantec.”