Pasquarelli is a principal at the buzzy downtown architecture firm SHoP. They're the firm responsible for the Barclay's Center—maybe you've heard of it.

Bronx-born Pasquarelli initially planned on a career on Wall Street. After majoring in finance at Villanova, he spent a year working at an investment bank, an unhappy experience he refers to as the "midlife crisis" that convinced him to pursue another career path. He enrolled at Columbia's school of architecture, interned for Frank Gehry, and after picking up his master's worked for noted architect Greg Lynn for a short stint. In 1996, Pasquarelli co-founded SHoP with four Columbia classmates—his wife Kimberly Holden, Christopher and William Sharples (they're twins), and Coren Sharples (Chris's wife). They've since become one of the hippest young architecture firms in the city.

SHoP specializes in architecture that could almost pass for abstract art—sparse buildings with off-kilter glass walls and clean steel frames. Over the last few years, the firm has worked on Porter House, the modern condo tower in the meatpacking district; the Rector Street Bridge, the first piece of infrastructure built at Ground Zero post-Sept. 11; and the Museum of Sex on lower Fifth Avenue. However, the firm is perhaps best known for the controversial Barclay's Center, the nest-like and Jay Z-approved convention center and home of the Brooklyn Nets, built in one of the most congested areas in the borough. [Image via AP]