August 26, 2024

Actual Architecture Company is thrilled to share that Ashley Byars, AIA  has joined our team as a partner. With over 15 years of architectural practice across various scales and work in property development, Ashley will play a key role as we undertake an ambitious plan to expand the breadth and capacity of our practice.

Ashley completed her Master of Architecture degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is a licensed architect with experience practicing in architecture firms and, most recently, as a leader in a development company. Her work to date has emphasized community-based projects ranging from art and product design, to residential, commercial, educational, and cultural arts buildings.  She is currently a faculty member at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Architecture where she teaches design studios centered on community place-making. In addition to her passions around architecture, she is a lifelong musician who believes in bringing the voice of arts into the community and serves on the board for Orchestra Omaha as board vice-president and president-elect.

Ashley worked with Min | Day, Actual Architecture Co.’s predecessor firm for 6 years where she led projects ranging in scale from furniture to the BLUEBARN Theatre & Bocar 10, our largest completed building complex.

“I’m excited to be rejoining Jeff as a partner at Actual Architecture Company. Our previous work together at Min | Day instilled foundational values that shaped my passion and position on design. The most inspiring experiences and cultural impacts are the result of an unassuming and rigorous design process with creative partners and clients. I’m looking forward to bringing my experience to our practice and to helping expand the impact of our work through a focus on education, housing, and community focused development.”

Crafting architecture and environments that enhance culture and community, Actual Architecture Company was founded by Jeffrey L. Day, FAIA in 2018 after 15 years practicing as a principal of Min | Day in San Francisco and Omaha. Actual Architecture Co. is an internationally recognized architecture and design firm based in Omaha, Nebraska, and operating around the world with expansive vision. By maximizing the potential of academic and professional practices, and with an open mind to creative collaboration, Actual Architecture Co. draws on backgrounds in architecture, landscape, and art to provide informed, highly considered design for a wide range of clients, sites, and projects – from individuals to art institutions, urban to rural settings, and furniture to large buildings. We tell our clients’ stories through the design of compelling buildings, environments, and objects. Our creations are playful, resulting from collisions of circumstance and idea, and driven by straightforward pragmatism laced with risky experimentation.

Learn more about our practice and our work at www.actual.ac.