Archinect - Features

'Starting a Successful Woman-Owned Business in a Heavily Male-Dominated Industry Is No Joke': A Conversation with Open Studio Collective

2024-10-11T12:14:00-04:00

In this episode of our Studio Snapshot series, Archinect connected with Allison Bryan, Founding Principal of multi-disciplinary design practice Open Studio Collective, based in Bozeman, Montana, and Ojai, California.

Trained in both graphic design and architecture, Bryan talks about the importance of establishing an open-minded approach to business, what it means to build success as a female business owner in a male-dominated field, and the qualities her studio looks for in new hires.

'A Commitment to Craft Is Intrinsic to This Place': A Conversation with Portland-Based Linden, Brown Architecture

2024-02-13T13:28:00-05:00

For our latest Studio Snapshot conversation, we had the pleasure of chatting with Brent Linden and Chris Brown, founding partners of Portland, Oregon-based Linden, Brown Architecture (rebranded as Observation Studio in July 2024). Established in 2018 as a collaborative venture after working for large, established firms, the small studio of five seeks inspiration in the rugged beauty and self-reliant spirit of its Pacific Northwest environment.

Our conversation touches on the importance of craft and material culture, favorite design innovators in the greater Portland region, and what qualities the firm looks for in new hires.

'Everything in Design Is Extremely Collaborative': A Conversation with Emerging Architecture Practice Studio MUKA

2023-09-01T08:13:00-04:00

Starting your own practice comes with a mixture of excitement, collaboration, stressors, and endless problem-solving. As a new firm, architects Neda Kakhsaz and Zabie Mustafa are developing their approach to architectural design and how they would like to make their mark within the industry. After meeting as architecture students at Pratt Institute, they have embarked on showcasing their design sensibilities by creating strong narratives surrounded by a specific "theme or topic as it relates to the sensibilities of the project location" with their collaborators and clients.

For our latest Studio Snapshots installment, we chat with Neda and Zabie, co-founders of Studio MUKA, to discuss their journey of starting their own firm and what they hope to create as a budding design practice.

'As a Black Architecture Firm, We Cannot Ignore the Fact That We Are Rare': A Conversation with Think Wilder Architecture

2023-02-24T08:15:00-05:00

Architecture licensure and running a practice are topics widely discussed on Archinect. While everyone's path is different the experiences of firm leaders, regardless of their firm size, offer a look into the realities of being an architect, leader, and entrepreneur.

"Having my own practice has allowed me to use the business as a platform to create more than just architecture. I think architects have skill sets that transcend architecture." These are the words of Stephen Wilder, Principal of Think Wilder Architecture. The Howard University and Carnegie Mellon University graduate runs a New Jersey/New York-based architecture practice that's keen on balancing work expectations while showcasing the value architects provide to their communities.

For our latest installment of Archinect's Studio Snapshots, we chat with Wilder on his path to architecture, the obstacles of licensure, challenging the industry's work culture, and how he defines the role of an architect.

ORA’s Oonagh Ryan and James Guillou Talk About Balancing Diversity With Specialization

2022-11-21T14:18:00-05:00

In this installment of our Studio Snapshot series, we had the pleasure of chatting with ORA, a Los Angeles-based boutique studio that has been steadily putting out exquisite designs since 2014 while picking up recognitions, among them the Emerging Practice Award as an AIA Los Angeles Presidential Honoree.

Founding Principal Oonagh Ryan, together with Associate Principal James Guillou, talks about the benefits of varied perspectives, balancing diversity with specialization as a small firm, and the joys of achieving good design by creatively turning constraints into unique opportunities.

TALLER’s Luis Gil on Balancing Design Idealism and Development Pragmatism

2022-11-15T10:49:00-05:00

For some, architecture is a calling; for others, they're called to the profession in unexpected ways. This is the case for Luis Gil, architect and founder of the LA-based practice TALLER (tah-yehr).

For the latest installment of Archinect's Studio Snapshot series, we connected with Gil to learn more about the firm he established and his journey to architecture. We discuss the challenges and benefits of running your own practice, what he looks for in new team members, and what he strives to change when it comes to the industry's problematic work culture.

Nicole Hollis on NICOLEHOLLIS: 'One Thing I Have Learned Is That Nothing Replaces a Site Visit'

2022-07-27T09:00:00-04:00

For the latest episode of our Studio Snapshot series, Archinect connected with Nicole Hollis, Founding Principal and Creative Director of award-winning design firm NICOLEHOLLIS. Established in 2002 and run in partnership with her husband, CEO Lewis Heathcote, the San Francisco-based practice has grown into a household name in the world of luxury residential, hospitality, and product design.

Hollis opens up about the firm's guiding principles when accepting new commissions, key qualities in new hires, the challenges her team went through during the pandemic, and the advice she has for young professionals hoping to pursue an interior design career.

‘You Can’t Produce Exceptional Results Using Conventional Thinking’: sekou cooke STUDIO on Challenging Inherited Structures

2022-07-15T08:22:00-04:00

In this installment of our Studio Snapshot series, we had the chance to chat with architect, educator, and curator Sekou Cooke, who has been enormously prolific in recent years with acclaimed exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art and Center for Architecture in New York, urban interventions at the Chicago Architecture Biennial, a fellowship at Harvard University, a program director position at UNC Charlotte's School of Architecture, and a book on Hip-Hop Architecture, just to name a few.

The hard work and dedication to the profession were recently recognized, among other accolades, by The Architectural League of New York with a coveted Emerging Voices award.

JA Architecture Studio on Pursuing That Missing Middle in the Mode of Practice

2022-04-25T13:01:00-04:00

For our latest Studio Snapshot conversation, Archinect had the pleasure of chatting with Nima Javidi and Behnaz Assadi, founding partners of Toronto-based JA Architecture Studio. Being an architect and a landscape designer, respectively, Javidi and Assadi contribute their unique perspectives to tackle an array of typologies — recently earning them also, among other awards, a coveted Emerging Voices distinction from The Architectural League of New York.

Their interview responses elaborate on the team's search for a new mode of practice, the relationship of their architecture to the city, and aspirations for future commissions.

'Everyone Has a Design Voice Worth Hearing': ANACAPA Architecture on Teamwork and Design Intention

2022-04-02T09:00:00-04:00

Defining a sustainable and healthy firm culture is essential for any design practice. Besides creating a robust portfolio and showcasing design expertise to execute projects, fostering a collaborative workplace comes down to firm leadership, team expectations, and opportunities for transparent communication. For architect Dan Weber, an important factor when running a design practice is listening to the team and valuing quality over quantity.

Weber is the founder and principal architect of Santa Barbara-based practice ANACAPA. Nestled along the coast of Southern California, the firm's robust portfolio of custom residential, creative offices, and urban infill projects has garnered them notoriety within the industry. So what helps this 19-person team flourish? As Weber explains: "The original and ongoing intention with ANACAPA is to create a lasting company that is firm in its roots and represents something more significant than just its founder."

In this latest edition of Archinect's...

'Everyone Talks About Silver Linings, It's Hard to Talk About Opportunities': A Conversation with Elizabeth Leber, Managing Partner at Beyer Blinder Belle

2022-02-01T12:01:00-05:00

"In times of crisis and seismic moments come great opportunities for how you reshape who you are and how your employees view you. You begin to reshape your values, and for me, becoming a Managing Partner was an important time." These are the words of Elizbeth Leber, Managing Partner at Beyer Blinder Belle (BBB). When we connected via Zoom on a Tuesday morning in January, our conversation developed into a wonderful chat about unconventional paths to architecture, her love for art history and adaptive reuse, and the importance of taking off your headphones.

Now that we're in the year 2022, practitioners continue to make efforts towards re-envisioning what a firm leader looks like. While women have resiliently changed and challenged the field of architecture for decades, Beyer Blinder Belle's Elizabeth Leber is no exception. “Any business leader needs to have empathy and the ability to identify with our clients and our staff,” expressed Elizabeth, “It’s important to remember that each...

Investigating the Relationship Between Public Art and Public Space with LAA Office

2021-12-13T15:25:00-05:00

When public art is incorporated into a design space, how does it interact with its surrounding architecture and landscapes? For Lulu Loquidis and Daniel Luis Martinez, the importance of bridging the gap between public space, community-driven design, and the built environment is essential. The duo are co-principals of the multi-disciplinary design studio LAA Office based in Columbus, Indiana.

After living and working in New York City for several years, their move to the Midwest helped foster an eye-opening opportunity for creating positive design interventions. They explain: "Some of the biggest issues that need to be addressed relate to social, economic, and cultural inequities that privilege certain groups over others. Specifically, in our work, we're hoping to find ways of making art and design accessible to folks that can't normally afford it or who see themselves removed from the processes that shape the built environment around them."

To learn more about LAA Office's path to s...

Shepley Bulfinch Talks About the Post-Covid Office, Diversity, Firm Leadership, and Serving Both Employee and Client

2021-11-17T13:23:00-05:00

It's nearing the two-year mark since the pandemic forced businesses to stop, reassess, and plan viable steps for their employees and clients. The team at Archinect has kept close tabs on the industry and how the architecture community has been impacted as well as responded to drastic changes happening across the industry. As 2021 slowly comes to a close, we have spent time reaching out to firms to learn more about how offices are approaching adjusted workflows, staying connected to their teams, and how firms are staying transparent with their goals entering 2022.

For the latest post-pandemic installment of Archinect’s Studio Snapshots, we connected with Shepley Bulfinch's President and CEO Angela Watson, FAIA. Since the firm's establishment in 1874, it has survived "the Great Depression, multiple wars, civil unrest, and massive technological changes," as Watson shared. This level of business acumen and survival is met with progress in the firm's team, portfolio, and, most importan...

Diversifying the Disciplines: Hacin + Associates on Integrating Multiple Expertises Under One Roof

2021-06-04T10:48:00-04:00

Established in 1993 by architect David Hacin as a traditional architecture firm, Boston-based Hacin + Associates has since grown into an interdisciplinary design practice with more than 30 team members.

We reached out to Hacin for this week's Studio Snapshot to learn more about the incentives for integrating interior design and branding departments, his take on an office size 'sweet spot,' and the importance of fostering Boston's local identity.

'Our Profession Is Both Popular and Ignored': Water Feature Studio Fluidity Design Consultants on Embracing the Niche

2021-05-19T11:46:00-04:00

Fluidity Design Consultants is a Los Angeles-based practice specializing in the design and engineering of water features. Established in 2002 by architect and founding principal James Garland, the firm has realized countless projects of all scales around the world in close collaboration with noteworthy architects and landscape architects.

For this week's Studio Snapshot, we connected with Garland to find out how operating a highly specialized business differs from conventional architectural practice, what particular staffing needs the team was experiencing, and what it was like to envision the first theatrical water feature ever installed on a cruise ship.

Anya Moryoussef on Challenging the Traditional Model of Architectural Practice

2021-05-06T07:59:00-04:00

For our latest Studio Snapshot, Archinect had the pleasure of connecting with Anya Moryoussef, Founding Principal of Toronto-based firm AM_A and this year's recipient of the RAIC Emerging Architect Award. Her design work impresses with gorgeous clarity, awareness of material interplay, consistently conveyed through warm, minimalist tones.

The conversation touched on the team's collaborative nature, the intention to keep the studio small, and the challenges of scoring bigger, public commissions for emerging practices in Canada.

LowDO on Building Societal Equity Through 'Low Design'

2021-04-19T12:15:00-04:00

Featured in our latest Studio Snapshot is Low Design Office, a small, integrated, and highly collaborative architecture studio based in Austin, Texas and Tema, Ghana. Founded by Ryan Bollom and DK Osseo-Asare during their grad school years at Harvard GSD, the firm's work on both continents is driven by a compelling ethos of resourcefulness, practiced sustainability, and equity building through design.

The team was recently honored for its accomplishments by The Architectural League of New York with one of this year's coveted Emerging Voices Awards.

'Architecture as Provider Instead of Shelter': Matter Design's Brandon Clifford Discusses Architecture and Speculative Design as a Catalyst for Social Good

2021-04-14T08:25:00-04:00

Learning how a design studio begins its journey into professional practice is an eye-opening experience. For Matter Design, they started with a mission to build projects they designed themselves. While this response may seem simple in its approach, they explain, "we were much more interested in the means, the methods, and communication between design and materials." Yet, four years after our Studio Snapshot interview with co-founders Brandon Clifford and Wes McGee, the practice has grown into a catalyst for bridging architecture, speculative design, and interdisciplinary social missions.

Archinect re-connected with Clifford to discuss recessions, running a speculative design studio, and how the firm's latest project AquíAquí is more than just a public space project. Clifford shared, "I can say that we have built Matter Design on a series of speculative built works that serve as individual challenges to default practice." In response to the development of AquíAquí, he explains, "we t...

spatial practice on Becoming a Global Player as a Small Team

2021-04-07T08:18:00-04:00

spatial practice is a small Hong Kong-and-soon-to-be-Los Angeles-based collaborative partnership established by Dora Chi and Erik Amir. Initially founded in Beijing, the young firm very quickly gained exposure to projects of a scale that often remains reserved for more established offices.

In our latest Studio Snapshot, we had the pleasure of chatting with Chi and Amir about their journey so far, if and how the pandemic has impacted their operations throughout the past year, and what they look forward to with the opening of their new California studio.

PLY+ on Balancing Architectural Practice and Teaching

2021-03-17T09:00:00-04:00

For this week's Studio Snapshot, Archinect connected with Craig Borum and Jen Maigret, the two principals of Ann Arbor-based collaborative architecture practice PLY+. The team was recently recognized as leading new practitioners by The Architectural League of New York, receiving one of this year's coveted Emerging Voices Awards.

Borum and Maigret shared with us how their faculty positions at Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning create dual demands of practice and teaching, how the team had to adapt to working remotely during the pandemic, and when it is time to say no to potential projects.

Michael K Chen Architecture on the Power of Social Value and Collaboration

2021-03-09T09:00:00-05:00

Michael K Chen Architecture is a seven-piece, New York-based design practice whose exuberant sense of creativity playfully blends the boundaries between architecture, interior and product design while avoiding expected style labels.

But for Chen, as he tells us in our latest Studio Snapshot, his firm's dedication is about more than just well-designed client projects: as a co-founder of the nonprofit Design Advocates, he helped connect independent design teams with NYC public schools, small businesses, and organizations in underserved communities to facilitate pro-bono collaborations during the pandemic-induced economic downturn.

Woods + Dangaran on Creating Architecture as an Act of Purpose and Intentionality

2021-03-01T12:45:00-05:00

For today's Studio Snapshot episode, Archinect interviewed Brett Woods and Joseph Dangaran, co-founders of Los Angeles-based architecture and interior design firm Woods + Dangaran.

Established during the greatest recession in a generation, the small practice had to maneuver rough economic waters in its early years, ultimately equipping the team with the confidence and skills needed to weather the economic downturn and operational challenges of the global pandemic a mere decade later.

The conversation touched on the team's flexible structure, the importance of a positive and encouraging studio environment, and the desire for timeless design.

Studio BANAA on Turning Diversity Into a Creative Force

2021-02-25T09:43:00-05:00

For our latest Studio Snapshot, Archinect had the pleasure of chatting with Nastaran Mousavi and Dane Bunton, founding partners of San Francisco-based architecture practice Studio BANAA.

Hailing from different corners of the world — Dane is a Bay Area native and Nastaran grew up in Northern Iran — the two have been steadily fusing their diverse backgrounds with the city's eclectic California blend to create fresh and dynamic spaces not shy of colors, patterns, and personality. We talked about their new housing research campaign, surviving the pandemic as a small practice, and launching new, innovative business endeavors.

Striking the Connection Between Architecture and Nature With Seattle-Based mwworks

2021-02-22T09:04:00-05:00

Established in 2007, Seattle-based architecture and interior design studio mwworks has been diligently contributing some of the finest places within the Pacific Northwest's contemporary built environment: rough in the right places, comfortable wherever possible, and authentic by principle.

For the latest Studio Snapshot, Archinect connected with the firm's founding partners Steve Mongillo and Eric Walter to discuss their dedication to craft, the deliberate decision to grow the practice organically, and how the team kept its office culture alive and healthy during the pandemic.

Elizabeth Herrmann on Bringing Fresh Design Thinking to Residential Vermont Architecture

2021-01-27T11:25:00-05:00

For this latest installment of Studio Snapshot, Archinect reached out to Elizabeth Herrmann, Founder and President of Vermont-based residential architecture firm Elizabeth Herrmann Architecture + Design.

The conversation touched on her motivations to start her own practice, the challenges of running a small design firm during a pandemic, and her aspirations for future development.

Mork-Ulnes Architects on Balancing Californian and Norwegian Design Spirits

2020-12-03T13:12:00-05:00

For this week's Studio Snapshot, Archinect spoke with Casper Mork-Ulnes, Founder and Principal of San Francisco and Oslo-based firm Mork-Ulnes Architects.

We talked about his approach of managing offices on two continents as a nimble 10-person practice, touched on strategies of combining two design mentalities — Scandinavian practicality and Californian optimism — as a unique asset, and learned how lessons from Norwegian work culture could contribute to increased productivity among the entire team.

Walker Warner Architects on Creating 'Enduring Architecture for Inspired Living'

2020-11-09T09:00:00-05:00

Operating from a studio in bustling downtown San Francisco, Walker Warner Architects has maintained a unique ability to capture the essence of their clients' sites whether rural or urban, across the Western United States and Hawaii and create calming blends of space, context, materiality, light, and craft.

For our latest Studio Snapshot, Archinect connected with the firm's four Principals Brooks Walker, Greg Warner, Kathy Scott, and Mike McCabe to learn more about how the practice managed to grow into a 65-person team and if managing construction sites in two states divided by an ocean ever proved challenging.

Leroy Street Studio on Engaged and Inclusive Design

2020-09-21T13:14:00-04:00

For New York City-based firm Leroy Street Studio, good design is just one part of the architectural equation. Uniting several, integrated branches under one roof—architecture, community workshop, construction, and interiors—the terms 'multidisciplinary' and 'collaborative' aren't just marketing buzzwords but core values.

For the latest Studio Snapshot, Archinect reached out to LSS partners Marc Turkel, Morgan Hare, and Shawn Watts to learn more about the firm's growth process, integration of disciplines, and community outreach.

Curtis & Ginsberg on Growing a Firm During a Pandemic

2020-09-15T12:18:00-04:00

New York City-based Curtis + Ginsberg Architects have a long track record of delivering a wide range of project types for public and private sector clients, particularly within the realm of affordable housing design. Founded in 1990 by Darby Curtis, AIA, and Mark Ginsberg, FAIA, the 42-person firm has worked methodically to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic by instituting sweeping work-from-home policies for the office while also adapting its physical spaces for socially distant use.

For the latest Studio Snapshot, Archinect caught up with Curtis and Ginsberg to learn more about how the firm has fared over the last six months, how it is approaching attracting new projects, and what lies ahead for the practice.

Faulkner Architects: 'The Site Will Tell Us What to Do. We Listen.'

2020-08-26T12:55:00-04:00

Should you ever have the pleasure of visiting the compact but growing portfolio of exquisite residential projects that Greg Faulkner and his small team have realized over the years, the drive would lead into picturesque and seemingly untouched landscapes of Northern California and the Lake Tahoe region of Western Nevada.

Nestled between pine trees, rocks, and steep cliffs, Faulkner Architects' residences and mountain retreats reflect the ruggedness of the embedding terrain with a bold material palette that makes confident use of weathered steel, reclaimed wood, and exposed concrete. Paired with a dedication to craft, regard to the vernacular, and careful site selection, the firm creates elegant, modernist jewels — one project at a time.

For this week's Studio Snapshot, Archinect connected with Greg Faulkner to learn about his design process, what drives material choices, and how he runs a team of seven from two locations.