Because of the seemingly ongoing consensus among architects that big cities are the only places which produce thought provoking, progressive, or otherwise interesting architecture, I've decided to start a thread about great design firms that aren't in big cities. I figure it could be used as a kind of database of sorts. Feel free to add your own favorites. The only criteria is that they not be in a city of more than 2M people anywhere in the world. With that, I'll begin posting.
my biggest question, though... a lot of architects hole up in smaller cities that in effect are a suburb of a larger city (santa monica, cambridge, etc) so how do you qualify those?
Sounder, Snohetta has an office in the Financial District in NYC. Wouldn't necessarily call them "small town" firm anymore.
And are Phoenix, Austin, Pittsburgh or San Antonio really small towns? I mean they are actually quite big cities. I second holz on the concept that many businesses (just not architectural firms) are not actually in any city.
To pick on Dallas... how many business offices (not just architecture) are really in secondary incorporated cities but identify themselves as being in Dallas (Garland, Fort Worth, Arlington, Plano et cetera)?
I'd say Portland and Seattle are definitely much smaller or about the same size as Pittsburgh or Phoenix.
I would argue that these cities get significantly more play time nationwide is that the quality of living (the quality of the city itself) is often much higher in a place like Portland than it is in a place like Pittsburg.
People want to move there. People with money (who can startup/run firms) also want to be there. And when people with money move to places, they can command other people to move there for work as well.
Just a thought-- There are certainly powerful and small cities all across the US that exert significant influence. It is a combination of good marketing and good choices in urban development.
Santa Fe has a population of 72,000 and it is certainly a major player in the United States.
I think the intent of this discussion is to celebrate the work of architects that are not in LA, New York, San Francisco, etc. So while Phoenix is indeed a fairly large city we often do not hear much about the progressive firms that are practicing there.
I'm curious how Santa Fe is a major player in the US other than providing rich east-coasters an opportunity to purchase turquoise jewelry and knock-off O'keefe paintings.
It is tough to say what it a small city nowadays. Are you counting the entire metro area, or just the actual city? That changes the cities that qualify drastically:
Seattle= <200k people
metro area= approx 3.5 million
Boston=600k people
metro 4.5 million.
Pheonix would be out, as would I believe Houston, Dallas, and Austin if the metro area is counted.
Plus, if you want firms that are smaller in scale vs. small offices in that city (Snohetta - yes I didn't realize that they had an office in NYC, thanks for the heads up!), it changes the game. Sorry I didn't play right.
Maybe it would be easier if we decided what cities absolutely do not qualify.
For starters:
1: LA (metro area... so no Santa Monica, despite what they would like to think, is still part of LA)
2: New York
3: San Francisco
4: Chicago (since this thread really was a branch from that discussion)
Although city population is a factor, for me it's more about the representation of the architecture market in that city. Austin may be a big city but it's not very frequently that we hear about the offices in Austin doing cool work. Not a day goes by the something from LA or New York is thrown in our face.
how about Zap, North Dakota.....there just has to be a small time Architecture Firm cranking out work there....cutting edge design...slicing thru all the big city stuff..and doing sky buildings for the prairie.
jesus you guys. way to split hairs. i think Cherith Cutestory pretty much summed it up. the purpose was to represent firms that are in under-represented cities and towns, which in general have a tendency to be of a much smaller metropolitan area than those we normally talk about. phoenix has under 2 million people in the valley, regardless of the fact that they claim to have over 5 (which counts the population of the entire state as the metro area). there are a million places to draw this line. besides, if it's 2 million, 3 million, 2.5 million, what does it matter? what are you going to get electrocuted if you post a firm from dallas or something?! i would think as architects most people here have a better sense for intuition than precision. gawd. i can't believe some of you people. are you serious? you can't post any firms or work until we define what not bigger cities means? wtf? throw a number in anywhere and architects lose theirs minds.
The Small Town Cutting Edge Firm Thread
Because of the seemingly ongoing consensus among architects that big cities are the only places which produce thought provoking, progressive, or otherwise interesting architecture, I've decided to start a thread about great design firms that aren't in big cities. I figure it could be used as a kind of database of sorts. Feel free to add your own favorites. The only criteria is that they not be in a city of more than 2M people anywhere in the world. With that, I'll begin posting.
Carne Architects, Jackson Hole WY
http://www.clbarchitects.com/
El Dorado Architects, Kansas City, MO
http://www.eldoradoarchitects.com/
Lake | Flato, San Antonio TX
http://www.lakeflato.com/
Pfaffmann Associates, Pittsburgh PA
http://www.pfaffmann.com/
Burton Baldridge Architects, Austin TX
http://www.baldridge-architects.com/index2.html
Intrinsik Architecture, Bozeman MT
www.intrinsikarchitecture.com
Susan Desko AIA, Ketchum ID
http://www.susandesko-aia.com/
InForm Studio, Northville MI
http://www.in-formstudio.com/
David Salmela, Duluth MN
http://www.salmelaarchitect.blogspot.com/
Wendell Burnette Architects, Phoenix AZ
http://www.wendellburnettearchitects.com/
Studio Ma, Phoenix AZ
http://studioma.com/
MASA Studio, Phoenix AZ
http://www.masastudio.com/
MODUS Architects, Bressanone Italy
http://www.modusarchitects.com/
Dake|Wells Architecture, Springfield MO
http://dake-wells.com/
Olson Kundig - Seattle, Wa
http://www.olsonkundigarchitects.com/
Snohetta - Oslo, Norway
http://www.snoarc.no/#/main/
Single Speed Design - Cambridge, MA
http://www.ssdarchitecture.com/
Probably more well know than some of the above, but I think forgotten a lot of the times.
seattle's a big town or a small city...
we've discussed this previously:
here
et here
my biggest question, though... a lot of architects hole up in smaller cities that in effect are a suburb of a larger city (santa monica, cambridge, etc) so how do you qualify those?
there also this thread i posted awhile back.
Sounder, Snohetta has an office in the Financial District in NYC. Wouldn't necessarily call them "small town" firm anymore.
And are Phoenix, Austin, Pittsburgh or San Antonio really small towns? I mean they are actually quite big cities. I second holz on the concept that many businesses (just not architectural firms) are not actually in any city.
To pick on Dallas... how many business offices (not just architecture) are really in secondary incorporated cities but identify themselves as being in Dallas (Garland, Fort Worth, Arlington, Plano et cetera)?
I'd say Portland and Seattle are definitely much smaller or about the same size as Pittsburgh or Phoenix.
I would argue that these cities get significantly more play time nationwide is that the quality of living (the quality of the city itself) is often much higher in a place like Portland than it is in a place like Pittsburg.
People want to move there. People with money (who can startup/run firms) also want to be there. And when people with money move to places, they can command other people to move there for work as well.
Just a thought-- There are certainly powerful and small cities all across the US that exert significant influence. It is a combination of good marketing and good choices in urban development.
Santa Fe has a population of 72,000 and it is certainly a major player in the United States.
I think the intent of this discussion is to celebrate the work of architects that are not in LA, New York, San Francisco, etc. So while Phoenix is indeed a fairly large city we often do not hear much about the progressive firms that are practicing there.
I'm curious how Santa Fe is a major player in the US other than providing rich east-coasters an opportunity to purchase turquoise jewelry and knock-off O'keefe paintings.
It is tough to say what it a small city nowadays. Are you counting the entire metro area, or just the actual city? That changes the cities that qualify drastically:
Seattle= <200k people
metro area= approx 3.5 million
Boston=600k people
metro 4.5 million.
Pheonix would be out, as would I believe Houston, Dallas, and Austin if the metro area is counted.
Plus, if you want firms that are smaller in scale vs. small offices in that city (Snohetta - yes I didn't realize that they had an office in NYC, thanks for the heads up!), it changes the game. Sorry I didn't play right.
seattle's population is about 600k per city of seattle
Maybe it would be easier if we decided what cities absolutely do not qualify.
For starters:
1: LA (metro area... so no Santa Monica, despite what they would like to think, is still part of LA)
2: New York
3: San Francisco
4: Chicago (since this thread really was a branch from that discussion)
Although city population is a factor, for me it's more about the representation of the architecture market in that city. Austin may be a big city but it's not very frequently that we hear about the offices in Austin doing cool work. Not a day goes by the something from LA or New York is thrown in our face.
how about Zap, North Dakota.....there just has to be a small time Architecture Firm cranking out work there....cutting edge design...slicing thru all the big city stuff..and doing sky buildings for the prairie.
susan desko.... wow. haven't heard that name in a long time. my wife and i went through lamaze classes with her...
hah hah a great thread lost on semantics - I love it!
Okay how's about this Kingston 90k (Kingston & St. Andrew metropolitan area 650k)
cornerstone.design ltd
Taylor Architects
added bonus they are in country of less than 3 million people... no? No gravy points?? Okay
I'm also kinda interested in small town examples of excellent architecture, as well as architecture firms.
jesus you guys. way to split hairs. i think Cherith Cutestory pretty much summed it up. the purpose was to represent firms that are in under-represented cities and towns, which in general have a tendency to be of a much smaller metropolitan area than those we normally talk about. phoenix has under 2 million people in the valley, regardless of the fact that they claim to have over 5 (which counts the population of the entire state as the metro area). there are a million places to draw this line. besides, if it's 2 million, 3 million, 2.5 million, what does it matter? what are you going to get electrocuted if you post a firm from dallas or something?! i would think as architects most people here have a better sense for intuition than precision. gawd. i can't believe some of you people. are you serious? you can't post any firms or work until we define what not bigger cities means? wtf? throw a number in anywhere and architects lose theirs minds.
" throw a number in anywhere and architects lose theirs minds. "
hehe, bossman. I'm going to quote you on that, somewhere.
I have always admired the work of this guy, he is based in North Carolina in the area of Highland, North Carolina.
http://jameshowardfox.com/
To my mind, James Howard Fox's work isn't that interesting.
What about Cutler Anderson?
Or Trahan Architects?
wow. trahan in baton rouge. very cool never heard of them.
Sink/drain @ Holy Rosary is sublime.
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