Triad Business Journal, Robert Lopez (freelance contributor)
Jul 15, 2016, 6:00am EDT

As an architect, Stuart McCormick says he looks “at what can be,” not “what is.”

“It’s all about possibilities,” he said.

At the moment, “what is” is a fairly conventional office environment - suspended ceilings, fluorescent lights, gray carpet, white walls, along with a few empty cubicles.

McCormick is president of Lambert Architecture + Interiors, which recently moved into the Journal Building in downtown Winston-Salem.

The firm right now occupies only a small portion of the second floor, most of which sits empty. But as McCormick looks through the space, he describes “what can be.”

“We’re looking at really trying to open the space up,” he said. “Remove the suspended drop ceilings, expose the ceiling structure and the ductwork. And, right now the space is sort of divided up into cells and perimeter offices. But our offices will be almost entirely open. No one will really have a private office, myself included. We want an open feel, a collaborative environment.”

McCormick, 55, took the reins at the firm after founder David Lambert retired late last year, and is overseeing the transition into the new offices.

Hailing from eastern North Carolina, he grew up on a cattle farm and became interested in architecture after seeing a cousin working on some plans for his parents’ home.

“He happened to be a student at the School of Design at N.C. State and my parents took the plans to him to have some modifications made,” he said. “And it was fascinating for me to watch that process. They started out with a preconceived idea of a story-and-a-half ranch, and we ended up living in a one-story sprawling contemporary house. And the first thing I can remember wanting to be was an architect.”

He went on to Clemson University, where he earned a degree in architecture. Early in his career he worked with David Lambert at another firm. Lambert, however, left that firm in 1989 to venture out on his own.

“A few years after he (Lambert) had started, I was looking for the next thing to do,” McCormick said. “And I just started talking to him more as a friend and a mentor. And he was ready to add to his leadership.”

He joined Lambert in 1994. Prior to becoming president this year, he had served as vice president and design principal (he continues in the latter role).

The firm presently employs about a dozen people and has four architects on staff. That’s down from seven last year and 12 five years ago.

McCormick said the firm had previously been “doing business that was more repetitive.” Technology has allowed the firm to streamline operations, he said, but he is currently

seeking out more architects and looking to get the number back up to seven or eight.

Until April the firm had been located in a building at 125 Sunnynoll Court, about four miles from downtown.

Prior to the move, the firm had been seeking new digs for more than a year, McCormick said.

“We wanted to be downtown and wanted to find the right fit, in terms of a combination of price and location and design possibilities,” he said. “And what excited me when this opportunity arose, when we found this space, was the idea of transformation, and redeveloping a building in an exciting way in the heart of downtown.”

The property at the corner of Marshall and Fifth streets has been home to the Winston-Salem Journal for nearly 90 years. The newspaper’s parent company, BH Media, sold the building to developer Bill Benton and former Wachovia CEO Bud Baker for $3.1 million in 2015.

The Journal will retain its offices on the first floor, with Lambert occupying the second. Some other tenants will also eventually take up residence.

The building is made up of two halves - one on Marshall Street built in 1927 with a brick exterior, pitched roof and cupola; and a more modern addition which takes up much of Fifth Street between Marshall and Spruce streets.

With its blocky brick, concrete and glass exterior, the latter half presents, as McCormick puts it, “kind of an anonymous face to the streetscape.”

“So, what we’re looking at with the developers that own the property are a number of changes to bring a more dynamic look,” McCormick said. “You think about the history this building has seen, it’s really rich. And we want this to become kind of a hub for media, digital and creative-focused businesses.”

McCormick said he is looking to add some signage and graphics to the outside “to give identity to the tenants within,” and more lighting to “give it life at night.”

“We just want to make people realize the building is here,” he said.

Also in the planning is a courtyard for the Marshall Street side of the building, where a fountain currently stands.

“As it was designed, it was always sort of a space you passed through,” McCormick said. “It wasn’t really a space to stop and spend any time in. So our focus there is going to be to transform that into a space where someone might pause or go have lunch in. We’re going to keep an element of water, with a fountain, but it’ll be a different kind of fountain, and it’ll allow more space for tables and chairs.”

One of McCormick’s goals for the firm is to raise its visibility in the city. In addition to the Journal Building, the firm is also working on, among other projects, the transformation of the old Hillcrest Furniture store into the National Cycling Center and the renovation of Centenary Methodist Church.

“We’ve always been involved in projects in the city, but the focal point is now downtown,” he said. “The construction and design professions have been through some tough times the past few years, but we are seeing new opportunities here daily. And being in downtown, it’s a great dynamic environment.”

Title: President, Lambert Architecture + Interiors

Age: 55

Education: Bachelor’s, design, and master’s, architecture, Clemson University

Family: Wife Sara-Peyton McCormick; son Wait, 9