Exeter Update

The latest construction images of Exeter seem promising. The entire office feels a little warm and fuzzy knowing that this is going to be in Exter Missouri - population 700ish

Exeter Update

"It's the passion, stupid."

Between the constant barrage of stock market reports and political attack ads of late, it's hard not to notice that the economy is a bit rough these days.

Last week, our practice completed construction documents for two projects simultaneously. Possibly the most significant projects we've worked on to date. Construction should commence in a few weeks and we are thrilled with the potential they both hold to transform the college campus and the town in which they are located, as well as the lives of students and community members that will assemble there, not to mention what we hope they will do for our practice over the long term.

This week, we photographed the completed renovation of the Games Center at Missouri State University, now renamed LEVEL 1. This is always a time of fulfillment for us because it marks the completion of the project and records it forever. The camera doesn't lie. At the same time, our addition to Exeter schools is nearing completion and recent construction photos of that project suggest that our efforts to expand design possibilities into rural communities is working. These are exciting times for us at Dake Wells Architecture.

Next week, several of us will be attending the AIA Central States Regional Conference in Kansas City with the hope of making new connections with other like-minded professionals and renewing existing relationships that have helped us through our first four years of this gig. On Thursday evening, October 23, I'll be presenting some random thoughts about our design work at Pecha Kucha, a 6 minute and 40 second presentation format that may or may not interest others, but thrills me to no end.

So amidst the roller coaster stock charts, political banter, and admittedly challenging economic times, just remember that it's your passion that moves you.

3+1=4

Dake Wells Architecture has been presented with 4, count 'em, four, awards for design excellence from AIA Springfield in its bi-annual awards competition DA08. Three from the program's prestigious professional jury from Seattle, including Jon Wagner, AIA, Eric Lagerberg, AIA and chaired by Eric Cobb, AIA and one granted by the public jury of local community leaders.

The System, A Paul Mitchell Partner School received a Citation Award from the professional jury,



Stoutland School Addition received a Merit Award from the professional jury,



And Joel E. Barber Elementary School received the professional jury's highest honor- Honor Award.



And then the public jury, chaired by Nancy Brown-Dornan, saw fit to grant Joel E. Barber with yet another award- Public Recognition Award for Small School.

These are the fruits of our labor.

This recognition is a huge thrill for us and validates our efforts. We see awards granted by our peers in the profession, especially ones we have such admiration for in their own right, as encouragement to continue our efforts to constantly push our designs to a higher level.

There is no question that it takes exceptionally supportive clients, consultants and contractors to make these kinds of projects possible. We extend our sincerest thanks to all those we've worked with on these three projects in particular.

But wait, there's more! We have some truly exciting projects currently on the boards in our office, several of which are our largest projects to date. They each present their own unique design challenges and look to be equally exciting design solutions that we hope to share with you all in the near future. Check out our website for some previews and of course - stay tuned.

May Art Walk

We love creative talent here at D|Wa, and while we might know our way around a set of floor plans, we're lost on a lot of other artistic endeavors.  So, after recognizing our limitations, we've begun opening up for art walk and convincing that creative talent to hang out with us.

Last Friday, May 2nd, Convey Studios hosted their second photography exhibit in our space.  The exhibit featured photographs of the people of Uganda, taken by Jen Campbell.  We're routinely impressed by the quality and variety of work that comes from our city's arts community, and when it comes to photography, Sesha, Jen, and Reese are producing some of the best and most relevant work out there.  

Outside of documenting the people in and around Springfield, Convey has a portfolio of international work that hints at what truly sets them apart: their shared social conscious.  The quality and care shown in their shots of people from around the world, and their continued push for awareness of humanitarian issues, reveal that their practice is built upon much more than just good composition.  Check them out for yourself at www.conveystudios.com.

We were also fortunate enough to have some great musical talent in our space last Friday.  Lee Ellen Starks and Elizabeth Losson can usually be found playing somewhere each First Friday.  Trading off between acoustic guitar and piano, their music is folk with an occasional mix of blues.  Their voices however are where they excel.  Elizabeth and Lee Ellen’s voices are each strong and unique on their own, but they are at their best when harmonizing with each other.  They will be playing at the next Art Walk at Randy Bacon’s Studio on June 6th.  You can find more information on them at

http://www.myspace.com/leeellenstarks 

http://www.myspace.com/88keymt

Erin Swanson also added to the set by playing viola on a few songs.  Erin has played with Drury University’s orchestra and quartet for four years and has shared the stage with Jeremy Larson along with other local musicians.  She’s very talented, clever, and was kind enough to even let me sit in on a few songs. 

We will be open again next month (June 6th) so come up and visit.  We’re not sure what we’re showing yet… but we’ve got a month to figure it out, and surprises are more fun anyways.  See you then.

Architecture & Music

Ever since we got rid of our cable television service and switched to dish, I've been a huge fan of Classic VH1. So I just finished watching (for the third time) an episode of Classic Albums that featured Def Leppard and the Hysteria album. A fantastic album if you don't know it, but it's the connection to architecture that I'm interested in right now.

Our firm has been frantically working on submissions to the AIA design awards over the last few days. We've been putting in some long hours in an effort to make a good showing in the competition and to be sure that the underlying ideas in our architecture are clearly communicated to the jury. I really think we have some good projects to present, but we are anxious to see what our peers think of our work.

In watching the members of Def Leppard talk about the creative process making the Hysteria album, I'm struck by the similarities to our practice. The band members talk about the collaborative process and how they don't think of the band as having a "front man." Instead, they have five front men, each contributing their own unique talents to the collective whole. The show presents band members in the studio sharing raw music tracks that were folded together to make the most significant and influential tracks on the record. In many cases, you get to hear separated tracks, with band members pointing out the specific contributions of each of the other band members. But when you hear the end product, the music weaves together with such fluidity that the ownership of specific contributions is blurred in favor of the whole. This is the way we work. Our motivation is the prize of the end product. The built space. Each of us contributing our own talents and experience to the project in an effort to make the end result the best it can be.

In my opinion, (and I'm sure others will disagree with me) the greatest band that ever lived is Kansas. Their music and lyrics challenged the listener to think about what music (or more specifically, rock music) should be. The band's musical talents were fantastic, the lyrics were thought-provoking and intellectual, and the end result was a layering of instruments, vocals, rhythm and transcendent expression. The music was art, not commodity. And the art was collaborative. The liner notes of most Kansas albums, especially the early ones, would always end with "We are Kansas. Kansas is a band." Plain and simple.

Architecture is a bit different that pure art, I suppose, because it has to solve problems. It is not willful expression, but rather a response to problems that need to be solved. But the need for collaboration in order to make the best solutions is similar. The creative process of layering, critiquing, pushing, pulling, challenging and working together to make it the best it can be is the same. (Remind me sometime and I'll share my comparisons to George Lucas' work on the Star Wars films.)

We've recently added another person to our studio. That brings our total staff to seven, not counting the three part-time interns that are currently helping us with some model building duties. Our design team is incredibly talented. We are admittedly young, but older than Def Leppard when they recorded Hysteria. We continue to pursue excellence in our work and consistently discuss what would make our work even better. That's why we've been working so hard lately.

We are DWa. DWa is a practice.

D|Wa Buzz

It's been a while since we've made a new post here, but that's because we've been so busy. People say that's a good thing. Just so you know, here's what's been going on.

The lecture went well and we've received a lot of positive feedback from that experience. Our work was well received, I think, and hopefully others will be able to share in that experience soon with new projects posted on our website and (hopefully) a few video clips from the lecture. (Stay tuned.) We've had a number of inquiries and new relationships formed as a direct result from that experience. Thanks to Michael Buono, Director of the Hammons School of Architecture for the invitation to participate in the lecture series.

Also, we've been awarded some new commissions since our last posting. Most notably, a commission from Missouri State University to design two new buildings for the West Plains, Missouri campus. We are thrilled with this opportunity, especially when you consider that our practice was selected from a record number of submissions (seventeen in all, I think) down to a short list of 5 prominent firms in the state - all much larger and more established than ours. We believe this is a testament to the talent and dedication of our staff and our commitment to design excellence and are looking forward to the design process and fulfillment of two significant projects for Missouri State University's West Plains campus. I'm sure you'll be hearing more about these projects in the months ahead.

We've also been selected for two more rural K-12 projects which are currently in the design phase. Similar to our work at Stoutland, Missouri and Joel E. Barber, both projects are in relatively small communities but have the potential to make a tremendous impact on the lives of kids and their parents in those communities. That really excites us.

Another residence is up and coming as well as some new urban projects that we anticipate will have a significant impact on our own downtown community as well.

So we've been extremely busy lately. I'm not sure we expected this to be happening this early in the formative years of our practice. That is encouraging and tells us that we're doing (at least) some things right. It seems that clients are hungry for smart design. Especially in this time of economic, political, social and environmental uncertainty. Design quality seems to be important to people and we're responding.

All of that being said, I attended a lecture today at the Hammons School of Architecure. Steve Rainville, a project manager at the office of Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects in Seattle presented several projects from that office and talked about their design process and how those projects are executed. Wow! I have been big fan of that firm's work for a number of years (as have others in our practice) and to say that it was inspiring is an understatement. Mr. Rainville was impressive in his presentation and inspired me to try harder, think deeper, take more risks and have more fun in the development of projects that also inspire others. If you're not familiar with the firm's work, you should be. Check it out at www.oskaarchitects.com.

And finally, April's First Friday Art Walk. Convey Studios will be exhibiting some recent photography from trips to Africa in our gallery space in our office at 401 W. Walnut in Springfield. This will be the first in a series of exhibits displaying photographs from recent trips to the African continent and we're looking forward to opening our office space to the community. If you have a chance, come by and see the exhibit. The photography will be awesome and the conversation might not be bad either.