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.