Michael Alley

Principal

I really never wanted to start my own company. When a project comes into an office there’s a certain amount of overhead in administering that project and once costs and profit margins are carved out, as an architect, I felt kind of frustrated that we had so little time left to actually make good architecture. So one of the things that we really wanted to do was see if we could create a firm environment where we could hold our operating expenses down and spend more time per fee dollar making things better. We really sought to have a studio environment that was as close to an architecture studio in school as you could have and make it profitable.

Leadership in our firm means being submitted to everyone. So the higher in the organization you grow, the more responsible you are for the success and enjoyment of everybody else in the firm. It’s an upside down pyramid.