Thank you, Doug, for 40 years!

FOUNDER, PRINCIPAL, ADVISOR 1983-PRESENT

Doug Diel co-founded Kuppler Diel Architects with his friend and business partner Jim Kuppler.

"Jim and I knew each other for years. Our kids played together and our families attended the same church," Doug says. Jim was then vice president of design and store planning for Littler Department Stores, while Doug worked on several telecommunications and health care projects for Schmidt - Schmidt Architectural Partners. "In the spring of 1983 Jim and I both discovered we needed a change in career direction. My skills were in management, accounting and design. Jim's were in imagination, interior design and sketching and rendering by hand."

"Our vision was simple — Jim would market to high-end retail clients on space planning and interior design. I would market to my communications and healthcare contacts. I would run the business end," says Doug. Within two years, the firm grew quickly. With a continuing design services contract with The Bon Marche and many projects from Pacific Northwest Bell (PNB), the firm needed more space and more staff. They found a building in Green Lake to renovate, and Doug recruited Tom Webb, a former co-worker, who became a partner and principal.

When an anti-trust lawsuit forced the break-up of AT&T and its regional Bell telephone companies by 1984, PNB became US West, and the door opened for new companies to provide long distance telephone services. "We began to get an increasing design load for telecommunication infrastructures," says Doug.

Doug credits two events contributing to the success of the company. The first was when his previous boss, who was about to retire, wrote a recommendation to PNB to use Kuppler-Diel's services. The second came when he had an opportunity to speak to the head of a major Puget Sound real estate and construction company that specialized in the software industry.

"They were looking for an architectural firm with experience delivering mission critical-design solutions," he says. "We started with small lab projects. In 1997 we were involved in the renovation of an on-campus corporate data center. In 1998 we were part of a design-build team to create what I believe was the first off-campus internet data center. We provided services for an increasing number of projects and are still providing service to this company today. We have received many acknowledgments from them for outstanding service."

In a rapidly changing world, Doug and Jim shepherded their growing firm into the 21st century. Telecom companies asked KDW to add in-house engineering services. As the tech-oriented client base grew, Doug saw a change in the technologies the staff worked with. "When we started, we still used typewriters and mimeograph machines. We used parallel drafting boards and drew everything by hand. We got our first IBM model B in 1986 and it revolutionized the creation of specifications and sped up correspondence. We were one of the first small firms to adopt AutoCAD and as the years went by found more and more ways to use it efficiently."

Doug officially retired in 2018, but continues to consult and advise on various infrastructure projects. "My wife and I just celebrated our 55th anniversary. We plan to travel and continue our life of learning experiences," he says.