BVH Architecture is a purpose-driven design practice committed to an immersive and collaborative creative process. We aim to create architecture which enhances and inspires the community in which it serves.
BVH Architecture has engaged in the design and preservation of our built environment through the practices of architectural design, interior architecture and planning since 1968. Our studio locations in Lincoln and Omaha are home to multidisciplinary design staff hell-bent on making the world better by design.
At the core of our practice lies the desire to do more with built environments than simply meet minimum requirements. How can we create spaces that actually transform a person’s life? Every project seeks to answer this question to further the practice of architecture, betters our communities and provides inspiring design to our clients.
As architects and designers of the built environment, we take our responsibility to our community and our craft very seriously. We are optimistic and hopeful in our approach, pursuing architecture through the lens of our Core Beliefs:
A COMMITMENT TO PEOPLE
We go beyond building design and invest in our community through an authentic, collaborative and meaningful dialogue. We’re interested in the multiplicity of voices—not just our own—to build consensus among everyone involved and impacted by our projects.
THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE
Our practice draws inspiration from immersive research and investigation—we love to learn. As a result, our projects respond to the context of their place, material and time.
A SENSE OF WONDER
We believe design excellence combines the tenets of function, economy, performance and beauty. When these tenets converge, our projects have the chance to inspire, creating a sense of wonder.
Project 72ø
THE PROJECT
When local advertising agency Archrival approached us to redesign their newlyexpanded Lincoln office, we were thrilled with the challenge. Given Archrival’s specialty in youth culture and penchant for off-beat solutions, their new space needed to reflect their culture to potential clients while attracting and retaining the best talent around. We saw this as the perfect opportunity to engage our next generation of young designers and architects in a new way. After all, who better to design for a youth culture expert than their own demographic?
THE CLIENT
Archrival is a leading creative agency with a focus on youth culture. With studios in both Lincoln, NE, and Portland, OR, the fastgrowing company’s roster includes clients such as Pepsi, Red Bull, and Adidas.
THE NAME
The client’s No. 1 request? Keep the project a secret until it was revealed to Archrival’s employees at their annual event. Hiding the project under a pseudonym based on their own address—720 O Street—was risky, but that’s the name of the game, brother.
THE DESIGN CONTEST
Millennials comprise about 30% of BVH’s employees. While this generation has a growing impact on our studio culture, many are still learning the ropes of design delivery, and are often under the direction of a senior leader or project manager. We wanted to give these young designers the freedom to experiment, explore, and lead their own projects. Eleven designers—all 20-somethings, from design interns to licensed architects— formed four teams tasked with creating unique solutions for the client. During the month-long competition, designers participated in three open studio sessions to discuss ideas and challenges within the project, with two senior architects acting as impartial facilitators.
The result was a dynamic, competitive process that invigorated the entire studio, impressed the client, and gave our designers an opportunity to show off. The teams then pitched their concepts to the client, who awarded the winning design with a green light and a big old thumbs up.
THE CHALLENGE
As a critical practice, we make it a point to look beyond the surface problem to get at the underlying issues inherent in each project.
The client recognized their own need for a revitalized space, with specific needs regarding their current culture and future growth. A brief, supplied by the client to the design teams, gave an important look into their current workspace—what worked, what didn’t, and what they felt was needed to help them move forward.
While these parameters gave the teams necessary checkpoints to guide their solutions, it was our challenge to ask the deeper questions:
How can we position our client to grow and mature while retaining their youthfulness? How can we use physical space to celebrate what made their old home so great—their people?
CLIENT’S NEEDS:
+ Inspires us, wanting us to work there because it draws us in
+ Strong understanding of who we are and doesn’t lose that texture in the design
+ Doesn’t look like a typical ad agency (lots of glass and funky furniture) but is new
+ Clever, super smart ideas that drive the style
+ Addresses our specific needs
+ Meets budget
PROGRAMMATIC NEEDS:
PRESENTATION SPACE
A stage and space with big bleacher seating for up to 50 people.
WORK SPACE
A total of 50 potential work spaces, five semi-private.
PRIVATE SPACE
Three audio-private spaces for conference calls or small group meetings.
PRODUCTION SPace
Redo of the production room to be better all around, including more storage.
KITCHEN
A nice kitchen with two commercial fridges, microwave, dishwasher and commercial sink.
TABLE AREA
An eating area that can double as additional creative meeting space.
CONFERENCE ROOM
Audio-private conference room for 12 people.
ENTRANCE
Redo of our front conference room into creative meeting space and lounge area.
BATHROOM
Bathrooms accessible from hallway for use by the whole building.
“The most challenging aspect was definitely having the constraints of a budget to think about.”
Designers Kaitlin Frankforter, Brittany Coudriet, and Ryan Hier, AIA, present their final proposal to the client.
THE TeaM
At BVH Architecture, we believe in utilizing everyone’s skill sets to their highest and best purpose. We also believe that the best idea should win. In order to achieve both while approaching the client’s problem from the right perspective, these eleven designers were challenged to compete, collaborate, and ultimately create the best solution possible. Their job was to not only exceed the client’s expectations, but to learn and explore through design.
CLEVE REEVES, AIA
DAVID ALCALA, AIAS, SARA
STATUS / ARCHITECTURAL INTERN
BRITTANY COUDRIET
STATUS / ARCHITECTURAL INTERN
KAITLIN FRANKFORTER
STATUS / ARCHITECTURAL INTERN
MICHAEL HARPSTER, AIA
STATUS / ARCHITECT
RYAN HIER, AIA
STATUS / ARCHITECT
MADELINE LAMBERT, AIAS
STATUS / ARCHITECTURAL INTERN
GARRETT PETERSEN
STATUS / ARCHITECTURAL INTERN
JOSH PUPPE, AIA, ASAI
STATUS / ARCHITECTURAL INTERN
ADAM SITZMANN
STATUS / PROJECT COORDINATOR
ZACH SOFLIN
STATUS / ARCHITECT
TRISTAN VETTER
STATUS / PROJECT COORDINATOR
“I
enjoyed working with a team of people around my age. While working with people with more experience has been greatly beneficial to me and I’ve learned a lot, it’s also nice to work with coworkers that are relatively in the same position as me—it’s easier to collaborate as a team compared to more of a mentor/mentee relationship.”
THE TEAM
Stage one : The CoMpetition
Three core design review sessions gave teams the chance to test ideas, explore project goals, and prepare for final client proposals.
FORM ATIVE FRAME WORK
DESIGN INTENT /
Create a modular and permeable element to unify the space.
DESIGN DESCRIPTION /
The design aims to parallel Archrival’s ethos as an everadapting company by being flexible while simultaneously supporting their day-to-day work. Inspired by the quick veiling and unveiling effect of driving past Nebraska cornfields, the slatted design embraces and responds to both the existing structure of the building and the client’s deep roots in the Midwest. The modular hanging red wood panels can be moved and removed to open up or enclose space, to filter light, or to replace it with an entirely new panel design as the company grows and changes. The parallax nature of the panels reveals what lies behind as one moves through and interacts with the space. This provides an element of excitement and surprise, revealing more—or less—as the panels are placed throughout the environment. A length of panels becomes a permeable wall, partitioning space without severing it entirely. Ultimately, the simple yet maneuverable design compliments the complex nature of Archrival’s design process, giving them the ability to manipulate and modify their space as needed.
—Tristan & Adam
SIMPLE. VERSATILE. RESILIENT.
LOUNGE KITCHEN
CONCEPT RENDERING OF HANGING PANELS WITH GRAPHIC OPTIONS.
“It’s nice to not be constrained by the limitations that we typically deal with on a design project. This is thanks to an open-minded client who likes big ideas.”
defying conven tion
DESIGN INTENT /
Build a responsive, organic space driven by pure data.
DESIGN DESCRIPTION /
This solution was a response directed by an understanding of who Archrival is: informed, bold and divergent. This response sought to reflect and lend credibility to Archrival, while creating a space that ignites team collaboration. It began with the conventional grid, laid out across the space. The grid was then selectively transformed as an organizing principle driven by the unique ways Archrival uses their space. Data collected about individual environmental preferences was incorporated into problem-solving algorithms to begin shifting and reshaping a rectilinear grid to match and meet the preferences of each user. The resulting form was both responsive and organic. Extrusions of this grid began to inform individual desk spaces as well as intermittent collaborative spaces, creating a network of circulation to inspire impromptu interaction and collaboration. Division of public and private function was demarcated by a shift between the rectilinear grid—representative of public space—and organic grid—private studio. This data-driven design aims to strike a geometrically bold balance between the lively impromptu collaboration and unique work spaces that innately reflect who Archrival is.
—Zach, Garrett & Josh
ONE ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE—MANY FUNCTIONS
1. COLLECT PREFERENCES FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL
2. RUN AUTOMATED GUESS/CHECK TESTS
3. MEASURE RESULTS
DATA SET / SIZE DATA SET / LIGHT
DELINEATE BETWEEN CLIENT SPACES AND WORKSPACES
DEFINE PROGRAM AREAS
DISTRIBUTE SEMI-PRIVATE OFFICES
SEMI-PRIVATE OFFICES
45+ WORKSTATIONS AUDIO PRIVATE SPACES
HYPER-PERSONALIZED WORKSPACES THAT TIGHTLY REFLECT THE USER, BASED ON GIVEN PREFERENCES
corpse
DESIGN INTENT /
A cohesive form built from disparate but responsive parts.
DESIGN DESCRIPTION /
Created by 20th Century French surrealist artists, the concept of an “exquisite corpse” is one of sequential creation by many individuals, resulting in a single, albeit disjointed, work of art. This concept provides a framework in which to resolve the medley of smaller spaces within the larger whole. This approach intends to transform the space into an inspiring, creative, malleable environment which preserves and celebrates the collective of unique individuals that make up the client’s team. Rather than a single diagram, parti, or organizational idea to drive design decisions, the design operated opportunistically, finding unique ways to respond to existing conditions. The environment the designers work in directly influences the work produced, therefore it should respond to each circumstance individually, producing a space that is useful, surprising and affordable. Varying levels of enclosure and privacy encourage mobility, adaptability and chance encounters within the flexible environment. Transformable spaces offer the designers opportunities to create, inspire and push toward the future of their company while making the space their own.
—Madeline & Michael
“ Le cadaver exquis boira le vin nouveau.”
“The
most rewarding aspect was that teams were able to take complete ownership of their respective project and to operate with relative autonomy. Our team was able to test visualization techniques and drawing types that we hadn’t previously developed for other projects or clients.”
—— MICHAEL HARPSTER
Wunder KaMMer
/‘voond r,käm r/ noun
1. A place where a collection of curiosities and rarities is exhibited; a Cabinet of Curiosities.
DESIGN INTENT /
A workplace that celebrates the idiosyncrasies of the creative agency.
DESIGN DESCRIPTION /
For Archrival, the youthful and creative nature of their agency has led to the accumulation of a number of chotchkies representing their individuals and the collective. Rather than leave these items unorganized throughout the studio, why not curate them through the design of a wunderkammer? Displayed in multi-compartmented cabinets and vitrines, arranged to inspire wonder and stimulate creative thought, the wunderkammer celebrates the unique culture by curating the studio with personal objects. Workstations organically emerge from the wunderkammer and “jam spaces” locate themselves around the perimeter, facilitating chance encounters and create a dense layering of people, allowing creative energy to permeate the studio. Curating opportunities for open, semi-open and enclosed work spaces, the design accommodates different working styles while personalized objects, and unique personalities creates the f’n awesome wunderkammer.
—Kaitlin, Brittany & Ryan
SEMI-ENCLOSED WORK SPACES
OPEN WORK SPACES
HOME BASE STATIONS
NOMAD STATIONS
CONCEPT RENDERING OF SPLIT-LEVEL WORK SPACE AND WUNDERKAMMER SPINE WALL.
LAYERING PEOPLE INCREASES DENSITY, WHICH BREEDS CREATIVE ENERGY.
“What student interns and emerging professionals lack in experience, they make up for in the ability to push design and challenge the status quo.”
Winning design selection.
Stage TWO: The WINNING DESIGN
WUNDE KAMM
WUNDER MMER.
RELOCATED RESTROOMS PRODUCTION
THE WUNDERKAMMER
THE ARENA
KITCHEN
OPEN JAM SPACE
CONFERENCE ROOM
THE WUN DER KAM MER
“Flexible jam spaces give the space personality while maintaining design continuity.”
