Allison Ewing says the design process is like solving a Rubik’s Cube. “You learn early in architectural education,” echoes her partner, Christopher Hays, “that design problems are just challenges waiting for you to discover the design solution.”
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Christopher Hays, right, says that after all his and Allison Ewing’s years in the business, he’s still amazed by the end result of his designs. “The scale of the final piece is always incredible to me,” he says. |
No doubt, this power couple has all the right answers. Between them, they’ve designed an exhibit for the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. and an environmental center at Oberlin College. Plus, offices for IBM in Amsterdam, Nike in the Netherlands, and Gap Inc. in San Francisco, the latter two of which garnered prestigious awards from the American Institute of Architects. Currently, they’re beginning the renovation of a large, historic factory in Waynesboro, originally built for General Electric in 1954.
That list doesn’t even make mention of residential projects also getting national attention. Last year, the RiversEdge house, in Charlottesville, earned the firm an Award of Excellence from the Virginia Society AIA. In 2003, another Charlottesville-based Hays + Ewing design was featured on the cover of Jennifer Roberts’ Good Green Homes. Hays + Ewing have earned a spot in national magazines like Natural Home, Cookie and Dwell, too. The list goes on, but, says Ewing, it isn’t about winning. “Receiving awards, speaking at conferences and so forth, is confirmation of our success in creating compelling work.”
And what does she count among the firm’s most compelling work? Designing and building their own house in Woolen Mills. “Getting our own certificate of occupancy was memorable,” she says. “No cobbler’s shoes for us!”
