DLA Architects Ltd Blog

29 years ago today, Bruce and Dwain officially founded DLA Architects.

They and their partners hosted a luncheon at the office to celebrate.

In the opening speech, on behalf of all the partners, Eric Sickbert said “We understand the importance of each of you in accomplishing what we are doing here at DLA. If it wasn’t for all of you doing what you do, with such excellence, we wouldn’t have the success that we had or have. Thanks go to everyone here. Each of you do matter in making DLA successful.”

The DLA Leadership Team also took the opportunity to recognize this year’s employee milestones:

Eric Kretschmer celebrated his 5 year anniversary last year on December 11.

Eric has been part of our elite team of licensed architects leading numerous difficult projects. Eric works with Crystal Lake School District, Mendota, Westminster and Cantigny Park. For each client Eric has delivered great service and successful projects.

An Illinois School Code expert, Eric took on U46 life safety surveys for all 50 + buildings and using his outstanding management abilities did an outstanding job; not a small task.

One of the most exciting projects Eric has completed was the Birnberg residence, a multimillion dollar internationally designed residence with unique and difficult details. In all his work, the final results are satisfied clients.

Shannon Baird celebrated her 10 year anniversary last year on April 29.

Shannon is a member of our exceptional team of architects.

One of her major accomplishments was a renovation project at one of the oldest, largest buildings in School District U46. It was a very successful project with everyone very pleased with the outcome of their working environment.

Since then she has taken the lead role on the teams for ECC and FRWRD. Those projects are going well, too. 

Wendy Covich celebrated her 15 year anniversary last year on October 28.

Wendy is a social media guru, a great asset to the marketing team and her personality and fresh ideas are always welcomed and greatly appreciated.

She has a unique, creative, perspective that pushes the envelope of our standard thinking and makes us pause and think.

That is always important; Bringing new and different ideas to the table is not only important to the marketing team but to all of our office.

Alex Romanovsky as of January reached his 15 years working with DLA.

Alex operates as our resident ER doctor of graphic design.

He is ready to take on any challenge at the drop of a hat and he is prepared to dig in and make sure he can do everything in his power to see that our best image is illustrated.

Often faced with deadlines or project schedules beyond his control, Alex handles it well and maintains his cool.

Matt Stoub will be working with us 5 years in May.

Matt is a skilled job captain with many talents. He excels in managing multiple projects with multiple architects giving him direction.

Matt is very dedicated and always willing to put in the extra effort to get a project out to meet the strenuous time schedules that we sometimes have. His documents and details provide limited questions in the field indicating his talent in producing details and creating excellent working drawings.

A key contributor in the DLA Social Committee, Matt ensures office events take off without a hitch and works to keep office morale high.

A rising star in the design area of architecture, Matt played a major role in the design of our new office, as well as the new offices for MAXIMUM Independent Brokerage.

Arturo Benitez will be working with us 5 years in July.

A member of our exceptional team of architects Arturo has a magical briefcase that carries the paper correspondence answer to any contractor or client question. He is amazingly organized and detail oriented which is evident by his clients’ accolades.

Arturo has been working almost exclusively at Ridgewood School District which has been necessary in order to manage the behemoth, multi-year, multi phased, inter-governmental project.

Through it all he has seen great success and Ridgewood truly enjoys working with him. His continued responsiveness to their needs is a great reflection on DLA.

Charmaine Lowe will be working with us 10 years in June.

A skilled job captain, Charmaine is extremely flexible, able to manage multiple projects with multiple architects that are asking for her time. Her abilities allow the architects she is working for, to sleep better at night knowing she is on their job.

She was part of the team on the Aurora Early Learning Center, giving that project her all.

Recently she has completed the Lockport East addition, working very hard to create a great set of working documents. You can’t ask for anything more than a set of tight working drawings that can hold up through the “line of fire” of the construction process. Charmaine’s drawings did an excellent job in accomplishing that.

Each of these talented individuals was recognized for their service to DLA. Those celebrating a 5 year anniversary received a key chain, a glass cube for the 10 year, and a clock for the 15 year anniversary. These gifts are a symbol that reflects to each employee that they have accomplished something important during their time here with DLA.

Every year, the DLA Architects team participates in “Career Day” activities at our client schools.

We’ve had a variety of professionals from the owners of the firm to the designers to our interns speak, and while we all focus on our own personal experience and the background that helped us get where we are, the thing we all have in common is an interest in learning and a passion for what we do.

It makes you think

Developing a talk about what you do for a living is a wonderful time to step back and take stock in the choices you made that brought you to this point in your career.

For an architect, the paths to licensure are fairly direct: college, then (most likely) grad school, then the structured IDP Training Program. By the time you’re licensed, you’ve dedicated ten years or more of your life to the pursuit of your career, longer if you take the time for military service or a family.

One of the things we emphasize to the students we speak to is that a career is really about the path you take.

It takes time to accomplish your goals, but having at least a general idea of where you want to end up will be your guide as you make the choices that result in your career.

It brings you down to earth

Speaking at Career Day can be challenging, and unless you have an especially exciting profession, a bit humbling. The challenge here is engaging the students and finding that connection that will keep them interested.

It’s important to have an outline of what you’ll discuss, but keep it simple. With any luck, there will be questions that take the conversation on interesting tangents. The more interactive, the better, but come prepared with stories that they can relate to.

We often discuss a project in the very building we’ll be talking in. Explaining how technically challenging it is to suspend a running track above a gymnasium and how the green roof next to it counteracts the forces of the load makes a whole lot more sense when you’re familiar with the space.

Students are often surprised Read the rest of this entry »

DLA Partner Steve Wright usually keeps a busy schedule, but this week he’s taking some time to get away from the office and get his hands dirty.

He and his daughter have hit the road to New Orleans. This is their second trip to help rebuild the Lower 9th Ward which was inundated with 12 feet of water after the levees broke during Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005. He helped rebuild 2 homes three years ago and this year they are working to complete a church in time for Easter this spring.

Believe it or not, after 6+ years there is still a great deal of work to do down there.  When he was last in the area, there was literally nothing left except foundations and a few homes that had been constructed by Brad Pitt. It will be interesting to see how much progress has been made in the last three years.

For those interested, there will be daily progress updates posted on the website www.restoretrinity.org  and the log for the mission trip he’s on is at http://www.restoretrinity.org/january-2012-mission-trips/jan-8-14-daily-log/.

When he returns, he’ll update the DLA Architects team on an overview of where things stand to date in NOLA and what progress has been made since he was last there.

With recent back-to-back years in the State quarter-finals in football, the Mendota Trojans will start the 2011 season with more to boast about… as in they won their first game at their new stadium (against last year’s state champs, no less!). Way to go!

Exciting things are happening at DLA Architects.

Over the last several months, our leadership team has been meeting with staff, making sure that they have the tools and space they need to do their job efficiently. We’ve been looking to our conversations with our clients, to understand what they think is important and what they’ll need from us now, as well as years down the road. We’ve been exploring our industry – keeping an eye on technological developments, in areas such as CAD drafting or office management, and how they’ll affect our internal processes.

The great news is that we see many opportunities on the horizon. We’re taking action now to position ourselves for the future, making us stronger and even more responsive. The DLA family is currently dozens of professionals spread between two offices. We communicate and share ideas all the time and in many ways, but for many years we’ve had the goal of sharing one roof. And soon, we’ll realize that goal at 2 Pierce Place, Itasca.

The green movement was just getting underway when author E. Ashley Rooney of Lexington wrote “Old Barns, New Homes: A Showcase of Architectural Conversions” in 2004. With barns becoming the latest trend in residential preservation, she has written the sequel, “Barn Again.”

Published by Schiffer, “Barn Again” looks at how, historically, barns are places that store food and crops, protect livestock, and preserve equipment. Today, however, barns are being Read the rest of this entry »

On November 21 at the IASB/IASA/IASBO Joint Annual Conference, DLA Architects honored three clients for their commitment and leadership with the Green and Sustainable Design Award. Read the rest of this entry »

The Immanuel Lutheran family celebrated the opening of their newly constructed school on September 20. DLA partner Steve Wright, 14-year member of the church, and his family were happy to join in the festivities. As Project Architect for the school, he took a special interest in the project.

“Every project I do is special and very important to me, but this one was really close to my heart. The people that make up Immanuel are my friends and neighbors and it means a lot to me that I was able to work with them to make this happen,” said Wright.

Designed in collaboration with Repholz Studio, the new Immanuel Lutheran School boasts a high school sized gymnasium, a fully-equipped science lab, and a media center adjacent to a computer lab. The cafeteria will double as a worship space for Sunday services. Read the rest of this entry »

September 27 marked the official opening of the new Byron Middle School. Home to 450 students and the Byron Civic Theatre, the celebration opened with a ceremony and was followed by an open house where the community took a look at their newest enhancement.

Read the rest of this entry »

Each year, Building Design + Construction Magazine editors survey the country’s largest architecture firms in the nonresidential building industry to create the Giants 300 Report. This year, DLA Architects, Ltd. is proud to have placed 70th of the top architecture firms in the nation.

The same publication ranked DLA Architects 35th largest architecture firm in the U.S. in the category “K-12 Schools Design Firms”, 41st of the 75 largest state/local government design firms, 74th of the nation’s 100 largest institutional building design firms, and 70th of the top architecture firms. Of the 150 largest green design firms, DLA Architects ranked 126th.

Thanks to each and every one of our clients for making us successful!