“She passed through the old cotton and went into a field of dead corn. It whispered and shook, and was taller than her head. ‘Through the maze now,’ she said, for there was no path. She followed the track, swaying through the quiet bare fields, past cabins silver from weather, with the doors and windows boarded shut, all like old women under a spell sitting there.  In a ravine she went where a spring was silently flowing through a hollow log. Old Phoenix bent and drank. ‘Sweet gum makes the water sweet,’ she said, and drank more. ‘Nobody know who made this well, for it was here when I was born.’ In the paved city it was Christmas time. There were red and green electric lights strung and crisscrossed everywhere, and all turned on in the daytime. Old Phoenix would have been lost if she had not distrusted her eyesight and depended on her feet to know where to take her. Moving slowly and from side to side, she went into the big building, and into a tower of steps, where she walked up and around and around until her feet knew to stop. Carried off we might be in spirit, and should be, when we are reading or writing something good; but it is the sense of place going with us still that is the ball of golden thread to carry us there and back and in every sense of the word to bring us home.”

— Eudora Welty; “A Worn Path” & “Place in Fiction”

For an architect to create place, the intangibles must be present: harmony with the land, sequence of spaces, and most importantly, the people. Their heritage and values that shape who they are allow people to bring spaces to life.  It is the experiences shared that makes a place memorable.  This sense of place is what gives architecture meaning.  For our firm, the quest for meaning has led to the creation of very personal architectural expressions that are unique to this place, time, and story.  We are architects of this place… the south.  It is who we are; it influences every decision, and everything we create.  

Most of our designers grew up in the mountains and delta plains of Arkansas, fascinated with both the built and natural environments, from the utilitarian structures of the farm to the creeks and rolling hills that served as our playgrounds.  The ever-changing seasons of the south influenced the structures of our ancestors, and the architecture that we now create.  For them, sustainable thinking was not a choice, but a necessity.

When asked why we have chosen to practice our craft here, the answer has always been clear:  the south offers everything an architect could dream of. From the rolling mountains to the sweeping Delta, and the many cultures that make us who we are, the beauty of the south can be distilled into physical, site sensitive architectural narratives that are unique to this place alone.  The stories of the south are told through our buildings.