Commercial Design Awards 2022 Winner: General Office & Professional Services

When you think of an attorney’s office, what comes to mind? Mahogany rich meeting rooms? Tufted leather furniture? Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in an Ivy League-style library? Now what about an onsite chapel? Rather than developing two completely independent structures to serve their client’s dual career endeavors, the team at Dake Wells Architecture—led by Project Manager Jason Hainline and Principal in Charge Andrew Wells—conceptualized one harmonious structure to house them both. “There was an office side which was intended to house a law practice and a chapel side for a church that the same client was going to be establishing,” says Hainline. 

And for a final twist, the team needed to meet the client’s vision of a clean, simple modern space, influenced by his fondness for past modernist architects. Though the specifics of the project were unique, the process was familiar. 

“It’s the same approach we take with most any of our projects,” says Hainline. That approach started with conversations to better understand why the client was so drawn to this particular design style. “We’re not trying to copy previous work but understand what it is about that work that this particular client really responded to,” says Hainline.