Design Evolution Workshop opens in Detroit's Burtonplex

Thursday, February 25, 2010 | Source: metromode

A trio of young architects are trying to change the game in Detroit's newest small business incubator - the Burton-Plex.

Patrick Jones (27), Derek Roberts (32), and James Willer (35) opened Design Evolution Workshop in January after spending a year working on the concept. The firm's ethos revolves around allowing architects to become true leaders in the built environment so they can have more influence when it comes to making the best long-term decisions.

"Instead of being leaders in the built environment we have been set on the back burner," says Willer, the firm's CFO. He adds that he has seen more than his fair share of architects left cowering in coffee shop corners after being lectured by developers, but his firm will empower them to have a stronger voice when it comes to making people recognize the long-term accountability of what they build.

Design Evolution Workshop does that with social-media oriented software. This allows developers to run project ideas past a community of architects and stakeholders. The end result is a range of choices of how best to proceed and what the short- and long-term consequences will be for the project.

"This competitive process is community vetted so the best project rises to the top," Willer says.

Design Evolution Workshop is also working with the city of Detroit to involve more younger architects in the deconstruction of the Motor City's neglected building stock. The idea is to utilize the region's out-of-work architects (Willer and Roberts have both been laid off recently as the architecture world contracts) and give younger ones a better appreciation for the existing built environment.

"We're potentially losing a whole generation of young architects because they can't get their accreditation hours," Willer says.

Source: James Willer, CFO of Design Evolution Workshop
Writer: Jon Zemke