One of the biggest pleasures of designing and building a project is the continued relationship and visitation with both our clients and beautiful places they live. I was able to spend time at the Valley View Casa in early August, located SE of Portland, Oregon, a project completed in mid- 2009. John and Maria are doing fine and continue to add personal touches to their casa on the hill.

Sometimes a physical model is the best solution when visualizing a space or building, especially when it involves work in the woodshop, a secret passion. This cabin, or simple agrarian shed, will host an extended family for the day when visiting their family tree farm  on the Big Manistee River in Northern Michigan…the Legacy Project, a gift from 11 children in the memory of their father, and in honor of their mother.

EHDD Architecture+WestCarroll Architecture, were selected for the design of the Aquarium Improvements Project at The Toledo Zoo in May 2010. WCA, as the Associate Architect, joins a distinguished team of Design Architects, immersion exhibit designers, and specialty consulting engineers from across the country, and locally, to serve the needs of the our world class Zoo and Aquarium.

Design is everything. Strong architectural design must exist in the structural, not just the conceptual world. Visualizing elements that cannot be constructed is ruinous. Designing strong architectural elements that require working beyond conventional techniques is one of our highly valued strengths. WCA pushes envelopes, demands a commitment to problem-solving and delivers results that are a source of pride for decades to come.

Everyone imagines a house at one time or another—from the first stacking of wooden blocks in childhood to the more elaborate imaginings of pencil on paper. Houses, beautiful houses, are the stuff that dreams are made of and WestCarroll Architecture works to make those dreams a reality.

This “Scaffolds” section is designed to intrigue, capture your imagination, illustrate techniques and perhaps widen your horizon to the possibilities available through creative architecture. Often it is the design, engineering and construction of the architectural detail, which is even more fascinating (at least to us) than the detail itself. Once the scaffolds are removed and the finished “product” is in place, the process is soon forgotten.

Since we believe this design-engineering-construction process is a core strength of WCA, we will show a variety of projects and details, under construction, to illustrate this expertise and answer the age-old question…”How did they do that?” Enjoy!

The Goat Yard at Nature’s Neighborhood at The Toledo Zoo