People seem to think experts have to come from out of town. But in fact, the Capital region is exporting experts around the globe, says Brad Williams, founder of Architectural Solutions, Ltd. in Lansing.
While Williams is proud of his own 17-year-old company’s 50 percent growth in business in the last year, he’s sure other companies in the region are doing as well.
“Architects in Lansing are very good, but it’s human nature to look outside the area,” he says.
His own company is doing well because of seeds planted ten years ago when he started looking for business beyond the city and landed a job at Detroit’s new McNamara Airport. Work for Duty Free Americas led to other spaces in other airports. A job with Schiphol-Amsterdam, which owns airports around the world, brought him clients in Cleveland.
Technology is what has helped the six-member team stay competitive, and allows one of the team to work from Australia.
Architectural Solutions’ Francis Wilmore, who recently acquired his M.A. in architecture from the University of Michigan (UM), says the list of his capabilities in software programs is a half page long and includes animation, video, music, Sketch Up, Maxwell, and Revit. No one program can do everything, he says.
Williams adds, “You either keep up or get out of the way.”
The team is competing now for a San Francisco Airport project to build seven by seven foot pods where travelers can shut themselves away with a swipe of a credit card for some peace and a nap. The pods would be constructed in the Capital region and shipped across the country.
“We have the work force here within the auto industry, and production facilities within an hour of Lansing,” says Williams. While he’s working with a team of consultants from California, Denver and London, most of the experts are right here, he says.
Source: Brad Willliams, Architectural Solutions
Gretchen Cochran, Innovation & Jobs editor, may be reached here.
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