River Architects Background

Background

HISTORY

The firm started in the inflation year of 1981 as V.J. Schute Associates. These early years were spent in rented space with a small staff, and a workload consisting of primarily commercial and residential projects.

We moved to our current home in the historic Security Holdings Building on the corner of 4th and State Streets in 1983. Tim Larson joined the firm in 1984 as a partner, and the name changed to Schute-Larson Architects, Inc. The project types diversified and we developed specialties in libraries, churches, financial institutions, schools, and historic preservation projects, while still retaining the commercial and residential work. Our staff size doubled and our work load tripled.

Our new firm name no longer has the founding partner's name. River Architects, Inc. was deliberately selected to de-emphasize a single individual's efforts; instead, focusing on the collaborative energy of everyone in the firm. The choice of RIVER celebrates the place of our tri-state practice, and serves as a unifying symbol of our association.

PHILOSOPHY

The firm was founded on four basic ideas. These ideas are the essence of our practice, and to this day, constitute who we are.

a partner be intimately involved with each project, from concept to completion
involve the client/user in a collaborative and creative process that produces responsive solutions
only do the type of projects that we are qualified and interested in
enjoy our work

In order to provide you the best professional service possible, River Architects, Inc. has purposely remained solely and architectural firm rather than a mix of architecture and engineering. Our reasoning is each project is individual, requiring different engineering skills. We believe we best meet your needs by having the freedom to select an engineer whose knowledge and experience match your building requirements.

As the firm has grown and matured, we have developed a firm personality that has unique traits that distinguish us. We ask you to measure us by these traits because they are fundamental to the way we practice.

FIRM PERSONALITY TRAITS

TEAM People are the essence of an organization. We assemble a professional team to complement our architectural expertise. This Team includes you as the owner, board, administration and users plus engineering, interior designers, and other consultants in design analysis and project development.

COMMUNICATION Each member of the design, engineering and construction areas work together effectively because of the team commitment to communication. This includes graphic, written, and oral presentation skills. Our success in finding a creative solution to your needs is as successful as our ability to express our ideas with each other as individuals, to a committee, a governing board, and the general public.

CREATIVITY
You can identify our projects by their individuality - not by their similarity in style. We search for the best solution for each specific project, achieving distinctiveness by fitting the design to the specific program, site, budget and user requirements. Ways to achieve this are...

Study all the options
Be resourceful
Remember who you are designing for
Take nothing for granted
Turn liabilities into assets

COST CONTROL
The science - and art - of construction cost budgeting is providing enough money to build the project without over estimating expenses.

We use a unit price approach to estimate construction costs - separate prices for such elements as the roof, interior walls, ceramic tile, carpeting, etc. This extensive process, early in the design process, allows for greater accuracy and reliability than gross square footage. It also allows you to make decisions about design with a greater understanding about their impact on costs.

TEAM	People are the essence of an organization. We assemble a professional team to complement our architectural expertise. This Team includes you as the owner, board, administration and users plus engineering, interior designers, and other consultants in design analysis and project development.
COMMUNICATION	Each member of the design, engineering and construction areas work together effectively because of the team commitment to communication. This includes graphic, written, and oral presentation skills. Our success in finding a creative solution to your needs is as successful as our ability to express our ideas with each other as individuals, to a committee, a governing board, and the general public.
CREATIVITY	You can identify our projects by their individuality - not by their similarity in style. We search for the best solution for each specific project, achieving distinctiveness by fitting the design to the specific program, site, budget and user requirements. Ways to achieve this are... Study all the options Be resourceful Remember who you are designing for Take nothing for granted Turn liabilities into assets
COST CONTROL	The science - and art - of construction cost budgeting is providing enough money to build the project without over estimating expenses. We use a unit price approach to estimate construction costs - separate prices for such elements as the roof, interior walls, ceramic tile, carpeting, etc. This extensive process, early in the design process, allows for greater accuracy and reliability than gross square footage. It also allows you to make decisions about design with a greater understanding about their impact on costs.