Architect group designs its independence - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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Robert Rule, Joseph Trammell and Daniel Joy, all architects, as well as Ann an interior designer, have left Atlanta's fifth-largest architecturakl firm -- Smallwood, Stewart, Stewart & Associates Inc. -- to form theirr own venture, Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio/Architecturee + Interior Design. Trammell himsel was a principal with Smallwood Reynolds and was directlu involved in both the Federal Reserved office buildingproject (with Rubio) in Midtown and the Metropolids tower. The move is a culmination of what Trammel calledan "entrepreneurial itch." "It's all about doingh things the way you want to do Trammell said.
"If you have an entrepreneurial inclination, you want to wait too long." For Joy and staying at Smallwood Reynolds meant waiting 15 years before beingv in line to be made a partnef inthe firm. The new firm will draw on each ofthe architect's specialties to pursue projects, with a particular emphasis on multifamil and mixed-use developments. "W e have a diverse experience, but you've got to go to wher the business is, and the business is in multifamilyh residential," Trammell said. Collectively, the four have handlecd architectural needs for some notable developerxs includingNovare Group, and Birmingham-based condk developer Daniel Corp.
, which is co-developing The Plaza Midtowhn with Joy designed the residential component for Daniel on its Plaza Midtown, a planned $100 million, 500,000-square-foog mixed-use development bound by Eighth Peachtree Place, Spring Street and West Peachtree Street. The four were mum on potentiak projects under their new banner or whether any clientes they handled for Smallwooc Reynolds would jump to the new firmas well. Smallwoodc Reynolds officials did not return callsseeking comment.
Peterd Lyon, a client services manager for HanscomvbFaithful & Gould, a constructiobn management and consulting firm, said architectural firm mergerd and divisions are becoming a little more prevalent in today'se market. "Today we have more of an entrepreneurial spirit, and younv people want a biggerd piece ofthe pie, so they end up leavingt to start their own firm or mergee with other firms," Lyon said. "It's more prevalent in today's worlx than many years ago." Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio isn't the only firm focusing on mixed-usew projects.
Atlanta's ninth-largest architectural Lord, , recently merged with Atlanta-basedf to further pursue intownj mixed-use developments, said Antonin "Tony" Aeck, a principa with Lord Aeck. Aeck said the move was made to mergsBrock Green's expertise in housing urban mixed-uses design. And consolidation among architectural firms is nothingy new to the industry where firmsw with staff levels under 50 employees makeup two-thirds of all architectura firms nationwide, according to the . "It'sd an industry that traditionallyhas [change] when firmz reach larger proportions. It's not atypical for individual memberd of the firm to hang out theirown sign, so to Aeck said.
"There is a fair amounty of fluidity inthe industry. In a way, it accounts for the fact that therse are a limited number of fairlylarge firms." , anothef of Atlanta's larger architectural made a similar move when Stevens & Wilkinson merged with Stang & Newdow in said Tom Ramsey, chairmanh of the firm. Ramsey said the merger was partlyt in answer to the growingh popularityof mixed-use developments. It allowed the new firm to combinerStevens & Wilkinson's expertise in big-box retai l design -- with clients including (NYSE: FD) and Sears, (NYSE: S) -- and Stangf & Newdow's boutique retail and housing desig skills, he said.
"There's a lot of emphasis on urban desig and comingback downtown," he said. "We found that a lot of projectd not only involve one aspectlike residential, but other aspects like retail." Rubip said they're seeing the same rise in mixed-usd popularity as well as developers lookingt for the next "A-plus locations." "We're now seeinhg the secondary markets ... are now also on the same wave of mixed-usw developments," Rubio said. But Niles president and CEO of Atlanta's third largest architectura lfirm , said creating mixed-use departmentes within firms is more of a "marketing used by those firms.
"jI don't think it does take different talentsw to handle some ofthe mixed-use projects," Bolto n said. "A lot of architects don'y want to be put in one studiop orone practice."