Design statement: I think the best process and design begin with an open dialog that allows for everyone involved to be able to add to the project and for ideas to flow freely. I enjoy the creative and professional challenge of balancing the various competing interests that impact a project. These interests range from the scientific to the artistic, the pragmatic to the dramatic, the function to the form, and the traditional to the cutting edge.
Context is vitally important to a project and without it a project is somehow less. There is something that resonates with me about the view of designers and architects in particular being a modern renaissance person with a required wider spectrum of knowledge than many professions. One must have an appreciation in all aspects of the profession, including not just the creative, but also sales, finance and project management. I have never found a creative challenge I haven’t had fun with, and I find turning problems and possible solutions over in my head while also bouncing them off colleagues to be invigorating, whether it is an overall design for a high rise or a more effective connection for a wall system.
Above all else I want to design things that are appreciated, not merely accepted. I feel that one of the great benefits and risks is that through their designs, architects, more than any other profession can impact peoples’ lives in a very real way, and remain anonymous, and that is a great responsibility. I believe that the creative process can and should run the range of human emotions from sincere and reverent to silly and lighthearted. Lastly, I believe that innovative architecture is for everyone and should be accessible to all people.
Bios:
David Needleman, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP
David received his master’s degree in architecture from the University of Colorado in 2009 and began his architecture career in the Rocky Mountain state. His career has since taken him across the country, and he holds architecture licenses in Colorado, Maryland, and California. He has experience in both residential and commercial design and owns and operates David Needleman Architects. David is excited to be back in Colorado where he can climb familiar rock and both ride and hike familiar trails.
Jan Reed, CPA
Jan has spent most of her professional life as a CPA and CFO supporting technology startups in the San Francisco Bay Area, most recently through her firm, Silicon Valley Finance Group. She has a lifelong interest in architecture and design and currently owns and manages a 130-year-old Edwardian apartment building in San Francisco. Jan also has a lifelong love of the outdoors that she enjoys equally from the saddle of a horse or saddle of a bike or with hiking boots on her feet. Her love of the outdoors came from wandering the woodlands in rural Ohio and the mountains and desert in El Paso, Texas and most recently, the open spaces in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is looking forward to further exploring both the streets of Denver and the trails in and around it.