Today we’d like to introduce you to David Webber.
Hi David, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I knew I wanted to be an architect from about the age of four. My parents hired local architect hero A.D. Stenger to design our house in the early 1970’s and I remember walking through the construction site when I was likely around 3-4 years old. That had a huge impact on me and while I think I was already likely to be destined to be an architect, seeing the building of our house come to life really had an indelible effect on me.
As a young boy, I started drawing houses because building them out of legos or Lincoln logs was not nearly as detailed as I wanted to achieve. It was my way of getting to make things and live in a fantasy world at the same time. Interestingly, the designs I did at a young age were more about understanding the basics of what went into a building layout. There was nothing fantastical about it all as one might expect out of a young person.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No. It has not been smooth.
In spite of knowing that I wanted to be an architect my entire life, I doubted my path when I was in architecture school. I was surprised at my inability to draw and realized that the drawing I had been doing was that of a child and I needed to learn how to draw in earnest. Additionally, I felt like others took it too seriously and not seriously enough. I really felt like architecture could change the world (and still do) and yet, everyone was treating it like an individual expression and I felt like it was supposed to be so much more and be an expression of an entire culture, way of living, way of thinking, etc.
Working for various firms after college was wonderful. I got great experiences learning more about my craft while also getting to see wonderful things get built. However an opportunity to start Webber + Studio emerged and I took it.
It was only after starting my own firm that it became incredibly difficult again. The idea of doing architecture of the caliber that I wanted, trying to get the right clients who would understand our mutual role in helping improve the world through building, finding staff who were as committed as I and trying to make a decent living doing all of this has made me question my path more times than I could possibly count.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Our mission is to reinvent architecture every day. We like to take our clients’ visions, their site conditions, and our own core values of Functionalism, Expressionism, Regionalism, and Minimalism to reinvent what architecture might look like for every project we do.
As a result of our mission, one of the things we are most known for is having a very diverse portfolio of projects. Most folks who hire us like that they see a lot of different approaches to design in our body of work versus one overarching style. This is deliberate and reinforces the notion that we have no idea where a project is going to go until we get there.
For folks wanting a bit of a journey to arrive at a predictably wonderful outcome, we are a great fit. For folks wanting a ‘look’ we are probably not the ideal fit. While we can achieve a ‘look’, we are significantly underutilized since what we often do is identify and create unique aesthetic that fits our clients’ needs and goals and is somehow custom-tailored to them.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I have a big personality and like to joke and laugh a lot. Ironically, I am a huge introvert and really love being at home or in my personal space creating things and doing the same routine things I always do, cooking, swimming, cycling, reading, putting birdseed out for all of our creatures. I am, in my core, a lot more boring than people might imagine.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@webberstudio.com
- Website: www.webberstudio.com
- Instagram: @webberstudio
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WebberStudioArchitects
Image Credits
LEONID FURMANSKY
