ABOUT
At Endemic Architecture we are committed to creating distinctive, personalized buildings that are in dialogue with their specific contexts and which reinvigorate architectural histories within contemporary culture, technologies, and technical expertise. Underscoring this qualitative approach is a specific interest in architecture’s capacity to provoke emotional responses through material compositions, atmospheric design, and architectural expressions.
The name, endemic, holds double meaning for us. First, it expresses our interest in learning from local conditions; the seasonal landscape, environment, history, culture, and the nuances of a particular site. Second, it reveals our interest in architecture-specific expertise; form, spatial organization, materiality, and how
architectural ideas are represented through drawings, models, images, and built
& unbuilt buildings. We begin each project with questions about something that all buildings do but which we consider fundamental conceptual questions; how the building meets the ground, how it meets the sky, and how it turns a corner. While on one hand these offer conceptual footholds that help guide larger ideas in the project and its context, they are also a means through which to evaluate the implications of budget, timeline, code limitations, environment, and spatial arrangements.
In addition to architectural practice as a technical endeavor, we also have a record of gallery exhibitions and publications that tend more towards the emotional side of things. A love for drawing was the original impetus of the studio, and thus with most projects we often create exploratory, non-technical drawings and images that represent the project in ways that depart from conventions of reality. These representations vary from ink-wash paintings to collage to hybrid line drawings that we feel enrich and expand the our architectural and contextual knowledge of each project we undertake.
Endemic Architecture has been the recipient of numerous awards including three Architect’s Newspaper Best of Design Awards, and the Young Architects Architectural League Prize.
While not all of the work shown on our site is built, it is all rooted in research or design experimentation oriented towards commercial practice.
SERVICES
Acting as the centerpiece in the design process, we work across many scales and project types to offer full design services including initial feasibility studies, conceptual design & imagery, technical drawings for permits and construction, full-project written specifications &
link sets, permit submissions & coordination, consultant coordination, project management, and construction administration. In addition to architectural design, we often do, or assist, with interior design.
In order to maintain our standards of design and to provide our full attention to each project, we keep a client roster of no more than five projects in design at a time, and therefore we are selective about the projects we accept.
PROCESS
1.
Schematic Design: After we’ve discussed your resources, budget, site, aspirations, etc. we generate multiple design ideas and discuss plausible options with you, as well as beginning to consider approaches that are environmentally senstive.
2.
Design Development: Once a schematic design is agreed on, we advance it by beginning work on the technical drawings, seeking environmentally sensitive mateirals and systems ,
identifying and incorporating material & equipment specifications, begin coordination with our network of consultants, evaluating code compliance measures, and procuring preliminary bids from potential builders.
3. Construction Documents: We prepare any remaining architectural details, coordinate the work of all consultants for permit submission, prepare the specification books
and conduct design review(s) with the builder. During the permitting process we help guide your project through the various regulatory agencies for lawful construction.
4. Construction Administration: During construction we work as your agent, representing your interests in the project by observing construction and advising you on the progress, the alignment of the built work with the design intent, and reviewing payments to the contractor.
For additional information and a complete project list, click here.
CURRENT TEAM
(P) 303-548-7806(E) Info@EndemicArchitecture.com
2424 Blanding Ave. Suite 205
Alameda, CA. 94501
Clark Thenhaus
Principal
(E) Clark@endemicarchitecture.com
Clark Thenhaus is a licensed architect (CA. & CO.) with 20 years of professional experience and is also tenured professor of architecture at the California College of the Arts. Clark has previously taught UC Berkeley as the 2023 Josheph Esherick Visiting Professor of Practice, the University of Michigan as the 2013-2014 Oberdick Teaching Fellow, and at the University of Colorado, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and Otis College of Art & Design. He is the recipient of the 2015 Architectural League Prize and often publishes & exhibits work on the topic of architecture. He earned his Master of Architecture Degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied as the Fideli Fellow, and a Bachelor of Environmental Design Degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Nicolette Zader
Office Coordinator
(E) Nicolette@endemicarchitecture.com
Nicolette Zader assists with contracts, office coordination, & early-stage client communication ... she is also the first critic of all our work in the early design stages.
Kyle Troyer
Designer
