Today we’d like to introduce you to Bryan Russell.
Dencity started in 2000 as a small, urban design-focused firm. Partner Bryan Russell is a licensed architect in Georgia, and Florida. Bryan graduated from Mississippi State University. Partner Erica Loesing earned her Masters of Architecture from Savannah College of Art and Design.
Their first project was an affordable housing project in the University Center district of Atlanta, Georgia. Since then they have grown to design everything from office and restaurant interiors, private residences, to multi-family residential projects. While a majority of their work is in the city of Atlanta, they have built residential interiors in the Time Warner building in New York City and vacation homes from the north Georgia Mountains to the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico. Dencity focuses on quality design, and makes every attempt to design sustainable projects. They work creatively to deliver high-quality design even when faced with budget constraints.
Dencity won the American Institute of Architects Emerging Voices ’06 Award, and has had work exhibited at Southern Polytechnic Institute and at the Museum of Design Atlanta. In the fall semesters of 2006, 2007, and 2008 Bryan taught fourth and fifth year architecture studio at Auburn University.
Has it been a smooth road?
Every year has been different over the 17 years of our existence. We went through one partner quitting in the 1st year to go teach at the University of Florida. We had a construction component to our company from 2006-2013 until we fired our General Contractor partner of the firm and stopped doing construction to refocus all of our attention to our true talent, design. We had one of our founding partners move away to California in 2013 and start his own firm. We then brought on a new partner in 2016. We survived the worst housing bubble (from 2008-2012) in the last 80 years and 90% of our work is housing. So there have been some tough times but we have persevered and are still producing high quality, creative architecture. For that I am very proud of us.
So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Dencity story. Tell us more about the business.
We design mostly custom, modern, residential architecture and some light commercial modern architecture. We specialize and only do modern work. We have done everything from renovations to new construction of houses, offices, and restaurants. We have even designed and invested in a couple of speculative homes.
What sets us apart is thorough drawing sets, lots of 3D digital drawings, and we even work with 3D physical models. We also do extensive Construction Administration to make sure that our designs get built on time, on budget, and at the quality level we believe in. I am most proud when you look at all of the physical schematic models over the last 17 years we crafted and compare them to the actual built houses there is very little difference between them. That comes from a strong commitment to design and diligence with our general contractors and owners to make sure the project stays true to its original intention.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see more manufacturing happening in factories directly from design and digital drawings and skipping the middle man (the general contractor). It is happening already with the larger more famous architectural firms and has started trickling down to the mid-size firms.
Pricing:
- In Atlanta for custom work we are currently seeing construction costs ranging from $225-$325 per square foot.
Contact Info:
- Address: Dencity LLC
659 Auburn Avenue
Studio G9, Atlanta, GA 30312 - Website: www.dencity.us
- Phone: 404 277 8906
- Email: br@dencity.us
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/dencitydesign/
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dencitydesign
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