Derek Noble, AIA

I’m not exactly sure when I decided to pursue this profession, but from an early age, I wanted to be an architect.  When I was a kid, I was given an Etch-A-Sketch and a View-Master to keep me busy.  These so-called toys, along with partially filled sketchbooks, broken pencils, and dried-up markers, became central to my childhood.  Ever since, I’ve been fascinated with trying to reconcile the formal landscape with a defined sense of place.

Designer, collaborator, innovator, mentor, artist—I embrace whatever role needs to be performed.   Known for imaginative and sensible solutions, I work best utilizing a collaborative and creative problem-solving process to develop design concepts that realize the client’s vision.  Design is an activity enriched by the opportunity for dialogue, reflection, and experimentation.  It is an open-ended and evolving process that requires ideas to be continually assessed and reassessed.  I like to start somewhere in the middle.  Despite a long history of experience with institutional projects, I still get excited each time my designs are built and inhabited.  Whether working with healthcare, academic, or workplace clients, I hope it’s evident that architecture matters to me.  I love what I do.

I often tell my mother that everything I needed to know about architecture I learned while working in our family print shop.  Working as the graphic designer through high school and college, I was engaged in all aspects of the design process – from creative thinking and refinement of concept to scheduling and production.  She always responds by asking why she paid for me to go to college…