![]() You’d be surprised how much they overlap. What is a unique challenge when designing for commercial rather than residential? But we’re in the same building we’re downstairs and they’re upstairs. In order to support our staff, we felt that it was probably a clearer identity to have Fergus Garber FGA and Heather Young HYA become separate entities. We realized that the folks supporting them really wanted to do the single-family homes, and the folks supporting me really wanted to do the mix, the broader spectrum of projects. My two partners, Daniel Garber and Catharine Fergus Garber (they’re married), and I had a great working relationship for 18 years. It was a lot less dramatic than that! HYA’s focus is office, mixed-use, multi-family and residential. You’re in your first year after separating from Fergus Garber Young Architects but it wasn’t a Jerry McGuire moment when he said, ‘Who’s coming with me?!’ –you still have weekly lunches with your former partners. PUNCH checked in with Heather to learn about her first year at the helm of her own firm, how commercial architecture is adapting today and the way basketball teams and design teams overlap. Launched in January, HYA emerges on the Peninsula as the year’s outlier for creating modern and exquisite architecture that’s easy on both the eyes and environment. “I’d hate to show you our short list of potential names and logos.” “It was 1,000 drops of water on the stone,” she says. ![]() Heather explains that HYA provides the opportunity to explore a diverse range of projects from commercial, mixed-use, multi-family to single-family homes but that the decision to place her name front and center took convincing. She is a champion of green building, a current member of the AIA San Mateo board and previously served on the architectural review board for the city of Palo Alto. Heather’s projects on the Peninsula include noted commercial spaces like Equinox Palo Alto, 2555 Park and Palo Alto University Club, along with residential work spanning historic home renovations to cottage retreats. Prior to establishing HYA in Palo Alto, she was a partner in Fergus Garber Young Architects (the “Y” in FGY). She disrupted this model, choosing to structure a business grounded in collaboration when approaching residential and commercial properties. With a degree in architecture from Rice University and a masters of architecture from Yale in 1991, Heather explains that she went through school during the era of the star architect: a lone figure who was entirely responsible for a project. ![]() Projects rely on a collaborative effort between the client, consultants, the building planning department, contractors and Heather’s team of fellow architects, designers, marketers plus one faithful IT guy. The plurality in Heather Young Architects reflects a simple truth that the firm’s principal and namesake encountered across her three decades designing and erecting buildings.Īrchitecture is a team career. ![]()
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