About Us: A brief history of Ankrom Moisan
Portland, Oregon: 1983. In a small house that serves as their office, two talented young architects struggle to survive. The economy is gasping for air and there is very little work. The architects, Stewart Ankrom and Tom Moisan, land a couple of clients and through creative design in service to the client's goals, those clients' projects are successful. They come back with big smiles and more projects. They also sing Ankrom Moisan's praises all over town. More clients. More successful projects. More happy clients. Tom and Stewart hire kindred spirits to help and soon that little house is jammed with more than a dozen architects and interior designers, all dedicated to the same philosophy: take care of the client.
A client-centered design culture is born and Ankrom Moisan is on its way. Literally. In 1990 the rapidly expanding staff moves to a new office space with enough room to accommodate 50 architects. They stretch out and think they will never outgrow the space. They are wrong. The client's keep coming, they keep making them happy and by 1997 they have a staff of 100. By 2000 the staff has reached 150 and clients are coming from all over the western U.S.. In 2006, at the request of three key clients, Vulcan Development, Pacific Retirement Services and Trendwest Resorts, Ankrom Moisan opens a second office in Seattle with a staff of 4. Word spreads about the new design firm in town with a history of happy clients. Within a year there are 20 architects in Seattle, all dedicated to the same philosophy: take care of the client.
Meanwhile, back in Portland, the office has grown to 300. Yet for all the world it still feels like a small firm with the same collegial atmosphere it had when Tom and Stewart began in that little house 24 years ago. Despite its size, the firm is the opposite of corporate, because Ankrom and Moisan both realized early on that in order to take care of their clients, they had to take care of their employees. Mostly by example, but also by design, they created an environment that is respectful, ripe with opportunity and wildly entrepreneurial. Employees are empowered. Clients are taken care of. Great design is created in service to the client's goals. And this service ethic breeds an overall philosophy of serving not just the client, but the greater good. The firm adopts "Design with Purpose" as its motto to recognize the role it plays in both helping its clients achieve their goals and enhancing people's lives.
Today, Ankrom Moisan is the 41st largest architecture firm in the World, designing projects from Canada to Mexico and from California to Florida. The firm has designed many of the projects in Portland's Pearl District, named by Project for Public Places as "one of the 60 best places in the world." New housing projects in Los Angeles are helping revitalize a downtown that has seen no new housing in 20 years. An urban high rise in Portland's burgeoning South Waterfront, being developed by Pacific Retirement Services in conjunction with Oregon Health Sciences University, is setting new standards for enabling seniors to live independently, with services at their doorstep. A project in little Independence, Oregon strives to push the boundaries of sustainable design and achieve the highest LEED platinum rating in the world.
And all because two talented young architects wanted to keep their clients happy.