Longtime “friendly competitors” join forces to create a larger, more agile and more comprehensive firm to meet the needs of a rapidly changing architectural marketplace.
Webber + Studio is pleased to announce that Michael Antenora AIA (formerly of Antenora Architects) and Luis Rodriguez (formerly of RSA Design Group) have joined the firm as Managing Principals!
By integrating Antenora and Rodriguez in the commercial, civic and hospitality market sectors along with their respective teams; Webber+Studio continues to build an exemplary architectural practice centered around rich design talent and deep professional experience, while they expand their services in multiple practice areas.
Most particularly is our continued focus on high-end single-family and multifamily residential, as well as our expanded capabilities in mixed-use, commercial, municipal, hospitality and large international resort and lifestyle developments.
Webber + Studio scales-up their long-standing commitment to core values and continues focus on innovation, design creativity and exceptional client services, with our new Studio Leadership’s eminent experience in major commercial developments.
The expanded services have been carefully tailored for the benefit of our clients and the needs and aspirations of the communities in which we practice.
This establishment of this creative collaboration coincides with the 25th business anniversaries for both Webber + Studio and Antenora Architects. The newly expanded firm will enjoy a larger total staff size of nearly 30 professionals, with multiple offices and an expanded range of services and project types.
Our main office will continue to be located in Austin, Texas and our expanded international operations are in San Jose, Costa Rica and Medellin, Colombia.
“The fact that there are now three principals (with more than 75 years combined ) that have 25+ years of experience in multiple markets, multiple building types and a broad range of project sizes, means that we are now even better positioned to take on any number of different project types,” says David Webber. “The breadth of expertise is inspiring to me, and as leader of the overall vision of the firm, I am eager to tap into the creative versions of the vision that each principal will bring to it.”
Each of the principals brings a distinct set of skills and deep experience in particular market sectors, along with a rich portfolio of work.
Before this move, Antenora ran a highly successful architectural firm, and when it was acquired by another company and Michael began to look for his next professional opportunity, Webber + Studio saw an incredible opportunity for collaboration. Antenora has a wealth of experience in commercial, institutional, and hospitality design, as well as residential projects, and has received much recognition for his work in the adaptive reuse of historic buildings.
He has designed a number of iconic structures that shape the fabric of the Austin community. His work on the Cotton Gin at Hutto won the National AIA Honor Award for Architecture—the highest award an architect can earn.
Rodriguez’s 25 years in 5-star luxury hospitality, high-end residential, and multi-family design also brings a new dimension to the studio’s work. His portfolio includes the design of the breathtaking 1,900-acre luxury beachfront residential destination community Los Sueños Resort and Marina on Costa Rica’s Central Pacific Coast.
He brings extensive experience in thoughtfully tailoring design to its natural environment. “Before LEED or other green building rating systems, we learned, built, and lived in spaces influenced by the environment (using natural lighting and passive ventilation) and the opportunities and limits of local construction resources. Those lessons framed my design response and process,” he says.
Through this collaboration, Webber + Studio is excited to expand our scope of services by increasing our breadth and depth of capabilities in residential, mixed-use, commercial and resort development. Building on the solid foundation of our 25-year history, this expansion of our team will enhance our capabilities exponentially, adding new layers of expertise and a broader range of ways to serve our clients.
Together, we are already enjoying new projects on the boards and in the pipeline for the planning and design of large-scale commercial developments and master-planned resorts, and we are extremely excited to assist our clients with building their brands and assisting them in advancing their business objectives through exceptional design.
“From a practical perspective, the firm’s depth of services and project types has tripled,” says Luis Rodriguez. “Where before, our individual influences were local or focused per specialty practice, today we can offer our blended experience, vision, and style to local, regional and international clients. Truly world-class.”
From the beginning, the three Principals also realized they had clear alignment on how to mentor emerging professionals, grow their operations, and foster extraordinary outcomes for clients and communities, notes Antenora. “The positive energy in the studio is palpable and invigorating, and I am truly impressed by our younger staff members’ dedication, openness, and eagerness to master their craft.”
As a team, we are all energized by the process of exploring ideas with clients who want to craft their brand and expand their reach through thoughtful design—while always being mindful to maintain integrity with the architectural contexts of their community and adapting to fit its particular needs.
For clients seeking to develop a brand in multiple locations, we will collaboratively explore how to maintain consistency while also developing design solutions tailored to each specific place, says Webber.
This ‘meeting of the minds’ also marks an international expansion, positioning Webber + Studio to work in Colombia and Central America as well as the U.S., with a focus on Austin, Texas, and Costa Rica. With strong roots in the areas where we work, we will merge our international experience with sensitivity to local design needs.
We are now equipped to embark on large development projects in all of these locations—including large urban design initiatives—while at the same time continuing our residential architecture work in Austin. We are eager to build new relationships with developers to further these goals.
“This awesome team can undertake ultra-lux homes in Austin, multi-family projects in Costa Rica, or world-class lifestyle resorts throughout the Americas,” Rodriguez asserts.
“We have broadened our market influence by project expertise and geography in one swift movement.” “It will bring more organization, more professionalism, more design quality, and more technical expertise to everything we do,” says Webber.
“We have always felt very grateful that our work is already well regarded and received for the four values on which it is based—functionalism, expressionism, regionalism, and minimalism—and our expanded team of talented collaborators will see those values expounded with additional voices that are a trademark of our individually run studios.”