The Architectural League of NY has named Philadelphia's Digsau as one of its eight “Emerging Voices” for 2013, a pantheon of North American practitioners “with distinct design voices and the potential to influence the disciplines of architecture, landscape design and urbanism.”
Principal Jules Dingle says the honor is especially meaningful since past winners constitute “a who's who of architectural practice.”
Dingle founded the firm with Jeff Goldstein, Mark Sanderson and Jamie Unkefer in 2007 – just in time for the economic downturn that laid waste to many architectural practices. But Digsau managed to maintain consistent, if slow growth through those years with a portfolio of projects that established the firm as a generalist, able to serve an eclectic range of clients and projects.
Among the firm's recently completed works are the Iroko Headquarters at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, the Sister Cities Park and Pavilion in Philadelphia and the University of Delaware bookstore complex.
Projects on the boards include the Dogfish Brewery in Delaware, an opportunity to apply master planning concepts and design excellence to what is essentially a large industrial facility. “It's a building type not usually spoken in the same sentence as architecture,” says Dingle.
The firm is currently fitting out 900 square feet of space, once used for storage, to accommodate its growing needs, including a model shop. Digsau employs 13 and Dingle hopes to be able to add another one or two positions by summer. “We've had steady but slow growth,” he says, “but the work is there.”
Source: Jules Dingle, Digsau
Writer: Elise Vider