About
My name is Greg Gouwens and I’m an Archiholic.
I am passionate about what I do. There are few fields that offer the diversity of experience and the marriage of right and left brain thinking which seem to make me feel whole. I enjoy every minute be it the late nights, challenging projects or whims in the economy so sit back and let me tell you a little about who I am.
I graduated from The University of Illinois at Chicago in 1994 with a 5 year professional degree in Architecture with a focus on Design. In that time I had the opportunity to study under the best architects in the city which instilled the passion and drive I have today. During the 92-93 school year I was fortunate to study overseas in the Versailles, France program which broadened my sense of place and culture.
One thing that can be said about a fluctuating economy is that it allows you to diversify. Such has been the case in the career I’ve led since graduating. I started in the profession working on corporate office’s, interior planning and retail stores. A very satisfying experience which gives you a lot of freedom to design and experiment. This was my primary focus for many years till the residential boom. With an interest in broadening my palette, I focused more into single and multi-family residential work. With this skill set I was brought on board to join the small residential/commercial studio within a primarily heath care oriented firm which not only melded my past experience but introduced a new project type, that being heath care. After working there several years I was asked by a local residential developer to open their in-house design studio. With developments all over the country it was challenging and a very different aspect to my past experience. Unfortunately the housing market was beginning to show signs of wear so due to this hardship the studio was closed and shortly thereafter the company itself. From there I was offered a position back at a firm focused on multi-use developments which surprisingly encompassed all of my past experience. After just over a year the architecture/construction market completely stalled and I was on the street along with many other design professionals. In the meantime I took on contract work for several firms and developed net-zero residential prototypes which have always been an interest of mine. In my opinion the ultimate in architecture is to create a building which can maintain itself off the grid or “life support” as I like to call it. Though the technology is not quite there, it’s a challenge in one’s design and technical ability. My most recent position has been with my previous firm Proteus Group where I was Senior Project manager for primarily healthcare and assisted living facilities. Unfortunately I was dismissed due to lack of work and I am now looking for a challenging career opportunity to push the limits of my abilities.
While a fair amount of my experience has been in the concept and design development of many projects types, I continually involve myself in the construction documentation and management of these projects. I have experience in all aspects of project delivery and the management of others on project teams. I enjoy being a mentor to fellow staff and have been the go-to guy for aesthetic and technical advice. I am adept in the majority of industry software with an expert level of skill in Revit 2015 and have served as CAD manager in several firms.
When I have the spare time it’s usually spent camping in the great outdoors with my beautiful, talented and understanding wife Dori or getting out on a long ride with the motorcycle. This is often when I’m not busy restoring our 108 year old home.