On the first Saturday in December in the year 2000, I was unpacking boxes in our then-new offices in the Power and Light Building when the phone rang. It was John O’Brien, artist and gallery owner, demanding that I stop what I was doing and walk down to his gallery at 19^th and Baltimore. I knew John as a neighborhood leader when our firm was asked to develop a plan to guide the transformation of the Union Station Warehouse District into the emerging unique artist and art gallery culture that Jim Leedy led and cultivated.

Sometimes the universe conspires to present a course of action that is so obviously synergistic that it cannot be ignored. BNIM’s engagement with Human-Centered Design is one such occurrence. Synergistic because it ultimately led to the opening of a Youth Enrichment Center in one of Des Moines most underserved communities.  

On March 24, BNIM announced that Gunnar Hand, AICP had been named to the 2015 Vanguard. This group, named by the international nonprofit media organization Next City, recognizes the top urban innovators under the age of 40 who are working to make change in cities.

BNIM has been working with Make It Right since it was started in 2007 with the goal to build 150 sustainable and affordable homes in the Lower Ninth Ward after Hurricane Katrina. In 2012, BNIM once again teamed up with Make It Right on the Bancroft School Project, which converted an abandoned, historic school into LEED platinum affordable housing.