Williams Blackstock Architects is located in Birmingham was founded in 1994 with a mission to provide inspiring design through a collaborative relationship with clients. Across three decades they have executed millions of square feet across the United States.

The company has worked on multiple projects across Pell City, such as the Pell City library, the civic center, community center, Northside Medical Home, the lake and splashpad and the Colonel Robert L. Howard State Veterans Home.

The firm has worked both directly with Goodgame Company and the City of Pell City.

Architect Sean Whitt has spent 24 years with Williams Blackstock.

“I am passionate about design, and as a firm we embrace that,” Whitt said speaking to the Pell City Rotary Club. “Architectural design is not just something that you just pass of to somebody in the back room that passes it off to construction documents. It is immersed throughout our culture in the company.”

He said in every phase of the work they do; they consider what good design really is. Value has been added and made them successful over time due to this thought process.

For a business that’s now approaching the age of 28, they currently have 24 registered professionals and over 48 total staff. He said they focus on design, space planning, historical preservation and environmental graphics.

It is the second largest architectural firm in the state and one of the top 300 firms in the United States. Although they focus mainly on Birmingham and the surrounding areas, they have done work as far as California and Chicago.

Whitt said he saw every step of the plan of the veteran’s home. He served as project manager and worked on the initial concept and saw every day of construction. He described the project as something that was “really unique.”

“We broke this up thinking in terms of a city scape,” said Whitt.

Each branch and area of the building represents a main street and neighborhoods.

“That kind of cityscape and breaks down this mammoth building and gives it a scale that people can relate to,” said Whitt.

Whitt said in other projects, such as the civic center, it was important to focus on what the heart of the buildings of Pell City are. For the civic center, it was the gym. This led Whitt and his team to decide to open up the building by placing glass behind the reception desk that let visitors look straight onto the gym area.

He said he’s thankful for city employees who have helped him in the past really figure out what the heart and soul of a project is. He said it helped him make a lot of decisions about what to do for certain areas to further the meaning of the space.

He said a similar design choice was made with the Pell City Library

“Architecture means a lot to me personally; I really get into design. We appreciate when others appreciate what we do,” said Whitt.