Hays and Ewing believe enduring architecture springs from a deep understanding of the place, the needs of the project and the desires of our client merged with integration of sustainable best practices. Founded in 2004, Hays+Ewing Design Studio (HEDS) is a women-owned architecture firm based in Charlottesville, VA and serving Virginia and North Carolina with a practice that includes projects across the US, in Canada and Europe. We focus on the careful integration of buildings with their environment — a focus that operates at several levels — in harmonizing buildings with their surroundings, and in the integration of building and natural systems, such as cooling through natural ventilation, rainwater collection, and harnessing energy from the sun.
The breadth of the project types and scales, is evidence of their ability to tackle diverse projects and places with a clear vision specific to each. Over the years, Hays and Ewing have worked on a variety of types of projects including academic and cultural institutions, commercial buildings, mixed-use projects, single and multi-family residential as well as planning projects. With a global architectural background, both Hays and Ewing have lived and worked in Europe, Asia as well as the United States. Both have worked on award winning projects with Cesar Pelli, Renzo Piano and more recently as partners with William McDonough.
Hays + Ewing Architects and Planners has been at the forefront of the green design movement with thirty years of collective experience in the field. Hays and Ewing have worked on numerous projects that have been recognized for their excellence in sustainable design and commitment to ecological principles. The Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies at Oberlin College was named one of the Top Ten Green Projects in 2002 from the AIA Committee on the Environment. The Herman Miller “Greenhouse” Factory and Offices and 901 Cherry for GAP, Inc. both won a joint award from Architectural Record and Business Week’s “Good Design is Good Business” award. The Woolen Mills House has been published widely and featured on the cover of Good, Green Homes.
Hays and Ewing are committed to bringing the highest level of design focus to each project. Numerous projects directed by the partners have won national and regional design awards. The Virginia Beach House received the 2002 “Custom Home of the Year” awarded by Custom Home magazine for the Virginia Beach House and was one of ten homes selected for HGTV’s “Ten Most Beautiful Homes in America”. The firm was selected to represent Virginia in the book 50 US Architects.
