From research facilities, hospitals and university buildings to rehabbed office spaces, mixed-use venues and beach communities, the design work of Williams Blackstock Architects is visible across Alabama and beyond.
Joel Blackstock says he co-founded the award-winning, Birmingham-based firm with fellow architect Bill Williams (who retired in 2010) back in 1994 after 14 years with another firm, with dreams of carrying out their own business philosophy.
“A big part of our philosophy was to provide a high level of service and design to our clients and create spaces that inspire people and make our community a better place,” Blackstock says.
Today, Williams Blackstock Architects is celebrating 30 years in business. It is one of the largest architectural firms in Alabama with 56 employees, an in-house interior design division and specialized services such as planning and historic preservation.
The firm reports that it charged more than $21.5 million in design fees in 2023 and, as of July 1, 2024, design fees reached $9.61 million.
“We work closely together with our clients to understand their vision for a project and to show the possibilities. Each project is uniquely designed for the context of the site and the client’s needs,” Blackstock says.
And Williams Blackstock President Stephen Allen says, “We believe each design solution is unique and should be unique to the place that it will be located and capture the client’s goals and aspirations, as well as reflect the community that it’s within.”
Past design projects have included the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB and the UAB Collat School of Business in Birmingham, Vestavia Hills City Hall complex and the Red Diamond Corporate Office and Distribution Center in Moody.
For its designs, Williams Blackstock has won numerous awards over the years from organizations like the American Institute of Architects Alabama and International Interior Design Association.
And last fall, Interior Design Magazine’s Best in Design issue profiled Williams Blackstock’s work on the real estate investment Growth Capital Partners’ headquarters in Birmingham, highlighting the office’s floor-to-ceiling windows, dark wood paneling and computer monitors “cleverly recessed to de-emphasize technological interruptions.”
Allen, who joined the firm in 2004 after relocating to Birmingham from Mississippi, says he chose Williams Blackstock for several reasons.
“As I looked at various firms and opportunities, I really found a kindred spirit in this firm, its culture and with Joel Blackstock. It aligned with how I viewed what we do as a profession and the belief that what we do can and should have a positive impact,” Allen says.
“But also, it seemed open and approachable, a place where my ideas and my efforts could contribute and would be heard and seen,” he says.
Blackstock says the key to Williams Blackstock’s longevity is threefold.
“One key is client service and showing clients that we can bring them value for their design and construction dollars,” Blackstock says.
The second key is the firm’s ability to find and hire good talent and create a culture where associates feel they’re making a difference in the world, he says.
“The third is creating inspiring design and spaces that people remember and enjoy,” Blackstock says.
Reflecting on his career, Blackstock recalls some of the firm’s many past corporate, civic, religious, industrial and university clients.
One “milestone” project that took the firm to new levels of success, he says, was The Village residence halls at Auburn University. Completed in 2009, it was at the time the largest project the firm had tackled up until that point.
The Village consisted of eight, four-story brick and stone residence halls that the firm designed to fit the classical and pastoral urban design of the campus.
“It was exciting to create a positive community space within the Auburn campus,” Blackstock says. “I graduated from Auburn, so, it was an opportunity to give back to the school that helped train us as architects,” Blackstock says.
Williams Blackstock also has designed mixed-use properties such as The Waites in Birmingham. For The Waites, architects blended elements from the 1930s art deco building that once stood there with modern elements.
They also designed The Arcadia near Cummings Research Park in Huntsville. The Arcadia, still under construction at press time, will feature restaurants, luxury apartments, offices and more.
One recent project is the new 175,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art UAB Altec/Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building on Seventh Avenue South, between 19th and 20th streets, in Birmingham. That building, which is still under construction, features a double helix design across the windows that is visible from the street.
In addition, the firm has started design work on the new $190 million UAB Biomedical Research and Psychology Building, an eight-story facility that will house the UAB Department of Psychology and wet and dry research laboratories for the Heersink School of Medicine.
“That’s one of the largest projects we’ve done to date,” Blackstock says.
Besides new construction, Williams Blackstock is known for its restoration and adaptive reuse work. One example is The Hardwick Building, a 110-year-old structure that once served as a fabricated and prefabricated steel processing plant on First Avenue South. The firm plans to turn the structure into a modern mixed-use center with office space, restaurants and retail stores.
“The Hardwick Building is a great example of taking an old facility and giving a new function, and then in this case, a mixed-use function where we’re celebrating all of the old character of the space by preserving it, but we’re also installing new systems and new finishes so that it can be a vibrant, mixed-use facility that will have restaurants as well as businesses in it,” Allen says.
Another example is how the firm transformed a once-windowless concrete warehouse into the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Pavilion in Montgomery, a serene space with a perforated, stainless-steel west façade that displays images of seven well-known civil rights leaders from the city.
Blackstock and Allen say more clients these days are demanding designs that promote sustainability, buildings that let in daylight, fresh air, promote wellness and collaboration.
“Sustainability is not only important for our planet, but it’s really a wise investment of money because it saves cost over the life cycle of a building,” Blackstock says.
Allen says an example is the Nature Conservancy in Alabama headquarters in Birmingham that features a new roof using regionally sourced wood I-joists and solar tubes to disperse diffuse light.
“Businesses are looking for more energy efficient spaces that also provide light-filled spaces and views to the exterior that are engaging and have a variety of spaces within them, a place to work, places to meet and also places that reflect a vibrant, dynamic culture and is more specific to their own company culture,” Allen says.
Meanwhile, Williams Blackstock Architects’ own company culture is working on feeding the tributary of architects of the future, Allen says.
“As we’ve grown, we’ve really focused a lot on our pipeline of growth,” Allen says. “We’re focusing on the internships now, and we’ll continue doing that, and then, once they become part of our office after graduation, provide opportunities for them to develop professionally.”
Blackstock says he is most proud that the firm has upheld its value of treating people right.
“We work with a lot of people, not just the client. We work with the client. We work with engineering consultants,” says Blackstock. “We work with the contractor. And we want everybody to be successful on a project and treated fairly and with respect.”
Gail Allyn Short and Cary Norton are Birmingham-based freelance contributors to Business Alabama.
This article appears in the September 2024 issue of Business Alabama.
