>>> meet the designers behind projects featured in this issue
Jeffrey Rausch, IIDA
Haley Balzano, AIA
Exclaim Design principal Jeffrey Rausch and the firm's director of design, Haley Balzano, are firmly on their way to making theirs a paperless, cutting-edge office. "We've gotten rid of virtually all of our materials library," says Rausch, who founded the Phoenix-based commercial design firm in 1992. "We use online resources or local reps instead. We use a virtual private network so that our employees can work from any locale, and we send out all our bills online. We even e-mail our voice messages." That technology-forward thinking is exactly what attracted Balzano, a Carnegie Mellon University graduate, to join the firm in 2001, working with Rausch on projects ranging from restaurants and retail to banks and offices — including Exclaim Design's own new space in a landmark building designed by architect Eddie Jones. Another recent (and award-winning) project, Therapy, a women's fashion boutique, is featured in this issue.
Jeffrey Rausch.
Haley Balzano.
Phillip K. Smith III
Indio, California may seem an unlikely hotbed of design, but the Coachella Valley is home for architectural designer and artist Phil Smith, who opened his multidisciplinary firm, The Art Office, there in 2000. "When you grow up in the desert, it gets in your blood," says Smith, who spent 10 years in the Northeast, getting bachelor's degrees in both architecture and fine art from the Rhode Island School of Design and working for Boston-area architectural firms. "When I was in high school, I couldn't wait to leave this sleepy desert place, but when I came back, it was on the cusp of a major resurgence," he notes. Indeed, Smith has been part of that resurgence, becoming an activist in architectural and art causes in the Palm Springs area, including serving as the founding chairman of the Architecture and Design Council of the Palm Springs Art Museum. It was through the museum that Smith met fashion and textiles designer Trina Turk, for whom he did a Palm Springs home-furnishings boutique featured in this issue. "Trina embodies vintage and current Palm Springs design. It was an honor doing a project for her."
Eric Strain, AIA
Eric Strain thinks shopping habits may have played a part in his architectural firm's getting the commission to do the new Unica Home furnishings showroom in Las Vegas. "We've been buying things there since they opened," says Strain of the minimalist showroom featured in this issue. "It's a great source for modern furniture." Modern and minimalist are also key words to describe the designs flowing forth from Strain's Assemblage Studio, the architectural practice he founded in Las Vegas in 1997, launched with a home designed for Roger Thomas, casino impresario Steve Wynn's interiors guru. Since then, Strain, a Las Vegas native and University of Utah graduate, and his Assemblage team have worked on numerous award-winning residences, public and educational projects, retail and more. "I like to do a limited number of projects," says Strain of his approach, "in which I'm active on the project. I've never wanted to be one of those firm principals who's far removed from the architecture side of the business."
Jeffrey Rausch.
Haley Balzano.
Indio, California may seem an unlikely hotbed of design, but the Coachella Valley is home for architectural designer and artist Phil Smith, who opened his multidisciplinary firm, The Art Office, there in 2000. "When you grow up in the desert, it gets in your blood," says Smith, who spent 10 years in the Northeast, getting bachelor's degrees in both architecture and fine art from the Rhode Island School of Design and working for Boston-area architectural firms. "When I was in high school, I couldn't wait to leave this sleepy desert place, but when I came back, it was on the cusp of a major resurgence," he notes. Indeed, Smith has been part of that resurgence, becoming an activist in architectural and art causes in the Palm Springs area, including serving as the founding chairman of the Architecture and Design Council of the Palm Springs Art Museum. It was through the museum that Smith met fashion and textiles designer Trina Turk, for whom he did a Palm Springs home-furnishings boutique featured in this issue. "Trina embodies vintage and current Palm Springs design. It was an honor doing a project for her." 
Eric Strain thinks shopping habits may have played a part in his architectural firm's getting the commission to do the new Unica Home furnishings showroom in Las Vegas. "We've been buying things there since they opened," says Strain of the minimalist showroom featured in this issue. "It's a great source for modern furniture." Modern and minimalist are also key words to describe the designs flowing forth from Strain's Assemblage Studio, the architectural practice he founded in Las Vegas in 1997, launched with a home designed for Roger Thomas, casino impresario Steve Wynn's interiors guru. Since then, Strain, a Las Vegas native and University of Utah graduate, and his Assemblage team have worked on numerous award-winning residences, public and educational projects, retail and more. "I like to do a limited number of projects," says Strain of his approach, "in which I'm active on the project. I've never wanted to be one of those firm principals who's far removed from the architecture side of the business." 