David Shove-Brown started the Washington, D.C.-based architecture firm //3877 with his business partner David Tracz in 2011 with the idea of focusing more on the client than other firms. And admittedly, he says the projects his firms picks up, the people who work at his firm and just his firm, in general — they're all pretty "weird" for the industry.
Instead of working with clients who walk in and say "Do exactly this with my space," the team at //3877 prefers to work with clients that say "I'm looking for that firm where I can say here's the address, you know what I like, go to town." That kind of mentality is what led his firm to work on projects like the D.C. location of Momofuku Milk Bar, the 3 Stars Brewery, local pizza chain Matchbox and the conversion of the Patterson Mansion into a luxury hotel, as well as on countless home and apartment renovations and constructions.
And the "weird" design work the firm does comes with its fair share of recognition. Shove-Brown has received awards from places like the American Collegiate Schools of Architecture and the American Institute of Architects, and his work has also been featured in publications such as The Washington Post and Details magazine.
What drew you to architecture and design?
The town I grew up in had this ridiculously good music program. Like crazy good. I played drums, and the music program was really centered around jazz, so when I got into my first year of high school, the guy in charge of the program was a complete sociopath. And we're talking about the '80s here, so the man who used to throw chairs across the room.
And I was like "First off, I like rock music way more than I like jazz." I also don't like getting screamed at and yelled at. So my folks were like "Well, what are you thinking you're going to do," and I said "I don't know, I'm thinking that there's this drafting class that looks kind of cool."
I had found my people. They were just weird enough to be sort of social outcasts, but at the same time, everyone was just the same mentality.
So I took drafting class, and I had this guy who was a residential home builder as my teacher, and I was just like, this is what I need, this is so awesome. So I shadowed an architect for a little while, and I thought "Yeah, I think I want to try architecture school." And I did and it was like this epiphany. I had found my people. They were just weird enough to be sort of social outcasts, but at the same time, everyone was just the same mentality.
And on that same note, what made you want to be an entrepreneur?
My business partner is my best friend from college, and we've known each for 25 years. We worked for a couple of the same firms and clients, and we worked independently at points, and we kept having this conversation that there seemed to be a hole in the profession. We felt architects were looking at projects only for the sake of projects. We felt that there was a real customer service side and a service side that was really being missed.
We always kind of knew that we wanted to do something, and the more we talked about, and the more we planned it, the more we felt we could do something really different from your traditional architecture firm. We could create something unique that had that unique atmosphere in the office and that unique atmosphere inside the office.
So what are some of your favorite projects that you all have worked on through the firm?
It depends on what I'm grading for favorites. I always think back to this little house renovation for a client. It was her grandmother's house, it had been her mother's house that she grew up in and got handed down to her — so there's a lot of history in the house. It's never going to win a design award, but for her to have tears of joy at the end of the project, hugging people, bringing them over for Thanksgiving dinner. That's something they don't teach you in architecture school.
And I love being able to take my kid into places and say "This is something that Daddy and Uncle Dave drew," and that for me is just awesome.
Where do you see the firm going in the future? Is there anything that you really want to delve into?
In the middle of November, we are having our first-ever office retreat, and we're going off-site for the day. And in the morning, a very good friend of mine who teaches improv at the Unified Scene Theater is coming to work with our office and basically teach improv in the office — not with the intent of making comedies of everybody, but improv is all about listening and responding. So I see the office really becoming more cohesive.
In terms of where we're going, we're not looking to grow a whole lot more in terms of numbers of people. We're looking to continue to develop the relationships we got with some awesome clients. I love that trust, that understanding. I see that expanding.
What does the process for projects look like? Where do you draw inspiration from?
Again, we're weird, so when we put together a project team, we assemble the whole team all at once, and the whole team meets with the client, and the whole team talks about design. It's not something where Dave and I are the head designers, and we design the whole thing, and we hand it off to somebody and they draw it. We don't believe in that for several reasons.
We've done a good job of being able to have an atmosphere and environment where people feel comfortable to speak up.
We hire awesome people. I work best when I can draw a line and someone can come in and critique it and offer some suggestions, and we can critique it some more. That's where the best design comes from. When you get a bunch of people who are same-thinking, likeminded, boring-ass designers, it's like "Ugh, you did this 16 times already. We've seen it." We've done a good job of being able to have an atmosphere and environment where people feel comfortable to speak up.
I don't want a client who comes in and says "Draw it this way." I want to be able to sit down with that client and get a better understanding. Tell me about the menu for your restaurant, tell me about where the inspiration comes from for that dish, or when you eat this kind of food, where are you transported?
What makes innovation in Washington, D.C., unique? How is the D.C. architecture and design scene different from any other?
I think we're a little bit weird here, too. The people who are our friends (in D.C.) are also our competition. The D.C. community for the most part is really awesome. We have people who are supportive, and if somebody calls and says we want to interview for this restaurant, we say "Great, who else are you interviewing?" and they say "No one," then we say "You need to. You need to find the right partner, and hopefully we're it, but if we're not, then I'd rather have one of my friends win it."
I think the community really provides for a strong basis for innovation, and I think you can see that now. There's been the diversity that's changed of people moving back into the city that has allowed for cooler buildings and more unique dining experiences and retail experiences. We don't classify it as restaurants and stores, but as experiences. People talk about going to a restaurant, but not just about the meal, but about the service, and they talk about the experience of what was the environment like. So that to me is where D.C. has really gotten awesome. It's not just building for building's sake.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
Something that I didn't understand the value of initially was solid mentorship. Whatever we're doing has been done before, but maybe not in the same way. And so we have a couple of mentors who have been around and they've done it, and that is so invaluable that I can pick up the phone and say to these guys "Here's the scenario we're dealing with. How would you handle this?"
Something that we're trying so hard to do better at is stopping and taking a breath and looking around and celebrating what we've done. You find that your foot is just on the gas all the time, and never take a moment to say "Holy crap, we did all of this in a year, all of this in six months." We're trying really hard to celebrate these things and take the time to say "We did a great job on this." Here are the areas where we could've done a little bit better, and let's do this next time.
