Lucchesi Galati is a small architectural firm with a big mission. Although the Las Vegas, Nevada company has been in business for over twenty years, it has evolved and changed with the times; adjusting to accommodate the needs of the people, and especially, the environment. More and more, as our attention is called to the sustainability of the earth’s resources, our awareness is shifting from one of consumption to one of conservation. With a forward-thinking philosophy grounded in community-based design, Lucchesi Galati is a leader in the active implementation of ecology-oriented building and promoting sustainable lifestyles.

The roots of the firm go back to 1982, when Raymond Lucchesi graduated from Arizona State University and moved to Las Vegas to form the company that was then called Architectural Resources. In the early days, he and his partners maintained a traditional architectural business approach, yet they knew there was something more unique that could be done. “We were looking for some means and a method to survive in early days. But we wanted to take away the ‘black-box’ of architecture,” says Jeff Roberts, a principal partner in the firm. “When Craig Galati joined in 1988, we started wanting to be more focused in community-based design projects in which community members helped us design the projects with us; there were no surprises, and they saw the entire process evole and develop with us.”

The catalyst for change came twelve years ago with the Springs Preserve project. At one hundred and eighty acres, it is the birthplace of Las Vegas; a biological and aquatic resource in the heart of the Mojave Desert. With this project, it was crucial that Lucchesi Galati communicate to visitors the importance of the role of the preserve in the Las Vegas valley’s sustainable living, blending culture with the environment, and serving as a model for future preservation and ecological management. “It became a cutting-edge facility in changing our perception of community,” says Roberts. “We wanted to project the idea of being of the desert rather than just in the desert, and that took our stewardship to a higher, more environmental plane."

The building went on to win several awards and catapulted the Lucchesi Galati team into a new philosophic approach to design and building. “That project really was the catalyst to where we are today,” explains Roberts, “and we began to seek out more “green” projects.” The firm’s progressive philosophy began to take greater shape around this time, as well, as they examined a new way of serving the community while at the same time being actively conservative and considerate of the biological natural resources around them.

Their community-based design philosophy combines the elements of architecture, sociology, and sustainability. “A community-based design process started us dealing with sociology,” describes Roberts. “There’s a lot of wonderful architecture in the world, but it’s not designed for people, but for appearance; and that’s really just sculpture. Our approach was developed to make a building a wonderful living and working environment for human beings.”

“We started making more connections with the sociology department at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, studying and analyzing user groups: office buildings, churches or other community spaces, and how people live and work in those spaces. We wrote analyses on what a building would do after it was built, and we naturally began to fit with an approach to a pleasing living space with increasing productivity and education in the work place.”

This involves not enclosing people into four walls, but opening up the building to embrace the site around it, integrating place and natural space in a bio-regional approach to design. “We look at a building as a whole living organism,” Roberts explains. “We look at how people live, work, and how do they relate to the building. There are so many buildings in this day and age where we cut off people from the outdoor environment. Lucchesi Galati seeks to weave that back into our buildings, yet the buildings still must be tight and energy efficient. We don’t want them to be stale. At the same time, we try to make it so our buildings and facilities enhance habitat systems for wildlife”.

Although it took some time to develop, this philosophy has had a positive reception in the Las Vegas community. But Lucchesi Galati isn’t forceful about it, nor do they endeavor to be the hottest firm in the city, but prefers to attract like-minded clients with similar integral philosophic attitudes about sustainable living. “Finding clients is almost like a mating ritual,” Roberts muses. “There’s the mutual attraction phase. Then the design is the determination phase: working through and germinating a product. Then there’s the construction and building phase. When it’s finished, most people walk away from buildings, but our idea is that it’s a living organism that and we need to help this building grow.”

Presently, the company utilizes materials exclusively from suppliers that are eco-friendly and have ecological policies. “It’s not about chasing certifications anymore,” says Roberts, “but living our core philosophy as architects and serving as stewards of the land, as well as the people. Many members of the firm are also active in the community and connected with several different community organizations, such as the Sierra Club and other wildlife and “green” organizations. Some are connected through the church and Roberts himself is a docent at the Springs Preserve. “Community activity is just one way we continue to give back,” he says.

One of the firm’s future visions is to integrate more NetZero buildings into the landscape. “The idea of NetZero is not taking anything away from the grid in the way of energy, water, or any other natural resources. There are very few NetZero buildings in the world, and less than ten in the USA,” explains Roberts. “We’re pushing for two NetZero projects right now. These buildings will manufacture all of its needs: water, energy, waste, et cetera, and managing these systems. No one is doing that on a high-end scale.”

Lucchesi Galati also wants to have more long term responsibility with their work, taking care of it even long after a building has been erected. “The life expectancy of a building is inevitably limited,” Roberts says. “We want to design more buildings that have modular capabilities, as well as have more post-occupancy evaluations, revisiting buildings after people move into them. We hope to do this on a more frequent basis.

“We also hope we can move into operating buildings remotely. The more intelligent, the more high-performing a building, the more difficult a building is for maintenance. We want to create more basic, efficient systems, but also want to have the ability, as architects, to help oversee the building long term.”

Lucchesi Galati is laying the groundwork not only for more sustainable and responsible architecture, but also serving as a model for a new approach to construction. “ Our grandparents got sustainability better than we do – they built smaller and more efficient homes,” describes Roberts. “Technology has made us really lazy. Compared to traditional architecture, this approach is more difficult and more time consuming, but we feel we need to start a change. If we don’t, who will? We will do our best to influence it, and see how it turns out. We see it occurring all around us: our community grasping the environmental stewardship we need in order to live.”

Lucchesi Galati is located at 500 Pilot Road, Suite A, Las Vegas NV 89119. They can be reached by phone at 702-263-7111 or through their website at http://www.lgainc.com