Architects "Design" Business-Family Partnership
by GENE MARRANO

For Yale University-trained architects Jennifer Smith Lewis and Gregg Lewis, life is all about finding the right balance between family and profession.

The Salem couple opened SmithLewis Architecture about two years ago, advocating environmentally friendly designs and reusable (or biodegradable) materials. Hanging out their own shingle in downtown Roanoke also allows the couple to take turns working from home, where they can keep an eye on 3-year-old Charlie and 4-year-old Audrey.

Jennifer Smith Lewis started the firm before Gregg came aboard when she discovered that being a fulltime, stay-at-home mother just wasn’t for her.

“I needed to be doing something. It’s turned out to be a lot more than I expected,” she says about the venture.

After moving to Roanoke from Connecticut four years ago, Gregg worked for two other firms being deciding it was the right time to join Jennifer in business.

Returning to the Roanoke valley was a homecoming for Jennifer; she grew up around Salem, graduated from Northside in 1987 and went to the University of Virginia for her undergraduate degree. She then spent about 10 years elsewhere working in Aspen, Colo., and studying at Yale before returning with Gregg in tow.

“I have a remarkable group of extended family members, and we’re very close. Being here with them is just a natural place to be.”

SmithLewis Architecture focuses on, but is not exclusive to, larger institutional projects that can reap the long-term benefits of energy saving materials specified by the firm. An interior designer and interns help round out the staff. While the idea of staking their income entirely on the company is a bit scary, Jennifer says, “We’re following our heart.”

Gregg, who is currently overseeing a Roanoke City-sponsored housing design competition (C2C), says their partnership is a challenge. “The balance between satisfying some of the family goals and things we want to do for ourselves as a couple with the children [combined] with our professional aspirations,” is a work in progress, he says.

Gregg also is involved with the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge as a board member and with other organizations in the area.

Jennifer went from interior remodeling and “little stuff” to being project manager on a $20 million dollar hotel renovation in Staunton, something she didn’t see coming but takes in stride. She says building science and a technological orientation are among her strong points while Gregg might be more creative.

They strive for a 50-50 partnership when it comes to taking care of the kids but her conservative nature and his assertive personality have led to the occasional clash when it comes to business strategies.

“We sort of opened a whole new world of things that we had to come to terms with - and still do,” notes Jennifer.

That means making concessions on occasion - and believing that the other one knows what they are doing. “I’m nuts and bolts and he’s the pretty drawing guy,” is how she sums it up, “I’m much more interested in how it goes together.”

A project at Yale helped bring them together and Gregg Lewis says they’ve been endeavoring since that time to get back to a place where they can work on designs together, something that doesn’t happen very often now.

“That’s where the foundation of our relationship started,” he notes. “Right now it’s a non-stop balancing act or negotiation - who’s going to do what, particularly with the kids.” Three-year-old Charlie (Smith Lewis went into labor just before the first jet airliner hit the World Trade Center on 9/11/01) and 4-year-old Audrey (born appropriately enough on Earth Day, as was Jennifer) are at the center of that daily give-and-take. Work at nights and on weekends helps the couple keep their commitment to watching the children on a full time basis.

Many of the ideas Smith Lewis cooks up come to fruition with Gregg’s ability to “quickly make things happen” in a union that takes advantage of their various strengths.

The secret to working with a spouse? Smith Lewis says it may be the ability “to draw a hard line. You have to say the office stays at the office -[although] I haven’t really found that it is possible. We’re so engaged in the work, and it’s really our reason for getting up in the morning.”

Gene Marrano is a Roanoke Valley freelance writer.