about us

Design Ecology is a Creative Collaborative led by architects and designers, and based in Chicago, Illinois. Having grown frustrated by the siloed approach to design and development, Design Ecology strives to find holistic solutions for issues involving urbanism, physical placemaking, and gaps in rural fabric caused by social inequalities. We provide research and guidance to organizations in search of innovative solutions for the use of their physical spaces, urban issues, and more. Our process is rooted in research, design thinking, and collaborative investment with our clients.

DE approaches each project as a unique opportunity, building a team around our leadership to best serve the specific program and scope. In this way, the overall project team often changes to ensure that our clients’ specific needs are met, and proposed solutions benefit from the perspective of the appropriate industry experts.

DE is rooted in the belief that a checklist approach to problem solving ignores unique aspects of individual organizations that, when discovered, can add richness and authenticity to their architectural and organizational spaces as well as larger issues of social impact. We enjoy guiding the process, but believe that the best design and problem solving require input from many perspectives. 

Our work, often resulting in publications outlining economic development goals, complications of social histories, or programmatic space planning for a single building, reflects the desire to attack human-centered issues of any scale. We are interested in the interaction of people, their built space, and their environments, and the economic and social opportunities that exist when solutions are sought through the lens of design innovation.