Hight Jackson awarded citation for The New School

Hight Jackson received notification this week that The New School – Academic Center, Innovation Center, and Athletic Center in Fayetteville was awarded a Citation in the Combined-Level School category from American School & University magazine. The jury said this about the project: “Good interior design that invites the natural surroundings in; Wonderful, welcoming character inside and especially outside; Appropriate contextual forms and materials.”

American School & University’s 2018 Architectural Portfolio, published this fall, will feature the project, deemed the best in its category by the jury.

Congratulations to our HJ project team – Gail Shepherd, AIA, Principal in Charge; Randall Hurban, AIA, Project Manager; Liz Cox, Interior Design; Chris Estill, Jason Hackett, and Pablo Pagliani

Special thanks to Jeff Gattis, Project Manager, Nabholz Construction; Georg Andersen, Interior Design Consultant; Rich Connell, AIA, Design Architect, The SLAM Collaborative

 

 

 

 

 

Ron Shelby’s Retirement

Is it really almost spring? How can that be? 2018 is already going by in a flash! We had an exciting year in 2017 and also have big news for the start of 2018.

After an impressive 41-year career with Hight Jackson Associates, our firm’s CEO, Ron Shelby, retired in December of 2017.

Ron’s leadership has been instrumental in shaping Hight Jackson into the thriving 27-person firm that it is today. When Ron joined the company in 1976, it consisted of the two founding partners, Charles Hight and Gary Jackson. Together, Charles, Gary, and Ron built Hight Jackson into the firm it is today. Ron’s expertise and knowledge in the field of architecture and business has greatly impacted each one of our team members, and the strength of our firm is largely due to Ron’s mentoring. He will be greatly missed around the office.

Our Hight Jackson family wishes Ron a wonderful and relaxing retirement, and we thank him for all his years of work for this firm. Enjoy this exciting next chapter in your life, Ron!

We officially celebrated Ron’s retirement with an office luncheon at Houlihan’s on January 10th. We honored Ron and his wife Regena with a slideshow taking them down memory lane, and a great lunch and giant cookie cake for dessert. At Ron’s request, and in true Shelby fashion, we kept this lunch a small affair with the members of our office.

 

 

2017

We are pleased to introduce Lex Chen, the newest member of our staff. Lex is a recent graduate from the interior design program at the University of Arkansas, and completed his internship requirements for his degree with us here at HJ. We are excited to have him join our firm full time!

Lex grew up in Longyan, China, a small town with a large population. He grew up seeing a lot of construction development as his community expanded, and saw how buildings played a role in the city’s growth. Seeing the architectural wonders in Shanghai and Hong Kong helped form his dream to become a professional designer.

He studied and worked in Canada before moving to Northwest Arkansas two years ago to finish his interior design degree at the University of Arkansas. Lex is experienced in using design software to produce renderings, 3-D models, and construction documents which help to convey design ideas to our clients. We know that Lex will be a great asset to our design team!

Lex says that NWA reminds him of his hometown, with similar environment and climate. We hope he feels at home here!