Today, we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Bittner.
Hi Christopher, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I met my first boss in architecture when I was selling him paint in a local hardware store on Pacific Beach. He hired me a week later, and I moved downtown to be closer to work. After about a year and a half of working there, one of my instructors (whose firm was actually in the same building I was working in) asked me to work for them, and a few weeks later, I switched forms.
It was there that I met my future partners, Garrick Oliver and Anney Rosenthal. We all decided we wanted to walk a different path and opened obrARCHITECTURE in 2008. We essentially wanted to design cool shit with our friends and also include other forms of creative pursuits.
To that end, we started holding art shows and community events, launched a branding company, and continue to be open to whatever ideas may come up. If it sounds fun and we can make a little money, we’re interested. We’ve now grown from our original 3 to 37 employees and see no reason we won’t continue to grow.
Let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
Starting and running a design firm is never a smooth road. School teaches us to be designers, not business people. Figuring out contracts, financials, etc., is daunting.
Figuring out how to find and secure work is a whole different set of skills. Also, as we’ve grown, handling all the different personalities (clients, employees, consultants, etc.) has been a steep learning curve.
We’ve been impressed with obrARCHITECTURE, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share about what you do and what sets you apart?
I think one of the biggest differentiators for us is the array of project types and sizes we take on. We’ll design pretty much anything anyone wants us to. We work on projects as small as an ADU up to a $50m school.
We also hold quarterly art shows where we host a different artist each time. We don’t take any commission or rent; we take any proceeds or donations and donate them to local non-profit art organizations.
Contact Info:
- Website: obrarchitecture.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/obrarchitecture
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/obrARCHITECTURE
