We were all likeminded. We saw the opportunities of expanding beyond a traditional architectural office. As emphasis on health, wellness, and equity has evolved, we've evolved. We've evolved as people — and bring that into what we can add to architecture and urbanism.​

The first step was compatibility in the design process — we’ve always been able to have productive design conversation that created better spaces together. The Cigarroa Track & Field project. Its as simple but it turns out really well — we both added to it in a way where alone we might not have been as successful... The big thing was discovering that we both had aspirations to take architecture into places that most practices don't traditionally touch. We recognized that tackling the systematic problems was something we wanted to do with our expertise.

Able City was born from our professional realization that the fastest path towards producing work that could respond to the needs and problems we saw our community and other cities facing was a holistic approach. As climate change, health disparities, and the unequal distribution of opportunity and income, (sustainability and equity) are the most pressing of issues, we turned from architecture alone and its “conventional business wisdom" to becoming an engine for transformational change as it relates systematically to the industry of architecture and building practice, planning policy, active transportation, and economic development. Without a serious commitment to sustainability and equity internally our own office and in the work we do for our clients we realized it was like we were designing sand castles.