Clearscapes

Per its own site, Clearscapes was founded in Raleigh, NC in 1981 and describes itself as an interdisciplinary, full-service design firm. [www.clearscapes.com] Per its own site, Clearscapes' portfolio includes more than 80 design awards (self-reported). [www.clearscapes.com] Per its own site, two-thirds of Clearscapes' work is for repeat clients (self-reported). [www.clearscapes.com] As of this capture, the firm's team is led by principals Fred Belledin and Brandy Thompson, with associate principals Mary Conley and Emily Morgan. [www.clearscapes.com] Clearscapes, of Raleigh, is listed as the 2007 winner of the AIA North Carolina Firm Award. [aiancawards.org] Steve Schuster and Thomas Sayre created the design firm Clearscapes in 1981 (consistent with the firm's own self-reported founding year). [abc11.com] This article describes Clearscapes as 'the leading architecture, art, and design firm Sayre and Schuster co-founded in 1983' — this conflicts with Clearscapes' own site and the ABC11 obituary, both of which give 1981 as the founding year. [waltermagazine.com] Clearscapes has occupied a portion ("a third segment") of a converted historic warehouse (the former Tom's Snacks distribution warehouse) in Raleigh's Warehouse District, in the same building as the residences of co-founders Thomas Sayre and Steve Schuster. [waltermagazine.com] Steve Schuster and Thomas Sayre created the design firm Clearscapes in 1981. [abc11.com] Schuster died on Saturday 17 August 2019 at his downtown Raleigh home, aged 68, after three years with cancer. The station credits the News & Observer for the account of his death. [abc11.com] The station credits Schuster with designing what is now the Marbles Kids Museum, with being instrumental in the creation of the Contemporary Art Museum of Raleigh, and with a hand in the Raleigh Convention Center. It names his work on Raleigh Union Station as among his most prominent in recent years, and says he also designed the ABC11 downtown Raleigh studio. [abc11.com] Clearscapes describes itself as a broad-based, full-service design firm providing architectural design for public, private and institutional clients across North Carolina, and says it has completed more than 100 public and private art installations across the United States. [clearscapes.com] The firm claims more than eighty design awards, and says two-thirds of its work is for repeat clients. [clearscapes.com] Alongside the design studio it keeps a 4,000 square foot shop for material research, mock-up fabrication and experimentation, where much of its public art and many components of its architectural projects are built. [clearscapes.com] It dates its founding to 1981 and describes it as a collaboration between an architect and an artist, around the idea that architecture should be a functional work of art. [clearscapes.com] The firm states community engagement as an obligation of its staff, who serve on city commissions and non-profit boards, teach, and take part in grassroots initiatives. [clearscapes.com] Its team is described as including registered architects, architectural interns, artists and administrative staff, with principals involved in every project rather than the traditional firm structure. [clearscapes.com]

“Our favorite projects are the ones in which it is not clear where the architecture ends, and the art begins.” [clearscapes.com]

“We are a firm of citizen activists - as proponents of community-based architecture, we believe it is the responsibility of individuals to engage the broader community for the common good.” [clearscapes.com]