about

TBE Architecture was founded in the spring of 2016 by Ray Willett. Ray’s career as a designer began in the USAF where he served as a Graphics Specialist at the Tactical Fighter Weapons Centre at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas. Ray continued his graphics career as a civilian until 1997 when he moved from Las Vegas to Seattle. “Arriving in Seattle, I was looking for a job and a place to live. I found both at the Seward Apartments.” This two-year effort to personally restore a turn-of-the-century apartment building on Capitol Hill was the catalyst that led Ray to return to school to pursue a Master’s degree in Architecture.

“Having just completed the Seward Apartments I was keen to work more in Historic Preservation, so the Savannah College of Art and Design was a natural next step. Over the summer breaks I worked as a carpenter on numerous historic buildings in the city, and with Architect John McAvoy. While class was in session my attention shifted, more and more, to the role of the built environment in relationship to the overall sustainability of life as we know it on this planet. My research shifted while at SCAD, I began looking at a built environment where buildings and infrastructure work together to become an intelligent resource network that could be used collectively in symbiotic relationships.”