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“In everything I create, I endeavor to balance function+form, using minimal, geometric, and rational principles to develop warm, earthy and inviting, adaptable solutions, clean and sophisticated, free from extraneous and unnecessary ornament or components and with a clear connection to nature and the outdoors.

My buildings and interior environments become a blank canvas for the forms of functional objects within; materials, fixtures, and furnishings are integrated and the space, light, and form derived are resultant of the collaboration and harmony of those objects. I use fine, tactile materials that invoke feeling and response on a micro level, engage the senses to respond, and promote the feelings of warmth, invitation and simplicity.

My holistic integrative approach ensures that all the components of development are given balanced consideration, from finance, to design, to construction. Very little is gained if these major building components are not in balance.”

 

Nicholas Willis is a building professional and LEED Green Associate based in
Santa Monica, California. He specializes in the design, development, and
project management of retail and interior environments.

A native of Columbus, Ohio, Nic graduated from The Ohio State University with a degree in architecture, and immediately went to work as a retail
planner in the offices of Abbot+Abbot Architects, generating retail
layouts for several of Limited Brands flagship stores.

Nic relocated to Los Angeles in 2000 and began at the internationally recognized interior design firm of DMJM Rottet, where he refined his
design sensibility under the exposure of California’s modernist ideas and
Rottet’s use of sophisticated materials and palettes. As first a designer
and then one of the youngest project architects in his firm, he saw the
culmination of several successful projects; however, his passion for
retail and would draw him back to his previous environment.

In 2005 he was recruited by Westfield LLC, and in this project management role was exposed to all components of retail development. After the
successful completion and grand opening of the Chesterfield Mall in
St. Louis in 2006, Nic was selected to lead the lifestyle expansion at
Santa Anita in Arcadia, California, which celebrated its grand opening in
June 2009.

He was an early adopter of the ideals and practices of the green movement, as it was California’s outdoor playground that first attracted him to the west coast. He is a strong supporter of “sensible sustainability” in development projects, and seeks conscious development solutions that are economically viable.

Nic is a member of the Los Angeles chapter of the Urban Land Institute and the International Council of Shopping Centers. He is an avid cyclist and soccer player who enjoys spending a good extent of his free time in the mountains and on the hiking trails.(resume)

2010 willis retail, site by nicholas willis