Ward + Blake Architects

Mitch Blake developed a love for nature growing up on the banks of the Snake River in Idaho. Working on the family farms instilled an intimate connection with the land and a reverence toward the bio-climatic environment.

 

After graduating from the University of Idaho in 1983, Mitch worked in Salt Lake City for several years gaining experience with concrete, masonry and steel.  Bringing this experience to Jackson Hole in 1987, Mitch found a wealth of new inspiration in the natural elements of Wyoming.

 

“I’m a big fan of expressing the structure and letting all of the materials be what they are – finished in as natural a state as possible,” he says. “It connects the architecture to the environment in a simple and honest way.”

 

In 1996, Blake partnered with Tom Ward and set the stage for a symbiotic architectural practice dedicated to ecological principals and designing buildings that harmonize with their environment.

Raised in Wyoming, Tom Ward returned to Jackson Hole in the late 1980’s after spending 10 years in New York City. He formed Ward+Blake Architects with partner Mitch Blake in 1996.

 

In 2002 he developed a post-tensioned rammed earth process to address building systems with a low carbon footprint. In 2004 he was awarded a patent for the process he named “Earthwall”. Tom feels that his architectural education at Arizona State University gave him a unique preview of the green building movement.

 

At the time of his matriculation, ASU was the leading architectural institution working with passive and active solar applications as well as cutting edge energy conservation technology.

 

Designing buildings that acknowledges stewardship with the land is second nature to him, and the green building movement represents a continuing force in his practice of environmentally specific architecture.