New Outlooks with Tim Carl

I am passionate about the impact HGA’s arts projects have had on the communities we serve.  My personal experience leading high-profile civic arts projects in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Chicago, San Diego, and Washington DC, has been inspiring. And witnessing the impact of those projects is what fuels my passion to take on this job.

For instance, there’s a new home we designed for an amazing national theatre company that just opened in Chicago—The TimeLine Theatre. This is a uniquely innovative, creative organization that is deeply connected to their community. Through our design process, we leveraged their creativity to envision the new space. On opening night this May, I could feel their excitement and appreciation for both the performance and community-gathering spaces. Their inaugural production made me cry. Oh my gosh, it was so good.

Bringing a community together to improve and deepen the quality of civic life is my favorite part of being an architect.

The intersection of my experience as a Design Principal serving national arts organizations combined with my experience as CEO leading our firm for nine years informed my leadership approach, both with internal teams and clients. In each role, I took a very collaborative approach, and I learned the connections and differences in collaborating at different scales.

Now as head of our Arts + Culture sector, this experience will help guide my understanding of how our success at the project level relates to our success regionally and nationally. This dual perspective positions me to lead with both the creative sensitivity arts clients require and the strategic vision necessary for sustainable market growth.

We have several recent projects with nationally recognized organizations across performing and visual arts, as well as science museums. I am excited to share our design process and the impact of our approach on the outcomes. How we engage with arts organizations and the communities they serve differentiates us in the market and will lead us to the next inspiring opportunity.

I see two primary challenges.

More firms are coming into this market. To stay competitive, HGA must continually elevate our national design reputation. Potential clients must be able to easily see the depth of expertise, contextual creativity and the impact of the work of a national studio focused on Arts + Culture.

And second, there continues to be incredible ups and downs in the Arts + Culture market over the past few years, based on economic uncertainties and access to funding projects. The hopeful news is that cities, neighborhoods, and communities are seeing the value of their arts organizations, both culturally and economically, and are stepping up to help address funding needs.

In my previous firmwide leadership role, I helped foster many valuable intersections of our markets—particularly our integrated approach to research, equity, and multidisciplinary expertise with clients.

We are staying on what has been a successful path—deepen our expertise and specific approaches to our clients within each market. At the same time, we are elevating the value of the synergies across markets by structuring more specifically how we connect people and ideas with areas of expertise. Increasingly, our clients’ needs require experience across multiple project types.

I love being able to see the impact of our projects long term. I have tried hard to stay close to the clients I have worked with, and that has been especially meaningful with my clients in the Twin Cities. Being able to hear the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra perform at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, go to events and exhibits at the American Swedish Institute, or see dance performances at Northrop Auditorium is personally rewarding. And most recently, I am excited to be working with the Textile Center—another great Twin Cities arts organization that happens to be located right on the edge of my own neighborhood.

To hear praise from the artists, patrons, and leaders of these arts organizations makes me so happy because I recognize we are contributing to the community.

For me, what’s always on the horizon is to continue to be inspired by our work and attract amazing colleagues and clients.