Todd Hicks Named Vice President/Associate Principal in the Architecture Firm
NSPJ Architects is proud to announce a recent key promotion within the firm leadership. Todd Hicks was promoted to a Vice President/Associate Principal Architect of NSPJ Architects, P.A. and has been elected to the Board of Directors.
Todd began his architectural education in 1985 framing houses during summer breaks. In college, his time spent studying architecture in an Italian studio gave him a lifelong appreciation for timeless design.
Todd joined NSPJ Architects in 2014, leaving his own practice to join our firm, whose work he admired for years.
“Congratulations to Todd,” NSPJ Architects leadership said. “We are thankful to have his experience and expertise on the Board of Directors.”
Todd loves getting to know clients as they describe their visions of their dream home. Translating those ideas into memorable places for them to enjoy with family and friends is one of his biggest joys.
Leading the NSPJ Single Family Studio, he designs primary residences, vacation homes, additions, and renovations using a collaborative process of inquiry and discovery. This process makes places that feel both new and old. New in the way that they respond to each unique client and site, and old, in the way that they contain deep and familiar qualities that make a place a home.
“We have a passion to create beautiful places and to cultivate an appreciation for beauty in our clients,” said Hicks.
Prairie Village Residential Architecture Project
After NSPJ designed a residence for a family member, Todd was selected to create a home for another family member, moving back home to Prairie Village, Kansas. With an eye for design, the client collected images capturing inspiration for his home. Through a collaborative process between the architect and homeowner, the design created a unique fit for his lifestyle. A French-influenced exterior adds a special touch and a reminder of homes where he once lived.
Bonner Springs Farmhouse
Another project Todd enjoyed designing was a farmhouse where an original house once stood. To keep the scale of the home true to its farmhouse roots, he created a bit of an illusion by designing a two-story portion that appears as an authentic, white, clapboard sided farmhouse. Then he designed smaller, one-story, wood-clad wings, which appear as additions made to the house over time. Behind this traditional farmhouse façade is a modern, open floor plan to accommodate this family’s lifestyle and entertaining needs.
Lake Lotawana House Reconfiguration
The transformation of a lake home began with the client’s need for more bathrooms and bedrooms to accommodate extended family that gather here on summer weekends. With some “inside the box” thinking, Todd was able to add three baths and two bedrooms, all within the existing house footprint.
The client also preferred the street-side of the house to have a look that would be appropriate for a lake home. Todd proposed a shingle-style design for its coastal influence. The clients loved these adjustments and asked us to renovate the lake-facing side, too.
After studying the lake-side elevation, he recognized how the current deck was blocking the view down the hill to the lake. Todd proposed narrowing and covering the deck and lowering a patio to provide the needed entertaining space, but at a level that did not block the lake view. He shared that it has been such a delight to collaborate with the extended family and the builder to transform this house into a place that better meets this family’s needs.
Miami County Custom Home Design
After previously working with Todd on a remodel of their existing Ward Parkway home years ago. The client approached him about collaborating with them on the design of their new residence on acreage in Miami County, Kansas. The stunning land made for the perfect setting for their vision of a Tuscan farmhouse surrounded by the family’s horses and stables.
Rural Miami County House
What a pleasure it was for Todd to collaborate with the client and contractor on this home in the beautiful hills of Miami County, Kansas. The owners took advantage of the land topography by constructing a dam to create a expansive pond.
Our mission from the client was to take advantage of views to the newly created pond and to the sunset over the western hills. Drawing inspiration from images the owner shared, we proposed a house of several smaller, peaked-roof volumes instead of one larger volume. The scale and materials of these shapes are reminiscent of the scale and mass of old stone barns found in Kansas. Separating the garage from the house with a flat-roofed porch gives visitors a glimpse of the view to the lake and to the western sunset.
