Meet Brian Van Winkle
Brian, one of Vessel’s founding principals, has been doing some very interesting interventions on existing buildings. In the case of Cherry Hills Community Church, he and the team figured out a way to squeeze in a new, fully functional, commercial kitchen, revamp their Youth rooms, and alleviate some internal circulation issues they've been dealing with. The finished project will be a dramatic improvement for them. Meanwhile, as City Museum's architect, Brian has been helping them with a series of projects as they continue to enhance and improve the experience for their patrons. One of these projects was designing a maze feature, which Brian says was a 'fun' challenge. “We had to innovate a clever system where panels release when the fire alarm system is activated, showing the way for an easy and safe exit!” More recently he’s been improving the emergency egress system on the roof to increase capacity and safety, retrofitting a new elevator in an existing shaft, and introducing a new ADA fully accessible ramp in the lobby that will improve the flow of pedestrians and wheelchairs.
Outside of the office, Brian is gearing up for summer! He and his family will be embarking on a grand tour of two National Parks in their Airstream. It isn't huge (just a Bambi), so with wife Heidi, two kids, a dog, and bikes for everyone, it’s a tight fit, so hopefully, nobody gets 'voted off the island'. They’ll wrap up the tour by celebrating the 4th of July with family in Battlefield, MO (Site of the first battle of the Civil War. Don't believe us? Look it up!). And hopefully, since he’ll be so close, he will visit us all in the St. Louis office!
