|
 
If you walk into a major
business building in St. Louis, there’s a good chance
you’ll see the work of Wendy Gray and the Gray Design
Group. Photo by Rob Hill
|
Extraordinary
Design Solutions
By John Beahler
Note: This story was published originally
in the winter 2004 issue of MIZZOU, the magazine of the MU Alumni
Association.
If you’ve ever remodeled your own home,
you probably know how exasperating it can be. Refurbishing just
a few hundred square feet of space can involve a few hundred mind-numbing
decisions.
Now consider a day in the life of Wendy Gray,
CEO and founder of the Gray Design Group in St. Louis. She and
her employees are responsible for planning more than 5 million
square feet of commercial space each year.
Gray, BS HES ’78, started her architectural,
interior design, graphics and planning firm in 1982. Since then
it’s grown into the largest in St. Louis. Her company has
changed the Gateway City’s corporate landscape with its
work for Nestle Purina Petcare, Rawlings, Boeing, Commerce Banks,
State Farm Insurance, Sara Lee Bakery and other area business
giants.
The challenge always is to finish projects
on time and within budget. Interior design can improve employee
morale and productivity, and it sets the tone for a corporate
image, Gray says. “When you walk into a company’s
offices, you get an immediate impression about that firm.”
Fresh out of Mizzou’s interior design
program, Gray’s first project was working for a St. Louis
architectural firm to design the Westport Playhouse, a 1,000-seat
theater-in-the-round in St. Louis County. Over the years, her
firm has planned projects including aeronautical flight-simulator
training centers nationally and the St. Louis Symphony’s
Powell Club.
During the heady days of the go-go ’90s,
the Gray Group opened new offices in Denver, Colorado Springs
and Fort Myers, Fla. When the dot.coms turned into dot.bombs,
Gray had to downsize and close her Colorado offices.
“Expanding was easy; the contraction
has been difficult,” she says. “However, I really
do see that turning around, so you always have to be flexible.”
Does Gray have any advice for up-and-coming designers? “To
passionately pursue design solutions beyond the ordinary.”
Archives
| Comments | Home SUBSCRIPTIONS
Subscribe
| Change Your
Address | Unsubscribe
Copyright © 2007 — Curators of the University of Missouri
DMCA and other copyright information.
All rights reserved.
An equal opportunity/ADA institution.
Published by the Mizzou Alumni Association
Questions? Comments? E-mail comments@mizzoualumni.org
Last Update:
March 12, 2007
|
