Religious Symbols Serve as Holiday Reminders

Over the next two weeks, many people will be engaged in places of worship. Christians will celebrate Christmas, Jews will celebrate Hanukkah and Muslims will celebrate Mawlid an-Nabi. The symbols inside these places of worship depict the values and traditions of the faith. The challenge to creatively capture and incorporate these images into a design leads to a more meaningful worship experience.

At the chapel for Christ Church Episcopal School, Craig Gaulden Davis designed the communion railing of wrought iron grape vines and wheat imagery in the bases that support the communion table. For Christians, both of these strong symbols represent the body and blood of Christ's atoning sacrifice for humanity. At the Prince of Peace Catholic Cathedral, custom designed door hardware incorporates sheaves of wheat to represent believers in Christ.

CGD believes that such details are integral to the design and enhance the overall worship experiences for those who enter these spaces. The old saying, "the devil is in the details" refers to the difficulties encountered in executing detailed work and the often mysterious elements that can be hidden within the detail. This phrase is derived from the more popular expression "God is in the details," which suggests that the challenges of creative work requires great rigor and leads to more inspiring results. At CGD,we believe the latter phrase more accurately describes our design approach.

Whatever your religion, we wish all of our clients and friends a happy and safe holiday season this year.

CGD Christmas Party = Design Opportunity

An ornament exchange is a long-standing tradition at the annual Craig Gaulden Davis Christmas party. Employees and their partners are each encouraged to bring a wrapped ornament for a lively exchange. Because of our creative tendencies, designing and hand making the ornament is not a requirement, but is strongly encouraged. The final products always amaze us and this year, quality reached an extremely high level. Newcomer Calvin Wright "raised the bar" with a beautiful star crafted of precision cut wood and metal. Copper is a popular material for ornaments, but PVC, plastic laminate, wood, coffee stir sticks, toothpicks and cotton socks were used this year. These unique ornaments add beauty and character to our Christmas trees and provide pleasant memories of fun times with former employees for many years afterward.

Additionally, this year's Christmas party included a doubles ping-pong competition. After losing in the first round, Calvin and his wife Becky (who were clearly the early favorites) came roaring from behind to win the championship. As usual, the CGD family enjoyed great food and warm fellowship at Bonnie and David Dixon's home.

CGD Gives Back

Giving back to the community is a major part of the firm's culture. During the holidays, our hearts naturally turn toward the real needs of families in our area. For several years now, CGD has adopted a family in need through the Salvation Army. During the last few weeks, employees have enjoyed purchasing, wrapping and delivering the gifts. Having worked closely with the Salvation Army to design the Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center, CGD's awareness of these local needs increased significantly and we are honored to continue work with the Salvation Army to support the outstanding programs and services that meet these needs with love and care.

A Time of Reflection and Vision of the Future

As we reflect on the year that was 2015, Craig Gaulden Davis created many inspiring structures that will serve our community and clients for generations to come. We have been blessed with new and repeat clients who have teamed with us during a highly productive year. We won awards for our work, but the personal accomplishments of our design family is a far more important part of our culture. This year, we celebrate the addition of two new employees. Additionally, one of our intern architects completed the exhaustive examination process to become a registered architect. Five of our architects completed the continuing education requirements to maintain the highest level of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.

Perhaps even more important to us, the health and happiness of our employees is paramount to the success of our firm. John Hansen is an incredibly talented and energetic architect who loves his life's work. John so enjoys designing beautiful buildings and supporting his clients in a way that often puts his work ahead of his health. This summer, with encouragement from his wife and the CGD family, John pledged to get more sleep and exercise and improve his diet. As with any of his projects, John was focused and determined and had an achievable strategy to accomplish his goal. As we close the year, John has seen a dramatic turnaround and is in outstanding shape, looks ten years younger and has an energy level that has motivated the entire office. John looks forward to a healthy, happy and prosperous 2016,and the CGD family enthusiastically shares his optimism.

We are thankful for our clients and look forward to collaborating on inspiring projects in the New Year. Blessings to all!