Local architecture firm celebrates 15-year anniversary

LEAVENWORTH — Leavenworth-based architecture firm Syndicate Smith is celebrating 15 years of design in the community.

The company was founded in 2010 by Leavenworth-native Todd Smith, and has since grown from a solo practice to a nine-person architecture and interior design studio. Last year, the firm expanded with the addition of Steven Booher as partner. 

The firm’s origins trace back to Smith’s work on Icicle Brewing Company, a project he credits with bringing him home to Leavenworth and setting the foundation for Syndicate Smith. While at a Seattle-based firm, Smith was approached by Icicle Brewing owners Pamela and Oliver Brulotte – through hometown connections – to design their brewery.

The project became both a professional milestone and a personal turning point, inspiring Smith to return home and launch his own firm. The steady growth of both companies forged a long-running collaboration; Booher joined Syndicate Smith in 2014 as Icicle Brewing expanded faster than its facilities could accommodate. As Smith puts it, Booher took the reins on his “most cherished project in town,” leading the remodels and expansions.

“The biggest thing that we're proud of with that project is actually probably not the architecture. It's just that it is a community gathering place…Having had a hand in helping create that place in town for everybody, I think, is what makes it extra special for us,” said Booher.

Since the catalyst of Icicle Brewing Company, Syndicate Smith has built a portfolio of work from Orcas Island to the Columbia River, with Leavenworth at the heart. With each project, the architects must adhere to the needs of every individual site, considering details like the position of the sun, the terrain, and varying weather.

For Leavenworth, this criteria is especially unique, with limited easy-to-develop land, a temperature range of 120 degrees over the seasons, and environmental threats like flooding, extreme winter conditions, and wildfires.

“It is fairly unique to have that extensive set of criteria…You have to find the right balance on every project to solve that puzzle, and it's never formulaic in that you can apply the same solution to every project,” said Booher.

By working with complex sites rather than against them, Smith and Booher often discover solutions that are more creative, seamless, and environmentally sustainable.

One of Syndicate Smith’s most distinctive projects is Icicle House 03: a three-story home tucked up Icicle Road. To reach the property, builders had to cross two private bridges over Icicle Creek, which could not support the weight of heavy well-drilling rigs. Positioned along the north slope of a mountain next to the river, the site itself was steep and rocky, had tight setbacks, and received minimal sunlight.

“It's a very funky looking house…It's very unique looking, and the aesthetics were partly born out of all the difficulties of the site and the project,” said Booher.

For Icicle House 03, it meant reducing the foundation footprint, building upward, and incorporating as many windows as possible. Instead of a well, they built a rooftop deck that doubles as a rainwater cistern, which collects and treats rainwater for safe drinking.

“What we really excel at is figuring out, or cracking the nut of people finding places that they want this experience – embedded in nature and embedded in these really distinct locales – and giving unique solutions to afford them that solace…The result is really cool architecture that's not boring,” said Smith.

As Syndicate Smith looks to the future, Booher and Smith view their partnership as a way to balance designing exceptional projects with broadening their vision as a business. This includes growing a talented team in Leavenworth, by fostering small towns and rural communities as meaningful places to develop professionally – not just large cities – and introducing architecture as a career path to local students through guest lectures, site visits, and internships.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media