Tag Archives: Erik Ulland

From a young age Erik was always drawing. For him, there was only one option when it came to being asked what he wanted to be when he grew up. Here is an inside look at the inspiration behind Erik’s journey:

You could say one of my first memories was wanting to be an architect. Since I was very, very little it has been my dream. I’ve always loved to design and build things.

At 7-years-old I entered a local contest to “Draw Your Dream House.”  I drew the tree house shown above and won the competition. They put my picture in the paper! It was one of those moments where you just know you are doing the right thing. It was exciting and fun.

I was in a drafting class in high school where I competed in speed drafting, and won first place in state and went on to place 7th in the nation. This was a really big honor and it gave me the confidence to draw up a set of house plans in high school for a young couple that they then had built. Seeing your work come to life was a very rewarding experience.

I love the ability of designing a space in my head, putting it on paper, having it built and the client experiencing the space we initially envisioned. I have worked with hundreds of people over the years and strive to make every one of them happy by enriching their lives through architecture.

Erik Ulland, one of our partners, recently won the Houzz Best of Remodeling Award for his laundry room design. For the full article, click here.

Saturday, November 10th, Barkitecture took over the 2nd St. District as people walked the gallery of dog houses along the street. A project of Animal Lovers of Austin, Inc., Barkitecture brings together the city’s best architects and designers to create one of a kind dog houses. These works of art are then sold via silent auction during the event. Proceeds from the event benefit local dog rescue organizations.
h+uo has entered the competition a few times over the years. This year, the idea behind the design was to take the traditional dog house shape and envelope it with a modern and sustainable exterior. The traditional dog house shape can be seen as the “negative” or inside border of the framing. Salvaged Ipe wood (provided by Franklin Alan) was used for the base and as the securing mechanism for the plastic covering. Ipe, which is a very hard wood, required pre-drilling for all screws. The material used for the roofing/wall material is Polygal (purchased at regal Plastics). This material was a bit of a challenge to work with as its rigid nature made bending the materials around the arc of the framing fairly difficult. With a little team work. we were able to fasten it down. We’re pretty thrilled with the result! Special thanks to Bravo Interior Design for their input on the design!

Also of interest! – This year, our design was featured on houzz.com! Click here to read the full article and to see images of other dog house designs that made a splash at this year’s event.

FROM DESIGN TO THE STREET!