A conversation with architects Emily Andersen and Geoff DeOld, cofounders of DeOld Andersen Architecture. We talk about the purpose and possibility of architecture to enable human activity, strengthen neighborhoods, and activate public spaces, as well as how architecture can enable spaces to be both functional and beautiful. We also share a little of their own personal journeys and being a husband and wife creative business team.

Emily Andersen is a co-founding principal of DeOld Andersen Architecture, an architecture and design partnership based in Omaha, Nebraska. Emily is also a guest lecturer at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she has taught both fundamentals courses as well as upper-level undergraduate studios for the last nine years. Emily grew up in Nebraska but her practice has been informed by experience gained while working in New York City as an Associate Architect at Slade Architecture.

Geoff DeOld is a co-founding principal of DeOld Andersen Architecture, and is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Architecture. Prior to starting DAA in 2010 in Brooklyn, New York, Geoff was an Associate Principle at New York firm STUDIOS architecture, where he learned the practice of architecture working on headquarters for Bloomberg LP, Grey Advertising, and IAC.

DeOld Andersen Architecture’s interests lie in the design of buildings and spaces that always consider the public sphere.