Wheeler Alumni

Can you guess the first question 4th- and 5th-graders posed to guest speaker and architect Dan Wood ’85 during his recent visit to our Providence campus? It had less to do with the Angell Building’s design and more to do with his Wheeler spirit.

“What color are you?” a Lower Schooler asked. He’s Team Gold.

It’s a fitting spirit color for Mr. Wood who, along with his spouse, Amale Andraos, is the co-founder of .ac, a New York-based architecture and urban design firm that is the gold standard when it comes to addressing environmental and social challenges through innovative design. The firm received the 2023 Arts and Letters Award in Architecture and was named the #1 design firm in the U.S. by Architect Magazine, among other honors.

During their campus visit last month, Mr. Wood and Ms. Andraos talked about their multifaceted careers with both Lower and Upper Schoolers. As they shared examples of their projects near and far, each story reflected their commitment to understanding culture, tradition, art, science, and community engagement. Their work ranges from designing an immersive, sustainable, and accessible library in Colorado, to community centers in Mexico City, and – right here in Rhode Island, The River House, which is their own “passive” family home focused on reducing energy use.

In coming “home” to Wheeler, Mr. Wood said that one of the great things about being a student here was that the school exposed him to many different areas of interest. “There can be pressure to do well in every subject, but you also get to explore a lot of different worlds, and that helps you develop curiosity about the world around you.”

For Mr. Wood, curiosity and “constant learning” are what he loves most about being an architect. “Technologies change, the types of projects change, clients change, and even the kinds of buildings we design evolve. So when we’re doing research, we’re truly learning and discovering new things. That’s what makes it fun – you get to keep learning, almost like you get to stay in school.”

Read the full Alumni Spotlight on our website: https://www.wheelerschool.org/news/exploring-architecture-imagination-and-learning-at-wheeler-with-architects-dan-wood-85-and-amale-andraos/