The Architectural Studio

Lance Malley leads the legacy design firm in preserving the past, and designing for the future

by

House & Home

On the corner of Lance Malley’s desk is a chunk of limestone, about the size of a football helmet. And in front of him, amid the paperwork and office detritus, is a thick file of yellowing papers—a sketch of the Louisiana State Capitol on the cover. 

Malley, the lead architect at The Architectural Studio (TAS) in Baton Rouge, has been working on the State Capitol since he was an intern at the firm almost twenty years ago. At the time, TAS was overseeing a $34 million modern redesign of the capitol’s circa-1949 mechanical system. 

However, the firm’s relationship with the iconic structure, the tallest state capitol building in the United States, goes back even farther—to 1993, when TAS founder Jimmy Dodds partnered with Louisiana State Capitol Architect Charles E. Schwing to clean and repaint the Alabama limestone exterior. 

Today, Malley and his team are preparing to oversee a full exterior rehabilitation, estimated to cost $113.9 million. The project will take more than twenty years to complete, requiring multiple phases of research and preparation work, and depending on the availability of state funds.

“It’s been nearly one hundred years, and the limestone veneer has never had a true restoration done to it,” said Malley, explaining that the rock on his desk was actually a piece that had come detached from the building itself. As of July 1, $31.7 million has officially been set aside by Governor Jeff Landry and state lawmakers for the first phase—waterproofing the exterior to prep for a thorough cleaning. In the coming months, Malley said, Louisiana residents will begin to notice the erection of scaffolding around the tower. 

“We did some investigation and found that [the Capitol] really did have some critical needs that need to be addressed sooner than later,” said Annie Sauser, who works with Malley at TAS as the firm’s on-staff historical preservationist. “We recommended that instead of doing a little piece here, a little piece there—in phases—they do the whole tower at once. And [legislators] were very good about listening to us.” 

“The exterior limestone,” said Malley, “and limestone supports, are getting the full rehabilitation, conservation treatment—ensuring that it’s safe and secure, and that it’ll last for another one hundred years.” 

“It’s a big deal of a project,” said Sauser. “It really is.” 

“You want to keep the historical fabric of the building as it’s always been." —Lance Malley, architect

The Louisiana State Capitol building was constructed in the early 1930s at the behest of Governor Huey P. Long, designed by the architectural firm Weiss,

Dreyfous, and Seiferth. It was intended to represent a new era for a prosperous Louisiana, and is a foundational example of Art Deco architecture—embellished with symbolism in the form of figurative sculptures and bas relief carvings. 

To preserve not only the historical significance of such a building, but also its symbolic stature, is a monumental responsibility for an architecture firm—and one that Malley and his team take seriously. The goal, in enacting a restoration as significant and invasive as this one, is for the building to look as though they were never there.  

“You want to keep the historical fabric of the building as it’s always been,” said Malley, who spends significant time in the archives, researching the history of the projects to which he contributes. Looking through Weiss, Dreyfous, and Seiferth’s original specs, he meticulously works to understand why the architects made the choices they made, and what their vision was. “We really like to understand the history of the buildings and try to present things as they would have been presented when they were first constructed, so the intent of the original design and architects is maintained and not distorted.” 

This philosophy carries forth in all of the historic restorations undertaken by The Architectural Studio, with the invaluable insight of Sauser, who has over thirty-five years of experience working in historical preservation architecture across the country. She ensures that all TAS historical projects are meeting the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. 

The firm has led some of the region’s most exciting undertakings in this space, including the Old State Capitol and Oakley House—the early nineteenth century home where John James Audubon famously produced thirty-two of his Birds of America paintings. 

“One of my goals [for full historic restorations] is to—when you walk into this place—recreate what it would have been like when it was first built,” said Malley, describing how our idea of what something looked like can often be blurred and obscured over time.  “How do we best represent a moment in time? I always feel like I’ve achieved something when I can do that.” For Oakley, the team was especially proud to be able to uncover, through microscopic testing, the original paint colors used on the home and recreate them exactly. 

In addition to these time capsule projects, The Architectural Studio leads countless historical renovations that preserve old buildings by adapting them for modern use. “Those fall more into revitalization,” said Malley. “There, we get to use a little bit more creativity, maintaining the historical aspects, as well as repurposing the building for a new purpose.” 

[Read this story about the regionally-specific challenges of another Louisiana architecture firm, emerymcclure: "In Louisiana, Innovation is our Tradition".]

Some examples of these adaptive reuse ventures include the 2013 transformation of the circa-1908 American Paint Works warehouse building in New Orleans’s Garden District into the Josephine Lofts. The new design used the century-old building’s original materials—like brick, timbers, and plaster—and unparalleled views of the Mississippi River as the starting point and inspiration for contemporary, luxury living spaces, securing its enduring place in the cityscape. 

In 2014, TAS received the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Rose Award for its revitalization of an abandoned building in Ferriday, Louisiana. Over the past decade, the resulting open-air pavilion known as Haney’s Big House (named for Ferriday’s iconic Chitlin’ Circuit dancehall that burned down in 1966), has become a center of the town’s rich musical heritage, and a community gathering place for concerts, festivals, farmers markets, and more. 

While Malley says he has a special passion for the historical preservation work The Architectural Studio has come to be known for, the firm’s scope goes far beyond that—working on commercial projects that include restaurants and bars, and even an aircraft hangar; as well as several multi-family complexes across the region. 

“Louisiana is definitely a tough environment to be an architect. From a climate standpoint, there are always concerns with the durability and quality of materials, as well as just creating spaces that live and breathe, considering the orientations of buildings and their relationship to the sun. All of that comes into play.” —Lance Malley 

“The diversity is what keeps it interesting,” said Malley. “It’s nice to have our hands in a few different things.” 

Currently, one of the firm’s biggest commissions is to design a new municipality complex in Ferriday—bringing a state-of-the-art police station, town hall, and fire department to the rural town. “Projects like that really have a huge impact,” said Malley. “And you can see it. Those are very rewarding.” 

One of the buildings he’s most proud of, though, and has had the most fun with, is Baton Rouge’s Mid City Beer Garden on Government Street—for which TAS won Rose and Member’s Choice Awards from the AIA  in 2020. 

Going into a project like that, Malley said one of the most challenging parts is helping a client to develop their vision. “It comes down to figuring out what their goals are, what their brand is, what they’re selling,” he said. “What is on their menu? Is it beer? Is it steaks? Once we understand the vibe they’re trying to present, we can get it into the language of architecture and design, and then we can get it into drawings.” 

Danielle Hunt, one of Malley’s partner architects at TAS, described the Beer Garden as her “baby.” “That was a client that really wanted to draw people in and have an experience,” she said, allowing for a project that is set apart from the tendency toward utilitarianism and efficiency in modern day construction in Louisiana (and the South at large). “I’ve found that in this region, today, architecture and design are not as valued as they are in other places,” she said. “And I think it’s perhaps because of our climate and the materials that have been available to us.” Besides certain historical buildings that have been elected worthy of being preserved, she notes that most things here haven’t been built to make an impact—or to last. 

“Louisiana is definitely a tough environment to be an architect,” said Malley. “From a climate standpoint, there are always concerns with the durability and quality of materials, as well as just creating spaces that live and breathe, considering the orientations of buildings and their relationship to the sun. All of that comes into play.” 

The Beer Garden was an opportunity for TAS to flex its muscles in aesthetics aligned with function, an atmosphere created with durability in mind. “When you can bring all of the things together—not just the building but the lighting, the mechanical systems, the structural systems, and they are coordinated really well, that’s really satisfying for me,” said Hunt. “I try really hard to push to make it so that everything is intentional, and on purpose.” 

[Read this: "Our Town—An intricate look into the life, work, and relationships of architect A. Hays Town"] 

Intentionality resounds throughout the Mid City Beer Garden, which is oriented with natural shade for year-round comfort; and designed to be a convertible space, with doors that can easily transform an indoor experience into an outdoor one. “It’s just wonderful to work with clients who are architecturally inspired,” said Malley. 

For the past four years, Malley has scratched some of that itch by acting as his own client. In 2021, he purchased, with the intent to restore, a circa-1915 Ford dealership on Ferdinand Street in St. Francisville. Here, TAS’s handiwork can be seen all over town—in local mainstays like The Francis, Restaurant 1796, Big River Pizza Co., and the soon-to-open Bayou Sara Brewery, as well as historical renovations of the West Feliciana Historical Society and Grace Episcopal Church. 

He called the Ford dealership his satellite office at the time, though now he admits it was truly just a passion project. “I worked on that for the past couple of years as designer, architect, and owner,” he said. “It was exciting to bring multiple faces of the trade together like that.”

He did it his way, attempting to peel back the layers of time (and literal sheetrock and wallpaper, floors and paint), returning it to the original designer’s vision. “With careful deconstruction, you can usually find enough DNA of the original building to understand how it began," he said. "That’s what I really enjoy.”

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