Our History

1975 – 1985: Commitment to Community

In 1975, architects Willem deGroot and Tom Cullins started their own firm after having worked together at Burlington Associates, Architects and Planners.  Two years later, they merged with Eugene and Bill to form Alexander & Truex / DeGroot Cullins.  Rolf Kielman, who remains with the firm today, joined the team the following year in 1978.

Eugene and Bill had started the firm by reinforcing the public realm through urban planning. In the 1970s and 80s, this focus grew to include a more diverse array of public and private projects, many of national significance. The firm expanded on their involvement in the development of downtown Burlington and surrounding communities, demonstrating the importance of place-making through thoughtful people-centric design, with a conscious blending of the interior and exterior.

One of the most celebrated structures in downtown Burlington to this day is Saint Paul’s Cathedral, designed by Tom Cullins with Bill Henderson while at Burlington Associates in the early 1970s.  The design of Saint Paul’s Cathedral was the winning entry in a national architectural competition. The Cathedral sits on a bluff overlooking Lake Champlain and is a kind of spiritual lighthouse that marks the city’s urban and natural edges. The sanctuary walls and cloister form the urban edge, the entry to this religious monument presenting itself responsibly to the street front.

Alexander-Truex-deGroot became well known nationally for the development of regional blood centers.  Starting with the Vermont/New Hampshire Red Cross Blood Center in 1974, the firm went on to design blood centers in eight other states, including the highly praised Richmond Metropolitan Blood Center and the Greater Hartford Chapter American Red Cross Blood Center, recipient of an AIA VT award for Excellence in Architecture Design. All of this work was driven by Bill Truex’s passion to create open, inviting structures that celebrate the donor.

Other projects during this period include McAuliffe’s Office Products Center, winner of a National Design Award in 1973 and an example of creativity and innovation in an urban setting; and the Southwick Music Building at the University of Vermont, which contrasts the modern with early 20th-century revival, achieving a flattering effect not through imitation but through juxtaposition.  The building engages its users with a play on shadow and light.

The collective work by the firm in these early years advanced the notion that public architecture and planning can be accomplished with sustained commitment and creativity, and it reinforced the core belief that architects must be of service to their community.

A New Century: Four Design Studios

In the early 2000’s, TruexCullins continued its tradition of shaping public spaces and promoting holistic and integrated design.  In 2006 the firm refined its name to better reflect the combination of exterior and interior design expertise.

With the full name of TruexCullins Architecture and Interior Design, the firm organized its portfolio into four design studios: education, hospitality, residential, and workplace.  The work was carried out under the leadership of David Epstein, Richard Deane, Kim Deetjen, Lee Grutchfield, and Rolf Kielman.

The education studio offers architectural design and master planning services for K-12 and higher education institutions.  The work of the education studio has touched five continents, from Brazil to Russia to Madagascar.  The Anglo-American School of Sofia was awarded LEED-Gold Certification for a major expansion of its middle and high school.

The hospitality studio built a portfolio of hotels and recreational facilities that offer peaceful refuge from day to day life. This work began with ski lodges of the green mountains, and soon grew to include mountain resorts in the Adirondacks and the Rockies.  Lake Placid Lodge is a luxurious 35 guest suite inn that combines rustic elegance with the comfort of a mountain retreat, designed in the tradition of the grand Adirondack lodges of the turn of the century.

The residential studio develops personal solutions for clients,  including an increasing number of net-zero homes that produce as much energy as they consume. Advances in energy innovation were realized in projects such as South Farm Homes, a collection of six net-zero energy houses clustered on a south-facing hillside in central Vermont.

In the workplace studio, TruexCullins is pushing the envelope with high performance commercial buildings that rise to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.  One such example was the LEED-Gold Certified aircraft hangar and public terminal for Heritage Aviation at the Burlington International Airport.  A 1955-era Air National Guard hangar was stripped down to the steel and rebuilt as a model of sustainability for the aviation industry.

The interior design studio grew to specialize in hospitality design, producing site-specific design solutions uniquely tied to their locale, from Maine to California. At Hotel Vermont, the locavore movement was expanded to the interior design for a uniquely branded guest experience that is specific to the property and its location.