About

With our dynamic team of architects, designers, and urban planners, we have the hands-on experience and technical acumen to tackle a multitude of projects: new build, adaptive reuse, historic preservation, comprehensive urban plans, downtown revitalization studies, conceptual development, building proformas, and historic tax credit consulting.

Since our founding, we have created a diverse portfolio of historic renovation and adaptive reuse projects that not only honor our collective histories but also contribute to many communities’ density and sustainability goals. Along the way, we have become fluent in the language of building project finances, capital stacks, and bridging the finance gaps in historic project funding, guiding our clients through the numerous state and local tax credit opportunities.

In 1982, our founder Gary W. Anderson, was troubled by the constant abandonment of downtown building stock for the sake of new development. He decided he wanted to change the trajectory of his own community—Rockford, IL—creating Gary W. Anderson Architects. His visionary perspective focused on honoring the city’s unique architectural history was groundbreaking.

In 2020, Gary W. Anderson Architects became Studio GWA, a nod to the past while forging ahead with a renewed purpose to impact our communities through the design, and often re-design, of our building infrastructure and urban cores. In our 40th year of business, Gary entrusted the firm and his legacy to our three Principals—Jennifer Spencer, Ashley Sarver, and Aaron Holverson.

No challenge is too big for our dynamic team that thrives on stretching our capabilities to make the improbable quite possible.