EVIA Wins CVG’s 2019 Architecture Business Plan Competition
The competition jury (M. Arthur Gensler Jr., FAIA, FIIDA, RIBA, Founder, Gensler; Matt Ostanik, AIA, Founder and Chairman of the Board, Charrette Venture Group; and Mark R. LePage, AIA, Founder, EntreArchitect) and the CVG team are pleased to announce that Leah Alissa Bayer and her firm, EVIA, have won CVG’s Fifth Annual Architecture Business Plan Competition. EVIA stands for “Evolving Integrated Architecture.”
Jurors and CVG facilitators interviewed three finalists by video on April 23rd, 2019. (Top: CVG’s Todd L. Reding and Emily Hall, facilitators, Middle: Juror Mark R. LePage and Leah Alissa Bayer, EVIA); Bottom: Jurors Art Gensler and Matt Ostanik)
Leah describes her Palo Alto-based architecture firm as “an ambitious new architect-led research, design, and development firm specializing in creating contextually sensitive, story-rich, and future-minded single and multi-family residences. We design and manage beautiful, high-performing, resilient housing for the modern lifestyle along the Pacific West Coast with local offices in the Bay Area, California and Bellingham, Washington and a professional team spread across the US.”
EVIA’s conceptual plan for the main residence of an off-grid, extreme environment, resilient residential development in Hawaii.
Operating as both designer and developer, EVIA’s innovative business model aims to tackle "increasing housing shortages, eminent climate change, and the financial distress of young generations" by creating "more high-quality, resilient homes that support modern lifestyles.” Through a strategically-phased launch of multiple business facets, EVIA’s vision includes:
EVIA, Inc.: A social purpose corporation managing the administrative functions of all business facets.
EVIA X: The (partially crowdfunded) real estate development facet of EVIA focused on creating affordable and healthy multi-family communities.
EVIA Studio: A multi-disciplinary, virtual architecture and engineering team designing designing a variety of high performance housing solutions.
EVIA Labs: A research team studying and testing new approaches to design, construction, materials, and lifestyle habits.
EVIA Nexus: An online social platform for people to review, compare, and discuss their home's performance data with their local community.
EVIA’s conceptual elevation for a mid-rise multifamily development in Mountain View, CA
The jury was impressed with EVIA’s ambitious long-term vision for her company, combined with her highly organized plan for introducing new business facets and scaling existing facets. They noted Leah’s excellent presentation and her balanced, overall grasp of the multiple pieces required for EVIA to succeed. “She really did her homework,” juror Art Gensler stated.
Bayer notes, “As a new founder, the competition was such a valuable experience and one that I whole-heartedly recommend to any entrepreneurial firm out there starting to get off the ground. Just by participating in the process, I was finally able to focus and clarify the thoughts and dreams I’ve had about my business that had been swirling around in my mind for years. With valuable feedback from the jury of awesomely successful leaders, EVIA now has a solid, detailed plan to inspire us as we grow and guide us as we move forward. We are so much more organized and empowered because of this process.”
Congratulations, Leah! We’re looking forward to tracking your success over the years!
For more information about EVIA, visit https://www.eviastudio.com/ or email Leah at leah@eviastudio.com. To be put on the mailing list for next year’s CVG Architecture Business Plan Announcements, email emily@charrettevg.com.