Building Satisfaction Architect Richard Becker ’79 finds great satisfaction in designing homes and automobile dealerships, because he knows the impact his work has on the people who use that space. “Winston Churchill once said, ‘We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us,’” says Becker, who founded Becker Architects Limited in 1982 with wife, Nancy Lieberstein ’78 (www.beckerarchitects.com). “People act differently inside than they do outside, and they behave differently in a bombedout building than they would in a decent building. A quality building can do a lot to raise the human spirit.” Becker and the eight other architects at his Chicago-based firm have improved the quality of life for their building’s end-users while garnering national attention. The firm’s work has been featured in major shelter publications, including Better Homes and Gardens, Remodeling, and Traditional Home, as well as profiled in a 13-episode run of HGTV’s Dream House. Becker has built the firm’s reputation and success by staying committed to his clients and providing them with full service, from initial meetings to the final stages of construction, including interior design. “It’s a way of assuring a unified vision for the inside and seeing the space as you and the client envisioned it,” says Becker, who received the School of Architecture’s 2004 Outstanding Alumni Award. Since founding his architecture firm, Becker has launched two spin-off companies: Becker Builders, a real estate development firm that builds new houses and offices; and Orange Loft, a company that develops and markets ArchiOffice (www.archioffice.com), management software for architecture firms, which he co-founded with two other SU alumni—Steven Burns ’80 and Gary Beyerl ’84. “Becker Builders has been satisfying, because I am driving the architectural side as well as making decisions the client normally gets to make,” he says. “and Orange Loft is a challenge because it’s a totally new kind of business for me. We now have hundreds of users, PC and Mac, around the world; it has had an unbelievably enthusiastic response since its debut in late 2003.” Despite his hectic work schedule, Becker has always made time to have a nightly family dinner with his wife and their five children, one of whom is currently a student at Syracuse University. “Having this family is the most important thing Nancy and I have done in our lives,” he says. “Raising them gives us the same kind of satisfaction as finishing a successful project.” —Margaret Costello
Syracuse University Magazine, Fall 2005