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Family enterprises build up communities by sustaining the business traditions, skills, and leadership that are the strength of past generations. Two multigenerational businesses teaming up in a modern environment with traditional work ethic are UCI Architects and Wu & Associates Inc. Mr. Ignatius Wang and daughter Fon have run a parallel architecture and design course to Mr. Raymond Wu and son Kirby’s construction and engineering that has crossed paths numerous times with award honors and trade associations.

The latest intersection, a joint project at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, ME, highlights the strength of such a partnership and creates an ideal opportunity for the two firms to show how adept multigenerational businesses are at meeting challenges in a dynamic field.

The $1.6 million design-build project focuses on the historic restoration of Building 55 so that it may remain an integral part of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Historic District while meeting LEED® Silver certified energy efficiency
requirements. The compatibility of preservation and sustainable design lies in the conservation of embodied energy and reuse of existing building materials. In the same way, Kirby and Fon hope to use the hard earned expertise of their fathers to cultivate new success in the burgeoning field of historic sustainability.

“Historic Preservation and sustainable design is often seen as being at odds. Building owners and architects often find themselves choosing the priorities of one to meet points for the other. The renovation of Building 55 will illustrate preservation and sustainability working hand-in-hand to realize the goals of ecological sustainability, economic sustainability and cultural sustainability,” explains Fon Wang, UCI Architects.

"Wu & Associates has received wide-ranging recognition for our leadership in both preservation and sustainability. The current opportunity to work with the Navy and UCI to showcase sustainable preservation is quite exciting, and we are anticipate more such projects to be supported by federal clients throughout the northeast," said Kirby Wu, Wu & Associates, Inc.