2025 Economic Impact Awards 1-10 Years in Business Top Honors: Buf Architecture Studio LLC

Buf Architecture Studio LLC brings new life to Springfield’s underused spaces, attracting businesses and residents to the Queen City. Founded locally in May 2020, the firm’s origins took place in the thick of the COVID pandemic. Despite unprecedented challenges, both branches in Springfield and Bentonville, Arkansas, gained a footing with more than 30 projects across eight states in progress or completed in the first half of 2020.

“We made sure that we jumped on those and gave them the best service they could possibly get,” says Joel Thomas, principal of the Springfield office. “We were able to gain that trust right away and get return clients and return projects.”

The firm continued to expand and is looking to grow further into Kansas City and St. Louis markets. It recently introduced new industry sectors in health care, multifamily, commercial and multisite work. In 2024, completed and ongoing projects included the Mercy West Bypass Building and Mercy’s Frisco Building. Buf also designed The Heritage multiuse development, transforming the Heritage Cafeteria into a luxury apartment complex. Revamping underutilized spaces is important to Buf’s mission.

“You can take something that is existing and rework it and give it new life and give it a new purpose,” Thomas says. “That has a huge impact on the economy when you can take something like that in that type of area and just give it a facelift and bring it up to current standards.”

Similar projects by Buf include Hotel Vandivort, the Grooms Office Environments building and Hill City Church. Each improvement creates an economic ripple, officials say.

“You can see how much impact that the Vandivort hotel has had not just in the downtown but Springfield in general,” Thomas says. “The city and the county and the area can use that building as a marketing tool to entice people to come visit.”

Buf also brings people to the Queen City through employment. Fair pay with generous benefits keeps employees living long-term in Springfield, bolstering community health overall.

“I think giving some of those freedoms really helps us find people,” Thomas says. “As long as you pay them fairly, treat them fairly, they will stay loyal to you.”

Buf additionally creates a philanthropic impact through supporting local nonprofits including Harmony House LLC, the Child Advocacy Center Inc., Habitat for Humanity and Foundation for Springfield Public Schools.