Ozarks Profile: Ben L.E. Webb

How did you end up in this position?

We split up a large firm in 1987 and I elected to be by myself, not wanting employees again, and have found that I really enjoy a more personal contact with the clients that way. I developed Webb & Associates Architects at that time, and then in 1988, worked toward my real estate license, which in turn created Webb & Associates Real Estate & Development. I, over the years, have been involved in more than 150 restaurants, 64 hotels and resorts, numerous convenience stores, and felt that the hospitality area would probably be a good place to specialize and market on the Internet. With that thought in mind I developed a la cart Architects for that specifically. And in the process of doing projects over the last few years, (I) came in contact with David Foster, who is a consultant in the hospitality industry locally, and he has been involved on projects nationally on the management and operations side. So we seem to make a very good team, and in the process of all this evolution, we have now created a la cart Services, which covers the full gamut. It's an umbrella firm that covers both his services and mine, and we can go in and offer the full package.

Tell us about your career history.

I graduated high school in 1969 from Parkview, and graduated in 1974 from Kansas State University with a bachelor's of architecture. Upon returning here, I worked with three firms here in town, and then in 1980 went into partnership in Allmon-Webb Architects. About that same time, we were in the process of starting the School of Architecture at Drury. I started that program and was the first full-time faculty member and the first coordinator of the program, and taught there 12 years, along with having my practice. From Allmon-Webb Architects, we developed Allmon Webb Williams Architects, and that's the one we split up in the late 1980s.

Why do you choose to keep your architecture firms small?

About a third of the firms nationally, and locally also... are one- to two-man firms. So we intentionally stay small to provide personal service to our clients and have direct contact as the principals with the clients.

How has architecture changed?

People are becoming more excited about the understanding that they can express their philosophy toward their business and their home or the place they occupy. They can express that personality or the standard that they want to present in the building that they occupy. I'm seeing more people allow us to truly express those things as opposed to being scared to death about allowing those things to occur.