We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mike And Cindy Dingeldein. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mike and Cindy below.

Mike and Cindy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

After leaving partnership in a much larger firm, we founded our architecture and interior design practice – Community Design Alliance – with a mission focused on community revitalization.

Our hometown of Hamilton, Ohio is a mid size rust belt city that had lost our industrial backbone and was struggling economically and demographically, as well as with quality of life. One of the remaining assets of our industrial wealth was the very rich architectural fabric of our urban core and historic neighborhoods.

In partnership with our city government, the Hamilton Community Foundation and local financial institutions, we brought our architectural and interior design skills, as well as our knowledge of local history, to the mix as we collaborated to find ways to repurpose buildings and inspire new businesses. Once initial projects were visible, local private developers started to see a path forward and spirits rose along with a renewed sense of civic pride. Our City Manager and staff adopted an “all in” approach to attracting new businesses, new residents and improved quality of life amenities.

It sometimes seemed that we had too many balls in the air, but at the end of the day we stood shoulder to shoulder with these public and private partners. We are proud that the name Community Design Alliance truly reflects the mission of our firm.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

As we set about reframing our business and home life with the formation of Community Design Alliance, we initially focused solely on the revitalization of Hamilton’s urban core. Over the last 9 years, we have also returned to work in the K-12 education market, which is a project type that we have a special passion for, having worked in that market for 40+ years.

At CDA, our goal is to form alliances with other firms when needed to create large firm credentials and skill sets that allow us to design value for each and every client as a key part of our success. Our storefront office in the heart of downtown Hamilton is an integral part of who we are. Our team is made up of 10 dedicated architects, designers and support staff who make personal connections and use their skills to create places to live, work, play and create. We are linked to our local community through volunteerism and a long history of work; this, in combination with a willingness to reach out and partner with regional firms and clients, gives us a very unique perspective as a community-based practice.

Mike is a graduate of Miami University and is a 4th generation Hamiltonian. In addition to his architectural credentials he has a strong interest in community planning and is a member of the Congress for new Urbanism. As a leader, Mike guides his clients and team through the steps of programming, project priorities, budgets and designing solutions that meet the client’s goals. Mike highly values volunteerism and has played a vital role in our community.

Cindy is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of DAAP and over her career has mentored generations of interior designers. Her passion is guiding the CDA design team in the process of collaboration, colors, finishes, furniture and interior design elements. As an active member of the Hamilton community, she knows the value of building bridges between people and organizations.

We are very proud of our diversified book of work. We own the outcome of your project whether you are a start up business or a large educational facility – we are your committed partner to realize your vision. Some of our local clients include Sara’s House, Hamilton’s Urban Backyard, Spooky Nook Sports at Champion Mill, Hamilton Riverfront Flats, Carmagnola and The Grey restaurant and bar, the Hamilton Justice Center, the redevelopment of the former Elder Beerman Department Store, RiversEdge Amphitheater, and our most recent project which just broke ground – a new Fairfield Township Branch for The Lane Libraries. It is very rewarding to look at our High/Main downtown corridor and know that we have touched so many projects.

Our educational work includes projects for Worthington, New Albany, Lancaster, Athens, Springfield Clark, South Western, Canal Winchester and Pickaway Ross school districts, to name just a few. We have many long standing educational clients and relationships, which we value immensely.

We own a home in the Rossville Historic District that was designed by Hamilton native Frederick Mueller and built in 1904. We have lived and raised our twin daughters, Emma and Isabel (age 26) there and it gives us an appreciation for the challenges of making an historic home viable for today’s life style. We have helped many others with sympathetic renovations and additions to their homes as part of our practice.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

We both started working at the same architectural firm in 1984. We were part of a team that allowed us to grow and take on more and more responsibility and we loved our careers. We both became partners and eventually got married. Our path forward seemed clear and steady. We balanced work and our growing family and enjoyed the ability to live, work and play in the community where our firm was founded in 1901.

As the economy changed, it became clear that the model of a local Hamilton office was not in sync with the firm’s future vision and the time came for us to make a huge and life changing decision. We left our comfort zone and created a small firm model with the formation of Community Design Alliance, which reflected our own vision of what we wanted our work life and home life to be. We also saw the opportunity and potential to help reinvent our city as an invigorating pivot for our professional skills and to continue the legacy of an architectural practice in Hamilton.

We would like to think that we could see possibilities where many could not. We did this in our 50’s with twin daughters in middle school and college looming. It was an exciting, as well as an extremely un-nerving, time. We often reflect about that decision and the impact it had on our life and we look back now with no regrets.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

We believe strongly in owning our clients’ success before our own. What we mean by that is truly being a partner with our clients and fully embracing their mission. As architects, it is often easy to put our design aspirations forward as a reflection of our own vision; instead we need to focus on representing our client’s vision in our architectural solutions.

We also work hard to give back to our community and build personal connections. We are lucky to have been able to succeed with doing very minimal marketing. We strive to be the “go to” source for clients of all sizes and types, and hope that when people are looking for architecture and design services in our area, we are the first firm to come to mind.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cdalliance.net
• Facebook: Community Design Alliance
• Linkedin: Cindy Kilpatrick Dingeldein / Mike Dingeldein