Feb. 11, 2020

This week’s Up-and-Comer is Tom Hurlbert, principal architect at Co-op Architecture.

Name: Tom Hurlbert

Age: 42

Hometown: Aberdeen

What brought you to Sioux Falls?

The random chances in life.

What keeps you in Sioux Falls?

My sweetheart, my business, and I really like it here.

What’s your favorite thing about your job?  

First of all, I like going to work. I like the people I work with. They’re fun and very, very, talented. Second, I meet clients and, in a way, slip into their professional world a bit. I learn all about how they operate, what really matters and what they need to be successful. Just when you start seeing the pieces come together, you get to start all over again. It’s a very rewarding profession, and you have your fingerprints scattered around the city and state in built form. And third, I get to bring my wiener dog, Wild Bill Hickok, to work.

How did you get connected to your industry?

My old man, Hollis Hurlbert, was a general contractor. When architects had to stay the night in town, my dad put them up in our guest bedroom. So I met architects at home at my dinner table. Any architect or general contractor doing publicly bid work knows this isn’t a common thing. It was a great lesson. I also read “The Fountainhead” as a senior in high school, which helped set the hook.

What has been the biggest surprise about being a business owner?

Quite often, the best design doesn’t win the day, the best relationships do. They didn’t mention this fact once in architecture school, and if they did, I probably missed it while trying to come up with the better design.

Describe Co-op Architecture in three words.

Let’s do better.

What’s your favorite way to give back to your community?  

There’s an adage that when you’re young you can give time and when you’re older you can give money. I’m really impressed by folks that do both, but you have to be involved and give time if you’re going to leave it better than you found it. I’m currently the president of AIA South Dakota, a trustee on the South Dakota State Historical Society, president of the McKennan Park Neighborhood Association, chair of the downtown Sioux Falls BID board, on the Catholic Diocese building committee and involved in various other committees and organizations.

What’s one business you’d like to see in Sioux Falls that isn’t here now? Or, if you’d prefer, what is one project you’d like to work on that doesn’t exist today?  

The skyline of downtown Sioux Falls will change significantly before my career is over. I want to help shape it. Maybe it’ll be in the form of a cross-laminated timber, mixed-use high-rise. Or a cool museum. Or a baseball park.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

I don’t want to do all the architecture work in Sioux Falls or South Dakota, but I want to be the architect you call for the projects that really matter, that really need creativity and problem-solving. The next five years are going to be great years.