During July of 2022, DEMX architecture took our first annual field trip since COVID began to the Plano/Dallas/Fort Worth area with Evo Business Environments. Evo specializes in interior construction products and has been helping designers create beautiful and innovative spaces for 9 years through furniture, walls, millwork, and conference technologies. These excursions are a great inspiration for our team, our work, and our creativity. We pack a lot of cool architecture, interior design, and good food into three days. Keep scrolling to see some highlights from the trip!
The first day, we stopped for lunch after our 5 hour drive that morning. Based off our interior designer’s recommendation, we enjoyed ALOT of delicious authentic Persian & Mediterranean cuisine at Shiraz. Shortly after, we checked into our hotel and prepared for the rest of the night. While some people rested in their rooms, others were enjoying playing pool in the hotel lobby. Finally, it was time for dinner! Evo treated us to dinner at Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse. Even with many trips to the salad bar and numerous servings of steak, we still found room for dessert. After dinner, we decided the night was still young and went to PINSTACK. We rock climbed, bowled, and had a few cocktails to end the night.
On the second day, DEMX and Evo met in the lobby for some coffee before heading to Herman Miller Knoll’s showrooms in the Design District. We were greeted with breakfast treats before starting the tour. Our guide, Michael Francis, was very insightful on the furniture design world and all the different possibilities there were with the Herman Miller Knoll lines. After sitting and touching on all the furniture, we headed out for lunch for some Mexican cuisine at El Bolero.
After lunch, it was time to visit DIRTT (Doing It Right This Time) at their home office in Dallas. We explored the showroom with Thomas Wright, which featured dozens of different interior infrastructures that we can use in our designs including walls, doors, casework, and floors. We ended the tour with their ICEreality Experience. This experience, with the help of virtual reality tools, put us in spaces where we could see the DIRTT products in action. We were able to interact with the doors, change the materials, and so much more, which is great for showing clients their potential space and for designers to better visualize their work. What made it more fun was that our avatars were giant ice cream cones! While we kept playing with the high-tech toys, we opened a bottle of wine and just enjoyed each other’s company. We worked up an appetite after all the virtual reality fun, so we all headed to Haywire for dinner. DIRTT had wine and appetizers waiting for us on the rooftop! On our way out, we grabbed a few cigars and headed back to the hotel. We ended the night with pool by the hotel bar and baggo outside.
On our last day, we began the morning by touring the Clarus Glass Factory with Trey Harris. It was really neat to see their production and careful handling with all the glass products. We saw glass whiteboards, graphic printed glass, glass walls, and more. We even got a sneak peak of an upcoming product they have been working on!
We then headed over to the Kimbell Art Museum (always a must see!) and took a private tour of the auditorium and administrative offices on the second floor where we went through a hidden door and touched the top of the concrete vault before wandering through the rest of the museum. After the museum, we went next door to view one of Marlon Blackwell Architects’ projects currently under construction. Then we grabbed a bite to eat at the Woodshed Smokehouse for some wood burned deliciousness. Once we were full, we went to the Irving Convention Center to look at some Barrisol lighting products. We happened to stumble across the Building Professional Institute Convention and popped in to talk with some people and check out the booths. Then it was time to hit the road back to Fayetteville!
DEMX had such a great and insightful trip with Evo, learning about new and old products and systems, enjoying some delicious food and drinks, and seeing great architecture and interior design. Thank you, Evo, and we will see you on the next trip!