Glen Oxford is a licensed architect in 46 states plus the District of Columbia, but he calls Nashville home.
Many of his resulting designs beckon to people so much, they take selfies in front of them. His clients report getting unsolicited, frequent offers to purchase their homes. He says Nashville design styles are more open and noticeably different now, compared to when he started as a Music City architect during the 1980s, which were more American Foursquare, Tudorish or Georgian in flavor.
"Don't be afraid to step outside of the box in Nashville home designs. There are many contemporary elements to explore, and ways to bridge traditional and modern concepts," he assures. "We can still stay within the distinctive feel of neighborhoods while also creating places to be really proud of."
Suffice it to say Glen loves the minutiae of designing, and the history of building. He has since high school. Having studied the geometric and flow factors of design pioneers -- such as American architects Frank Lloyd Wright and Bruce Goff and Swiss urban planner Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret) -- Glen relishes planning how to best combine colors, forms, space, textures, patterns, lines and light, especially natural light.
During an Auburn University college design challenge, Glen says he found it thrilling to make a cardboard-only chair to hold up 300 pounds. Many of his classmates opted out of that dare to test their chairs. Glen, on the other hand, sealed that inspiration into his entire career by continuing to challenge himself to leave indelible touches and an overall stamp on his projects.
With a self-professed approach that could be considered "clean, minimalist-inspired and client-driven," Glen's straight-line palette oozes with thorough details. However, it's a bit challenging for him to describe himself confined to any one given style. Perhaps his initial architectural prowess was shaped from places his father's U.S. Air Force position prompted his family to live, such as France. Or maybe it's the Danish furniture his parents collected that added to his sense of clean lines, high-quality, stability and organic feng shui. Regardless of what adjectives might describe his work, this Californian-born designer's vision and results are sought by people across the country.
The Oxford Architecture Process
Glen's Nashville-based firm, Oxford Architecture, handles residential and specialty projects, as well as all types of commercial, including restaurants, retail stores and offices.
He and his team navigate quite a bit of private construction in hilly terrains, as well as multiyear, complicated retail build-outs.
"Residential design is the most personal design process you can engage in, sometimes with a family you have never met before, but who, through time, becomes close. You have to understand your clients' every wants and desires to make the project a success, to make the house a home," says this thought-provoking architect.
Before agreeing to projects, Glen says he starts with an interview process in which the goal is to evoke clients' preferences and visions to see if his firm and they are a good match with which to proceed together. "To be a good fit, everyone needs to be 100% into the project," he adds.
Glen says once new clients see designs and live with them for a while, they discuss any potential changes, followed by pictures of examples to incorporate what can be modified.
He states they're doing some interesting, new drone and Lidar work that scans and documents where in a building all the electrical wires and plumbing can be found to 1/16-inch accuracy. "The Lidar scans a billion points and we provide that schematic to building or home owners so they'll always have a record of where to find those critical elements," he says.
Personal Spaces
In Nashville, he and his wife, Rozanne Jackson, live in a house that was built in 1912.
However, Rozanne's also a designer and recipient of the coveted Southeastern Residential Designer of the Year award from the Atlanta Design Center and Veranda magazine. Her interior design style as founder of Rozanne Jackson Interiors and The Iron Gate has been described as beautiful functional interiors, using an abundance of natural elements, textures and exciting details with classic, one-of-a-kind elements. Together, they are known as a design power couple. Although their businesses are separate yet occupying the same office, they sometimes collaborate, and an ideal time to do that was when they built a modern, minimalized-oriented home in Alys Beach, Florida. It has a picturesque entrance with an open tower reaching 25 feet at its apex.
Glen says they currently are in Nashville about two-thirds of the year, but hope to eventually get to a 50-50 split between the two residences. His family first moved to the Nashville area in 1960 to be near a former military base in Smyrna, so he's seen the area's large evolution. After graduating college and working in Nashville, he relocated to North Carolina, but his Nashville roots drew him back.
In Florida, he says he got to employ his instinctive style for symmetrical designs, which often are about "seeing straight through a house."
"I focus on where a person's eyes go in any design. It's just as important to determine what people will see at the end of a sidewalk, out a bathroom window or down to a particular terminus as it is to consider what guests see in an entertainment area. Each building prompts certain vibes," says Glen.
What does this architect have on his architectural bucket list? Glen reveals both he and Rozanne hope to build a house in the woods, filled with modern oak and glass. "We'll design the house around the land," he quickly wagers.
Glen says he's enthused by the number of people currently moving to Nashville from states such as California and New York. "It's so interesting to discuss with people where within houses they will spend the most time."
Even with newcomers, Glen vows he'll lead them through an approach infused with patience, lighting and alignment of elements that nobody will see unless studied.
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