OPN’s 40th Anniversary

2019 was a special year for OPN. To mark our 40th year, we celebrated by remembering our roots, honoring each other, and giving back to the communities that have played a monumental role in shaping our studios and firm. #OPN40

” This year is about all of you here today and all the others who have been a part of this journey in one way, shape, or another. It’s about saying thank you and making an impact on the lives of people who have certainly made a lot of impact on ours.”

— OPN President and Principal Daniel Thies

One firm. One mission. Four communities.

OPN is 40, and what better way to commemorate going over the hill, than to give back to the people and places that have gotten us to where we are today! We celebrated our past, present, and future by saying thanks to our communities.

Community Project

As part of our 40th anniversary in 2019, OPN committed to supporting one project in each community in which we work and live. Our staff was given the chance to partner with local organizations to propose projects that would create opportunities to use our design talents to solve problems. Teams presented their proposed projects to juries of community leaders. The selected teams will champion the project, which will be supported by the entire studio throughout the year.

CR Community Project Interview 6

CR Community Project Interview 13

Next, each studio went to work, meeting with the organizations to determine their exact needs, designing, finding additional alliances, presenting to our partners, designing again, and finally construction.

OPN partnered with these non-profit organizations:

Cedar Rapids: Catherine McAuley Center
Iowa City: NAMI of Johnson County
Des Moines: Easterseals Iowa
Madison: Boys and Girls Club of Dane County

The Giving Wall

In addition to paying it forward through the community projects, each studio had a Giving Wall filled with envelopes containing money or time to donate. Over the course of the year, every staff member chose an envelope from the wall.