FGM adds longtime area architect to its ranks

FGM Architects announced that Steve Downen, AIA, LEED AP, has joined the firm in its O’Fallon office.

Downen said he discovered his love of architecture in a junior high drafting class and focused on architectural studies during high school and went on to earn a degree in architecture from Kansas State University.

After a 30-plus year career with another architecture firm in Fairview Heights, he has made the leap to FGM, drawn by what he said is the firm’s strong presence in the Southern Illinois/St. Louis marketplace.

His work has covered several market sectors where his efforts have won design awards from the American Institute of Architects and the Masonry Institute. With an early career focus on environmental design before LEED, he was a part of a team of four whose work on two passive solar homes at Meadow Creek in Fox, Arkansas was published in Fine Home Building and Progressive Architecture. He has served as past president of the Southern Illinois AIA Chapter.

Downen also volunteers with the Violence Prevention Center of Southwestern Illinois, a domestic violence advocacy agency.

“I really enjoy the new challenges that architecture offers every day,” Downen said. “Within this everchanging world, keeping up with advances in technology and building sciences, there is always something new to learn, which helps me stay young at heart.”

“We are happy to have Steve along with everything his expertise and knowledge will also bring to our team,” said Tim Kwiatkowski, managing director of the St. Louis Region of
FGM Architects.

FGM Architects, with offices in St. Louis and O’Fallon, has specialized in the planning and design of environments for study, work and play since 1945.