KennethSmall.com

Hello

I am Kenneth Charles Small Jr. of Las Vegas Nevada. A few years ago a friend reserved a web site with his name and told me about it.  So I decided to do the same.

I was born in the Bronx, New York in 1957 and moved around with my parents in the New York vicinity as a child. My parents were Kenneth Small (Senior) and Margaret Jean Small. My dad was from Tulsa OK. My mom’s maiden name was Bonem and she was raised in Bay City MI. My parents remained married until my mother’s death in Connecticut during 1987. I have one sister, Maureen Ray, who is a school bus driver near Dallas TX. She just passed a 2 year course to qualify as a teaching assistant!

I attended elementary schools in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut. I graduated from Stamford High School in Connecticut in 1976. In the fall of 1976 I enrolled in the Texas Tech University Architecture Program. Five years later, in 1981, I graduated with a 5 year degree in architecture from Texas Tech U. Since college I have had lots of post graduate training. The providers were typically CEFPI, AIA and CSI.

In 1985 I became a licensed architect and had my own practice in Austin Texas. In 1989 held a position in El Paso for a 1 year contract. At the end of that year President Bush (Sr.) announced NAFTA. Construction in El Paso ended temporarily and I moved to Las Vegas. Upon starting out in Vegas I worked for 3 architectural firms who each claimed to be the largest in Las Vegas. When the economy in Texas began to recover I went back to my practice in Austin in 1994 and stayed there until I was able to sell my house in about 1997. I then returned to Las Vegas where I bought the house that I now live in. When I started my practice here I began practicing under the assumed name of “ABKS – Architecture By Ken Small”. www.abksarchitecture.com That practice has continued while I have had ownerships in several businesses and continues to be in the phone book today. In 2005 I purchased full ownership in “Sandberg & Small Architecture, LLC” and sold my interest in a construction company here in Vegas. That year I also started SSA Architecture, Small Studio Associates, LLC. www.smallstudioassociates.com That company continues on where I have ‘officed’ since 2000 at 4630 South Arville, Las Vegas.

SSA is a general practice of architecture. This year our big accomplishment was Jacob E. Manch Elementary School. I worked on my first school project in 1981 and later did multiple projects under another architect in Austin from 1982 to 87. Upon living in Vegas I did considerable work on CCSD schools while working as an employee of another firm. Upon the establishment of “Sandberg & Small Architecture, LLC” I was again reintroduced to doing CCSD school buildings. Alan Wendelboe who is a Sr. VP with SSA now and I designed the first completely daylighted school building to be built on a CCSD campus in this decade (and likely the prior one too.) That classroom building was at John S. Park Elementary School. We won the annual CEFPI Southwest Region Monarch Award” for our design of the buildings that we added to that campus in 2003. In 2004 we achieved another CEFPI award.