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CEO of Optima Inc., David Hovey Sr. to Receive Honorary Doctor of Architecture from Illinois Institute of Technology

With his unique perspective on architecture and holistic approach to development, alumnus and former faculty member Hovey redefines industry standards through innovative design and sustainability

CHICAGO—May 11, 2024—Illinois Institute of Technology will award David Hovey Sr. (ARCH ’67, M.S. ’71), an esteemed alumnus and pioneering architect and developer, an Honorary Doctor of Architecture, honoris causa. Internationally known as an architect who controls all aspects of a project from financing through design and construction, Hovey’s unique model of development has led to award-winning buildings and exceptional living experiences for thousands of residents.

“As a graduate and former faculty member of Illinois Institute of Technology, receiving this Honorary Doctor of Architecture is a profound honor,” said Hovey. “My work and the architectural education at Illinois Institute of Technology are aligned on innovative design and a comprehensive understanding of how people live, and this honor affirms the importance of integrating architectural creativity with functional sustainability in our communities.”

Hovey is the founder of Optima Inc., a real estate development firm renowned for its integrated approach combining architecture, real estate, and cutting-edge design. Optima’s projects, which span more than 6,000 residential units in Chicago, Phoenix, and Scottsdale, Arizona, have garnered multiple awards for architectural excellence, planning, and green design. Recently, his Optima Chicago Center I/II received the Outstanding Property Award for Architectural Design.

“David Hovey Sr.’s visionary leadership and commitment to integrating architecture with sustainable business practices have made a profound impact on urban development,” said Illinois Institute of Technology President Raj Echambadi. “His innovations exemplify  Illinois Tech’s noble mission to advance technology and progress for a better world.”

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Hovey has significantly contributed to the university community. As a faculty member of the College of Architecture, Hovey helped develop the architecture curriculum and has mentored countless students through teaching and internships. His generous donations have supported the renovation of the iconic S. R. Crown Hall.

“David’s work transforms skylines and elevates the human spirit,” said Reed Kroloff, dean of the College of Architecture. “But in addition to being a gifted designer, he is also an extraordinary teacher, influencing generations of IIT grads, and by extension, the cities where they work.”

Hovey’s degree will be conferred during Illinois Institute of Technology’s 155th Commencement ceremony on May 11, 2024 at Credit Union 1 Arena.

Photo: David Hovey Sr.

Illinois Institute of Technology

Based in the global metropolis of Chicago, Illinois Tech was born to liberate the power of collective difference to advance technology and innovation for all. It is the only tech-focused university in the city, and it stands at the crossroads of exploration and invention, advancing the future of Chicago and the world. It offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineeringcomputingarchitecturebusinessdesignscience and human sciences, and law. Illinois Tech students are guaranteed access to hands-on experiences, personalized mentorship, and job readiness through the university’s one-of-a-kind Elevate program. Its graduates lead the state and much of the nation in economic prosperity. Its faculty and alumni built the Chicago skyline. And every day in the city’s living lab, Illinois Tech fuels breakthroughs that change lives. Visit iit.edu.

College of Architecture

The College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology builds on a legacy of disciplined experimentation in materials and technologies to educate and inspire the next generation of architects and landscape architects. From its landmark campus and home at S. R. Crown Hall, IIT Architecture champions an interdisciplinary approach to education and research that is simultaneously local and global in its impact. IIT Architecture students are educated to address complex, contemporary challenges of designing and constructing across all scales. Both faculty and students enjoy a longstanding relationship with professional practice in Chicago, a city with a vibrant history of innovation in architecture, design, landscape architecture, and urbanism. Visit arch.iit.edu

Read the full feature at Illinois Tech

Masters of the Southwest: A Father-Son Duo is Redefining Sustainable Desert Living

On a sunny winter day, residents of Optima Kierland are pursuing their morning rituals—walking the dog, working out in the fitness room, running on a track around the rooftop pool, powering up a Zoom call in the lounge, heading to the underground garage for the commute to work. But the 1,000-unit condo and rental complex, spread across five towers, is not your typical brown-box-and-a-balcony multifamily project so prevalent around the Valley. Instead, it is a sustainable, architectural tour-de-force, balancing concrete and glass, shade and sunlight, voids and cubic forms, all cooled with lush plantings that defy boundaries between outside and in.

The project is one of the latest achievements by father-and-son architects David Hovey Sr. and David Hovey Jr., who, along with other family members, run Optima, headquartered in Scottsdale and Chicago. Known for their edgy, architecturally striking designs of multifamily complexes and innovative construction techniques and materials, the Hoveys—and their company—have found the secret sauce to success. Optima is a soup-to-nuts company that develops, designs, builds and manages projects, overseeing everything from site selection to specifying kitchen sink faucets.

“I’ve been a fan of the Hoveys’ architecture for a long time,” says architect Anthony Floyd, who heads Scottsdale’s green building program and has worked with the Hoveys on sustainability strategies for several of their projects. “They’ve changed how we view multifamily housing here. What they create is unlike what we’ve seen in Arizona—or even the world.”

The history of this modernist dynasty began with Hovey Sr. Born in New Zealand to a Kiwi mother and a U.S. Marine father, he moved with his family to Chicago when he was 15 years old. “Chicago is the foremost city in the world for modern architecture,” Hovey Sr. says. “Being there sparked my interest in architecture.”

Hovey Sr. enrolled in the Illinois Institute of Technology, where Mies van der Rohe had served as dean and shaped the school’s modernist bent. “Mies was no longer at IIT when I studied there,” he remembers, “but some of us went to his house one night and didn’t leave until 4 a.m. He lived in an old brick apartment—not one of his designs—because he didn’t want to be constantly accosted by clients.”

During college, Hovey Sr. worked as an assistant to the curator of contemporary art at the Art Institute of Chicago, igniting his love of modern art and inspiring his later work in metal sculpture. His first job out of school was with a small firm, but, wanting to experience a larger office, Hovey Sr. signed on with noted Chicago architect Helmut Jahn, working there for four years during the 1970s.  

“My son and I are contemporary architects. We are interested in the design, materials and technologies of the 21st century. We’re not interested in allusions to the past.”

David Hovey Sr., FAIA, architect

But there was always an itch to do his own thing. “My IIT professor, Arthur Takeuchi, always said that an architect was the low man on the totem pole when it came to projects,” Hovey Sr. recalls. “He said the best outcome was to be not only the designer but also the developer and client.”

Heeding those words, Hovey Sr. launched Optima in suburban Chicago in 1978, along with his wife, Eileen Sheehan Hovey, who handled the real estate component of their projects. Before long, they were specializing in design-driven multifamily complexes around the city and, later, joined by their children, Tara Hovey, who handles financial strategies for the company, and David Jr., who earned his master’s in architecture at his father’s alma mater and now serves as CEO.

Frequent winter visitors to Scottsdale, the family opened a second Optima office in the desert in the early 2000s, sensing a market that was open to innovative modernist housing. By then, Hovey Jr. was helping push forward Optima’s shape-shifting experimentations with design, materials and construction methods. “When I was working as a construction superintendent on our job sites,” says Hovey Jr., “I observed inefficiencies between architecture and construction that could be improved by prefabrication.”

Though they became known for apartments and condos, the father and son have long experimented with techniques and approaches by building single-family spec homes, completing several over the years in North Scottsdale. “We had to find a new language for architecture here in Arizona,” Hovey Sr. says. “Studying Frank Lloyd Wright’s shelters, we learned to design optimum structures in the desert, ones that celebrated the indoor-outdoor relationship and incorporated sustainable features, such as solar power and passive cooling. We took what we learned from these spec homes and translated that into our multifamily work.”

After completing their first Arizona project, the Biltmore Optima, the Hoveys wanted to include landscaped roofs and terraces for the next site, Optima Camelview. Hovey Jr. worked with ASU to study desert plants in terrace- and rooflike beds at a site in Glendale. “We looked at about 150 kinds of plants and trees,” Hovey Jr. notes. “We learned which survived in extreme sun or shaded spots and which didn’t.”

Optima Camelview, a condominium project, won accolades and awards for its—literal—green design of lushly landscaped terraces, as well as other sustainable strategies, such as shaded glass walls, underground parking and public open space. Optima Sonoran Village, rental apartments in downtown Scottsdale, followed, expanding on the design theme, as did the recently completed Optima Kierland. Under construction now is Optima McDowell Mountain, which will be a six-tower development of rental apartments and condos, mixing in street-level retail and even more amenities and green elements, such as rainwater harvesting, than the previous projects. 

As the Hoveys moved forward with projects, they developed relationships with core groups of craftspeople, such as Jerry Barnier, founder of Suntec Concrete. “We started working together about 15 years ago,” says Barnier, “and we found that the Hoveys are very receptive to pushing the design forward efficiently. They understand what works and what doesn’t when it comes to construction. They push everyone to do their best work.”

Despite recent pushback about high-density development in some parts of the Valley, the Hoveys are secure in their place in the desert’s urban landscape. “Having density and height on a site allows us to create open space that’s accessible to the public—and not just our building residents,” Hovey Sr. points out. “It also gives us room to have setbacks that are landscaped. Our McDowell Mountain project is planned around a central park open to everyone.”

Always looking for future possibilities, the father and son prefer to concentrate on one or two projects at a time. “Each development we do is a progression, a journey of how we envision people living in the 21st century.”

Optima Sonoran Village in downtown Scottsdale has five residential towers set around landscaped courtyards with views of Camelback Mountain. Each apartment has plant-fringed balconies that add to the greenscape.
A stint working at The Art Institute of Chicago sparked David Hovey Sr.’s love of contemporary art and his own work as a sculptor, including “Kiwi,” which graces an Optima project in Chicago.
Optima Kierland Center, the Hoveys’ most recent project, is a series of condo and  apartment dwellings offering luxe amenities, including cooling landscaping, rooftop pools and running tracks, a golf simulator and a dog “spa” for washing pooches.
In the heart of the Camelback Corridor, Biltmore Towers was the Hoveys’ first foray into the Arizona multifamily market and featured unique design elements, such as recessed balconies, red trellises and orange sunscreens.
Optima Verdana in suburban Chicago includes retail offerings at street level and apartments above.
The Camelview Village condo development put Optima on the local design radar, with innovations such as landscaped balconies and open space, as well as an edgy, modernist design. According to architect and Scottsdale’s green building head, Anthony Floyd, both David Hovey Sr. and David Hovey Jr. lived in units on site. “That’s what I call proof of concept,” says Floyd. “They could see what worked—and what didn’t.”
In downtown Chicago, Optima Signature and Chicago Center includes 42- and 57-story towers, with forms, details and colors inspired by Russian painter Kazimir Malevich and American artist Donald Judd.
Also in Chicago, the Lakeview project features indoor open space as a response to the climate.
“Curves and Voids,” a sculpture by David Hovey Sr., graces the gardens at Sonoran Village.

“Our single-family homes are experimental. They are our ‘Case Study’ projects from which we take ideas and apply them to our multifamily work.”

—David Hovey Sr., architect and Optima founder

Read more on Phoenix Home + Garden

Whether city, suburbs or lakefront locations; choices abound for walkable communities

“Diverse choices ensure that every renter or buyer can enjoy the health and other benefits of a walkable community. Optima Chicago Center and soon-to-open Optima Signature in prestigious Streeterville offer exceptionally walkable locations. Situated on a quiet street overlooking a landscaped plaza at 200 and 220 E. Illinois Street, these rental buildings are designed by David Hovey, FAIA, nationally-renowned architect and developer and built by Optima, Inc. Optima Chicago Center is already a popular residential community, and leasing will start soon for the 56-story Optima Signature, which includes residential units, office and retail space.”

Visit Optima Signature and Optima Chicago Center for more details.

Booming with activities: Growing numbers of adults 50 years and older eye more housing choices than ever before

“Some buyers, newly liberated from the responsibilities of raising a family, are leaving suburbia for the excitement of city life. Buildings such as Optima Chicago Center in the prestigious Streeterville area offer luxurious rental residences that combine convenience with breathtaking views and state-of-the-art recreational amenities.”

Visit Optima Chicago Center for more details.

Chicago buildings with the best outdoor spaces & amenities

“Despite living in a city that has more months of cold weather than warm, a growing number of Chicagoans are putting a serious premium on outdoor living space. Rooftop decks at luxurious high-rise rentals and condos are huge draws these days, and many building managers say it’s now de rigueur to offer loads of outdoor amenities—not to mention a great view—if they want to make it onto the list of the hottest buildings in Chicago.

And just off Michigan Avenue, the Optima Chicago Center’s (200 E. Illinois St., 312-527-0800) 41st-floor Sky Garden Terrace boasts an “Arizona modern” feel, explains leasing specialist Taylor Payne, with fire pits, serene desert grasses, and a massive Jacuzzi that can fit as many as 20 people. “The east side lounge area reminds me of Pop Art—bold and colorful. It’s really fun up there,” says Payne.”

Visit Optima Chicago Center for more details.

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