About
Building culture and community worldwide.
Actual Architecture Co. is an internationally recognized architecture and design firm based in Omaha, Nebraska, and operating around the world with expansive vision. By maximizing the potential of academic and professional practices, and with an open mind to creative collaboration, Actual Architecture Co. draws on backgrounds in architecture, landscape, and art to provide informed, highly considered design for a wide range of clients, sites, and projects – from individuals to art institutions, urban to rural settings, and furniture to large buildings. We tell our clients’ stories through the design of compelling buildings, environments, and objects. Our creations are playful, resulting from collisions of circumstance and idea, and driven by straightforward pragmatism laced with risky experimentation.
Awards
The widely published work of Actual Architecture Co. (and as Min | Day Omaha) has garnered numerous awards including the prestigious Architectural League of New York’s 2016 Emerging Voices, Architectural Record’s 2009 Design Vanguard, 2007 AIA California Council’s Emerging Talent award, New Practices San Francisco 2009, Residential Architect’s 2010 Rising Star, and over 80 design awards from the AIA, ACSA, and IDEC, and from numerous design publications.
View All RecognitionCurrent Staff
Jeffrey L. Day, FAIA, Partner
Jeff is Professor of Architecture & Landscape Architecture and former Director of the Architecture Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He graduated magna cum laude with highest honors from Harvard College with an AB in Visual and Environmental Studies, and received a Master of Architecture from U.C. Berkeley. At UNL Jeff runs FACT, an award-winning, academic/professional collaborative design lab and frequent partner of Actual Architecture. Jeff is a president elect of the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) and servers on the boards of several nonprofits in the Midwest and beyond.
Ashley Byars, AIA, Partner
Ashley completed her Master of Architecture degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is a licensed architect with experience practicing in architecture firms and, most recently, as a leader in a development company. Her work to date has emphasized community-based projects ranging from art and product design, to residential, commercial, educational, and cultural arts buildings. She is currently a faculty member at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Architecture where she teaches design studios centered on community place-making. In addition to her passions around architecture, she is a lifelong musician who believes in bringing the voice of arts into the community and serves on the board for Orchestra Omaha as board vice-president and president-elect.
Dennis Krymuza
Dennis is a graduate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he completed his Master of Architecture degree. His graduate experience includes frequent collaborations with FACT, Community Design and Planning with the City of Crete, NE, and multiple International Service-Learning projects. Dennis was a long-time designer at Min | Day in Omaha and is a founding member of Actual Architecture Co. He is currently working towards professional licensure.
Ethan Boerner
Ethan is a graduate of the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, where he completed his Bachelor of Science & Design degree, and an M.Arch student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In his time at UNL he was a member of FACT and involved in multiple research projects. He is interested in art and design history, photography, and making.
Past Collaborators
Selwyn Q. Bachus II
Kate Brashear
Andrew Goldsmith
Bridget Knudtson
Brett Lehr
Matthew Miller
Brady Nguyen
Andy Vo
Speaking
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Allied Practices
Allied Practices are laboratories for material research and exploration. They combine design-research, academic engagement, commissioned work, furniture design, and student design\build projects.
MOD Furniture
MODular sophistication.
MOD makes living more fun and work more creative. Inspired by everyday geometries, MOD is furniture – infrastructure for living and working – that embraces the impulse to re-arrange space. Each product has several pieces that can be combined, grouped, dispersed, stacked, and arranged, some are finite, others are finite. Jointly run by Actual Architecture Co. and Min Design, MOD creates objects that inspire improvisation.
FACT
FACT (Fabrication And Construction Team) is a collaborative student design\build studio at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, College of Architecture, that engages design, fabrication, and construction projects with cultural and non-profit clients. FACT is a forum for exploring the complex relationships between thinking (conceiving, designing, theorizing) and making. Where academic design studios focus on ideation, conceptualization, and design development, FACT explores the creative opportunities residing in the development and realization of projects. Actual Architecture Co. enlists FACT for experimental projects, and pro-bono work for communities and non-profits clients.