Hurricane Laura destroyed the town of Lake Charles, Louisiana and was followed by another Hurricane later that year. There were no local hotels within an hour’s drive, nowhere to sleep and get food, so our forces stayed on site. There was a fire on site, and three floods due to poor design. Then there was COVID happening. Having a 50,000 sq. ft. delivery was a challenge for freight lines. The installers slept on the floor and worked from 5 am until 11 pm each night and day and cooked their meals on a hot plate. No sooner had we finished the apartments in a nursing home, then the second hurricane hit and damaged 15 apartments and we had to go in and remove all of the flooring that had just been done. The men would arrive on a Monday morning and return home on Fridays, the travel distance is 2 hours from Baton Rouge, and because of the amount of flooring we had to hire a delivery service and have a forklift on site. there were three crews/ 8 men all working to complete this job.
Nancy Thiel, founder and principal of Thiel Architecture + Design, is a licensed architect and an interior designer. With 40+ years’ experience working with luminaries in the architecture world, including Michael Graves, Robert A.M. Stern, and Rockwell Group, where she served as a studio leader, Thiel’s extensive portfolio includes single-family homes and multi-story residences, hotels, restaurants, retail, fitness clubs, offices, theaters, schools and shopping centers. She is a member of the AIA, holds NCARB certification and is a LEED accredited professional. Prior to her career in architecture, Thiel was a dancer and choreographer.
Thiel Architecture + Design is an award-winning multi-disciplinary architecture, interior design, planning, and product design firm with offices in CT and NY. The firm’s work focuses on high-end residential design as well as hospitality, contract, and retail projects. Thiel Architecture + Design’s work has been featured in Interior Design, Architype, New York and Connecticut Cottages and Gardens, Connecticut Magazine, Archello, and Fast Company magazines. In 2022, the firm received a Connecticut AIA Excellence award for Interior Architecture. Thiel earned a BA from Penn State University and her Master of Architecture degree from Syracuse University.
