When Susan Nwankpa Gillespie began thinking about designing a home for her family, she faced a problem familiar to many emerging architects: She had big ideas but a limited budget.
“I really think design can be transformative,” said Ms. Nwankpa Gillespie, 43, “whether it’s for a company, a project with a spiritual idea or just making a home more beautiful and connected.”
Beyond having a great place to live, designing her own house would be an opportunity to express her unique take on design. “I benefited from having parents who really celebrated difference,” she said, noting that her father, who was an exchange student from Nigeria, met her mother, who has French-Canadian roots and grew up in New England, while attending college in Alabama, so she was raised in a multicultural household.
“That has informed my design approach, and I try to create beautiful things out of concepts and ideas that may not be standard,” she said.
One thing that was a little more standard, however, was a realization that she needed more living space after marrying Brian Gillespie, 51, a web designer, in 2017, and they began talking about starting a family.
