"Build a team on trust"

Gallo Herbert Architects is composed of design and planning experts who are multidisciplinary, creative, committed to excellence in architecture, and believe that work can be a rewarding life experience. Our strategy is budget and time friendly. Our culture is to engage clients in solution-creation which ultimately promotes a culture of acceptance. Team members solve design and construction difficulties to make idea-to-reality easy, rewarding, and fun.

GHA’s prime service area is Florida, however the firm is also licensed in, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, D.C., Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Delaware, New York, and New Jersey. We are also capable of practicing in the Caribbean, Central and South America. Our principals are NCARB Certified and through professional reciprocity are able to practice just about anywhere in the lower 48.

Brian Herbert, as President, is the firm leader in fostering values of teamwork, mentoring, and achievement recognition. Like GHA’s founder William Gallo, Brian’s mentor and partner, Brian leads by example and guides team members, so they work toward a common goal thereby, building a company of trust, confidence, and purpose that inspires others to establish efficient and effective systems to achieve high-quality design and implementation.

Brian is a pillar of the firm’s local community. As a member of the American Institute of Architects, Brian has won several design and community awards for his commitment of service to the profession as well as giving back to the community. At the professional level, Brian has received numerous awards for his outstanding designs. These include the AIA Government Services Award for his work with government agencies to support the design profession, the AIA Community Service Award for his work within the community, and the Citizen Architect Award for his combined civic and community service to support the design profession.

GHA, under Brian’s leadership respects people and the environment and has recruited like-minded teammates. Brian perceives issues as chances to learn or improve, which helps others comprehend and respond quickly. GHA integrates these principles through collaboration, creating an environment where team members are encouraged, helped, and rewarded for their efforts and attitudes. With that, he views constructive criticism as a learning experience which can be built upon. He shares this culture with the firm’s team members helping them to overcome shortcomings and achieve success.

 

At GHA, we embrace competition, from similar quality companies. As such, Brian believes that the architectural profession values mutual respect. Thus, Brian takes his culture of trust outside the firm as well when partnering with or being recommended by peers. It is encouraged that GHA team members act as mentors to young up and coming Architects as a way to give back to the Architectural profession.

As a result of Brian’s leadership and belief that architects should be good shepherds of our environment, team members at GHA learn to focus on sustainability from the start of the design process. This is achieved by adopting the most recent sustainable techniques.

The GHA team has discovered that even small adjustments can have a major impact on a building's efficiency and the well-being of its occupants. It is possible to build in environmental stewardship, staff retention, and optimal lifecycle costs without spending a great deal more money, as long as we show our clients the long-term benefits. A prime example of this philosophy is a project for Nova Southeastern University a major South Florida Institution. GHA teamed with Nova Southeastern University and the State of Florida to improve the sustainability of the Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park, in Dania Beach, FL, to become the first "NET ZERO" energy use park in the state.

GHA also designed the Marine Environmental Education Center (MEEC), located in Hollywood, FL. This facility was to be located in the historically designated Carpenter House. Again, this was a joint collaboration with Nova Southeastern University and Broward County Parks. This project included the preservation of an historic property and incorporation of a marine education and a sea turtle rehabilitation center. The facility exists to also educate K-12 students on marine species conservation, thereby benefiting the public, educators, and environmental Community.

Under Brian Herbert's future direction, GHA looks forward to advancing its sustainable design initiatives and furthering the firm’s experience with higher education, government, commercial, and transportation sectors. One market sector that is of special interest to GHA is "quality of life" design. The firm’s work with affordable housing, senior living, and multi-family residential communities allows for ecologically sensitive design that ultimately enhances an individual’s sense of well-being. A fringe benefit of this approach in our affordable housing developments is to lower the operating costs of the owners, the utility costs of the tenants and to make the environment healthier and more comfortable for everyone.

One of GHA's top achievements was helping a large senior care facility evolve a new way of thinking about senior health care. The Green House® Project Model aims to alter how people experience recovery and long-term care by establishing "homes" with style, warmth, and loving relationships. Our team's work improved the lives of the elderly in this community. This thought-provoking achievement has helped us focus on how seniors live in all senior facilities.

The achievements of a firm are never the work of a single individual but rather the result of the collaborative efforts of a team of professionals that work within a common culture and set of moral principles. However, the success of the team’s ability to function as a finely honed unit is often due to the leadership of a single individual and in the case of GHA today that person is Brian P. Herbert, AIA. How does he do this? The answer is obvious but difficult to implement. A leader has to trust his team and mentor by example. These are the qualities that Brian brings to GHA every single day.