Architect focuses on rehab projects, jobs for nonprofits.

Carrie Gault didn’t join the boys’ club when she entered Charlotte’s architectural community.

Instead, Gault, the principal at Happy Box Architecture, established her own small niche in a crowded field. Her six-employee firm focuses on designing buildings that incorporate the environment, preserve existing structures and benefit nonprofits.

In a sector dominated by big firms, Gault is intent on staying small and independent. She wants clients to see the value in her firm’s creative designs, not just a low bid.

“Architect work in Charlotte is still sort of a good ol’ boy network — it’s been difficult to break into some markets,” Gault says. “But I have a lot of confidence in my design. For me, architecture has always been about how I could empower people and the environment.”

Gault maintains a work load of at least a dozen projects at a time, and Happy Box Architecture recently competed as a finalist in the Make Mine A Million contest, a program that helps women-owned businesses generate $1 million in annual revenue.

Her portfolio includes designing the amphitheater at the North Carolina Zoo and an office building for Bruce Clodfelter & Associates landscape architecture firm on Central Avenue. Gault says she carefully crafted the office to include gardens and natural lighting that mesh with the client’s business.

“I chose Carrie because she does really creative work, very innovative,” Bruce Clodfelter says. “As a landscape architect, I wanted the building to be an indoor-outdoor environment, and she really embraced that.”

Gault’s firm also designed the gymnasium at Charlotte’s Elon Home for Children. She helped the nonprofit stick to a tight budget while also avoiding the drab look of an institutional building. She says part of her challenge lies in helping clients understand the long-term value of the buildings she designs.

With nonprofits, that’s sometimes an easy sell, she says. “People on tight budgets are willing to get more creative. Beautiful things last longer because we care about them and preserve them.”

Gault’s latest project involves a dilapidated former service station near her office on Central Avenue. With the help of a city grant, she’s remodeling the building and hopes to move her studio there early next year. The goal, she says, is for the renovation to help rejuvenate the block.

“One quote that always sticks with me is, ‘The greatest building is the one that’s already built,’ ” Gault says. “It’s really about doing what you believe in. I’ve said ‘no’ to clients, and that’s hard. But I think (that strategy) will pay off in the long run.”

QUICKINFO

HAPPY BOX ARCHITECTURE

Business: Architectural firm specializing in redesign of existing buildings, envirnonmentally friendly projects and buildings for nonprofit organizations

Founded: 2006

Principal: Carrie Gault