Since Baton Rouge architect Trey Trahan relocated his main office to New Orleans last year, he has been busy on a variety of projects that have taken him far from his native Louisiana. His firm, Trahan Architects, recently completed a master plan for a 1 million-square-foot conference center in Georgia—the country, that is, not the state. Trahan says the center will be developed in the heart of the Georgian capital Tblisi and was a fascinating project because of the surrounding architecture.
“It’s a beautiful city with churches and buildings from the third and fourth centuries,” he says.
Other international projects currently on his books include a cultural center in Johannesburg, South Africa, and a yet-to-be-disclosed project in Hong Kong.
Closer to home, Trahan recently finished the master plan for a 6 million-square-foot mixed-use development on the Trinity River in Dallas. He credits one of his favorite Louisiana projects, the Louisiana State Museum and Sports Hall of Fame in Natchitoches, with helping to elevate his profile outside of the state.
“If you really push things as we did in the museum it attracts a certain type of client with high aspirations,” he says. “That building has just attracted clients unlike anything in the past.”
Earlier this year Trahan opened an office in Manhattan’s Soho district. He says he divides most of his time these days between the Soho and New Orleans offices, though he maintains an office in Baton Rouge as well. —Stephanie Riegel
