Lawrence-based Hoke Ley Architecture & Design plans to enter the Wichita market

She's not moving home, but architect and Andover native Katie Hoke and her partners in Lawrence-based Hoke Ley Architecture & Design hope to begin doing business here and open a Wichita office this fall.

"Our goal would be to probably have, like, 25 to 30 percent of our work come from the area," Hoke says.

Hoke and her husband, Jared Hoke, and their partner, Roy Ley, were all working in the Seattle area when they started their firm on the side and then moved it to Lawrence in 2016.

Katie Hoke says she was done with big-city life, and Lawrence is a good size for the firm and her family.

Wichita is like a second home, she says.

"We've been networking and reaching out to a lot of local builders," Hoke says.

The firm presented at 1 Million Cups recently to share its Porch Light Plans, which allows customers to buy predesigned home plans online.

Hoke Ley designs for residential, commercial and equestrian uses.

"That's the other reason I'm dying to get to Wichita," Hoke says. "I'm the crazy horse person of the group."

She says in Seattle, she was able to merge her design and equestrian passions by working on a number of equestrian facilities.

Hoke hopes to do the same here because "the Wichita area . . . has just such a great, long history" of horses and stables.

She says the Pacific Northwest continues to influence the firm's work with "a progressive, modern aesthetic that is warm, inviting and humane."

"One thing we're really focused on is sustainable building practices," Hoke says.

The firm has five full-time employees and a contract worker in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Hoke says they'd like to find some co-working space in Wichita this fall that's similar to the Warehouse Arts District co-working space they have in Lawrence.

"We've been really happy with that."

This story was originally published July 2, 2018 at 3:54 PM.