Mackey Mitchell Architects

Mackey Mitchell Architects is a St. Louis design firm that Gene Mackey started in October 1968 as a one-man office in the Railway Exchange Building downtown. It now works from studios in St. Louis, Asheville and Dallas, and its practice leans heavily toward college campuses: residence halls, dining, student centers and learning buildings, plus K-12, civic and workplace projects. President Steve Emer, who joined in 1996, has focused his own career on student housing. The firm is the architect on Western Kentucky University’s Southern Gateway, a 1,000-bed residence hall in Bowling Green that broke ground Oct. 20, 2026, under a $350 million public-private partnership led by Gilbane Development. Its staff page lists roughly 55 people.

October 1968, roughly 800 square feet, twentieth floor of the Railway Exchange Building in downtown St. Louis, one architect. That is where Gene Mackey started the practice that now works on campuses in more than 25 states.

Mackey and Dan Mitchell are both principals emeritus today. Steve Emer was elected president in 2013, and the firm is organized into six market groups: student housing, student dining, student centers, learning spaces, civic and cultural, and workplace. Principal Merrilee Hertlein leads the Dallas office; principal Kyle Wagner opened the Asheville office to serve the Southeast.

One specialism sets the practice apart from other higher-education architects: a dedicated deaf-education design practice. Completed work includes the Maryland School for the Deaf, the Delaware School for the Deaf, the Kentucky School for the Deaf, the Central Institute for the Deaf, Sunshine Cottage School for Deaf Children and Magnolia Speech School. Designing for a deaf student body changes sightlines, acoustics, lighting and circulation in ways that do not transfer from a conventional school, and few firms have assembled that depth.

Notre Dame has become a repeat client over many years — Ryan, Duncan, Johnson Family and Graham Family residence halls, the South Quad residence halls, and the Moreau Seminary renovation.

Closer to home, the civic and cultural work has shaped a good deal of St. Louis: the Soldiers Memorial Military Museum for the Missouri Historical Society, the Old Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, the historic Kirkwood Train Station, and two St. Louis County Library branches. Corporate projects include work for Alberici Corporation and Centene Corporation, plus Chaifetz Arena at Saint Louis University.

Current higher-education work includes the Missouri Protoplex at Missouri S&T and the Elevate WKU initiative at Western Kentucky University.

Technical capability is held in named in-house roles rather than outsourced: a BIM and digital practice lead, a sustainable design coordinator, a Learning Environment Innovations lead, and interior designers working in XR software.

Principal John Burse has received the national AIA Young Architect’s Award and an ACUI Facility Design Award of Excellence for student center work.

Five stated core values — collaboration, responsiveness, curiosity, mutual trust and life-long learning — are backed by two internal practices that are more concrete than the words: a Design Think Tank and regular internal design critiques.