El Dorado

The about page states that El Dorado was established in 1996 and describes it as "an acclaimed and growing multidisciplinary practice founded in 1996 and devoted to the pursuit of design excellence." It says the practice grew with a new Portland, Oregon office and new commissions around the United States, and that it has brought work from Kansas City and the Midwest to other cities and communities.

The page publishes a team list with names and role titles. The roles shown include Partner, Principal, Director of Design Excellence, Director of Positive Impact, CFO, Project Architect, Associate and Designer. Several names carry professional suffixes as published: David Dowell, AIA (Partner); David Suttle, AIA, Chris Burk and Steve Salzer, AIA (Principals); Daniel Renner, AIA (Director of Design Excellence); Derik Eckhardt, AIA, Dannon Canterbury, R.A., John Renner, R.A., Kyle Schleicher, R.A. and Steven Capoccia, R.A. (Project Architects); Ted Arendes, R.A. (Associate); Elisandra Garcia (Director of Positive Impact); Jennifer Peek (CFO); and Aubrey Moore, Ben Ebbesmeyer, Caitlyn Biffle and Miranda Kaye Clark (Designers). Those suffixes are how the site prints the names; the site does not publish licence numbers, registration numbers, NCARB records, LEED accreditations or state-by-state registration details, so none of that should be stated.

El Dorado describes itself on its own site as "an integrated architecture and education and urban design and fabrication and curatorial practice" and states that it chases "big ideas in the middle of everywhere." The about page says the practice was established in 1996 and is located in Kansas City, Missouri and Portland, Oregon.

The site organizes its services into five sections, each with its own page and project list: Architecture (eldo.us/architecture), Education (eldo.us/education), Urban Design (eldo.us/urban-design), Fabrication (eldo.us/fabrication) and Curatorial (eldo.us/curatorial). Individual projects often appear under more than one of these headings, which reflects how the site presents the disciplines as merged rather than separate departments.

El Dorado publishes no pricing information of any kind on its website. There is no price list, no cost guide, no fee schedule, no hourly rate, no percentage-of-construction fee, no minimum project budget, no design fee range and no published cost for any of the five practice areas (architecture, education, urban design, fabrication, curatorial). No dollar figure attached to the firm's own services appears anywhere on the site.

The site also publishes no quote or estimate mechanism. There is no online quote request, no estimate calculator, no proposal form and no pricing page. Project pages list details such as year, role, city, square footage, client and collaborators, but never a construction cost or a design fee.

El Dorado publishes two office locations. The Kansas City office address is 510 Avenida Cesar E. Chavez, Kansas City, Missouri, with the phone number 816.474.3838. The Portland office address is 1623 NW Marshall St., Portland, Oregon, with the phone number 971.266.8665. Both addresses and both phone numbers are repeated in the footer of every page on the site, so they are the practice's standing published contact details.

The contact page at eldo.us/contact also publishes one email address, info@eldo.us, presented with a "Click to copy" control. That email address plus the two office phone numbers are the only contact routes the site publishes.

The architecture page at eldo.us/architecture lists the built and proposed projects the practice chooses to publish. The list spans housing, cultural, civic, institutional, hospitality, education and industrial work, and it mixes single residences with large campus and district projects.

Examples the page names include Kansas City Zoo SOBELA Ocean Aquarium, Crossroads Hotel, Boulevard Brewing Co. Expansion, Kansas City PBS, KCUR 89.3, Mattie Rhodes Cultural Center, ReStart Housing, Habitat for Humanity Prototype House, The Finn Lofts, Interstate Flats, Waldo Duplex, Slender House, Wabaunsee County Homestead, Volland General Store, Kansas State University Fab Lab, three Kansas City Art Institute projects, University of Arkansas housing and sculpture facility projects, University of Tennessee at Martin - The Garage, Lone Oaks Farm STEM Center, Tennessee STEM Centers, Parrott Creek Child and Family Services, Potrero Hill Innovation Center, Crunden-Martin Gateway South Innovation District, Hittin Masterplan and West End Bridge.

Beyond architecture, El Dorado publishes four more project lists on its site.

The fabrication page names work such as A Monument to Rain, Alma Shade Pavilion, Bloch Addition Building Visitor Desk, Broadway Overpass, Crossroads Hotel Sliding Doors, Heavy Timber Mockups, InterUrban ArtHouse Trellis, Novel Wood Wall, Volland General Store Fabrication and Willoughby Design Barn. The InterUrban ArtHouse Trellis page states that El Dorado "designed, fabricated, and installed the trellis" for the InterUrban ArtHouse in Overland Park, KS, gives the year 2024, the role "Architect, Fabricator" and a size of 600 SF.

These are things people ask El Dorado that its published information does not yet cover.

• prices
• availability
• design fees or hourly rates
• project timelines or completion dates
• architect licence or registration numbers
• contract, scope or payment terms
• award wins not listed on the site
• current capacity to take new commissions