Foster David Dale, AIA

Foster, a Chicagoan for over 25 years, grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where his parents met in art school. Foster loves to draw and has always been fascinated with cities, buildings and gardens. In order to better understand people and how the built environment affects us, Foster studied environmental psychology and received his undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan. He received his Master of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. Foster is a licensed Architect in Illinois and Wisconsin.

While at Michigan, Foster studied Italian and Art History in Florence and worked for an architect in Rome one summer during graduate school (his Italian is not bad!). Foster enjoyed studying architecture in Philadelphia and worked there for a few years before moving to Chicago.

Foster founded Foster Dale Architects, Inc. (FDA) after working on a wide variety of projects at Booth/Hansen and Solomon Cordwell Buenz. A concern for addressing climate collapse through sustainable design is central to Foster's thinking and is brought to bear on every FDA project. A member of the Leadership Council of Growing Home, Foster is active in the community.

Foster and his wife renovated an 1890’s era house in the Lakeview neighborhood. They have two adult sons (educated in the Chicago Public Schools system) and worked hard to instill their love of travel to their sons.

Nathan Beyer

Nathan has seen a steady transition from small to large cities over his lifetime. Born and raised in Wisconsin’s Fox Valley, he moved to Milwaukee to study architecture at UWM. His focus was on ecological design as well as historic preservation. After receiving both his undergraduate and Master of Architecture degrees, he was excited to move to a world-class city like Chicago, due to its vast and exciting architectural history. He enjoys Chicago’s robust public transit system, parks, and extensive live music offerings, as well as living close to the beach.

Nathan has only known the joy of working at small-scale firms. He brings previous experience working on a variety of projects from small scale remodels to 100+ unit apartment buildings.  He approaches each with the same level of care and attention to detail. He enjoys the roller coaster of discovery when working on older buildings.

Nathan’s passion for sustainability carries over to his hobbies, which include traveling the country with his wife via Amtrak trains and repurposing and refurbishing found items and vintage furniture. He once transformed a high school bleacher into a cocktail bar (after removing the bubblegum stuck to the underside, of course)