about the studio
Provision Studio is an architectural practice based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Established by Jon Zellweger and Daniel Culbertson in 2021, we view architecture as the embodiment of a place. A place embodies a people and a community with each building having the potential to tell a story about the landscape, the ecological and human context, that gives rise to it. Whether it is a home or a public building held in common, the studio seeks to find the unique narrative that can be told about its place in our world.
“Of course we are still only beginning…It will take thousands of years to come to terms with this land and for our architecture to assimilate its character and its ideals. It is hopeful to realize that the real traditions are yet to come, that the ones we’ve been working with were provisions for the voyage…We are still a young country in search of native form…I prefer to think that maybe we are not bereft of a genuine architecture, but merely fumbling around at the beginning of one.” - W.G. Clark
jon zellweger
Jon is a principal and founding partner of Provision Studio. He has over 25 years experience designing commercial and educational buildings, theaters, transportation facilities, museums, hospitality properties, homes and additions, and historic rehabilitation projects. He has practiced in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and New Jersey.
His path to practice began many years ago with the opportunity to perform restoration work on Frank Lloyd Wright’s Bachman-Wilson house (1954). In turn, working with existing or older buildings has been a great joy, perhaps unintuitively, because they provide just the right amount of resistance to change. An architect’s response is, therefore, predicated on a conversation with the past rather than pre-established and ‘self-contained’ rule sets —or an individual or firm’s style— typical of the industry. It’s thrilling to be able to plug into that existing narrative and help write the next chapter for a new owner or use.
Whether it is a new design or working with an existing building, conversation with his clients is always the point of origin. Listening is key to a thoughtful design that appropriately reflects the story of the people that invested their resources, time and heart into making a new Place.
daniel culbertson
Before co-founding Provision Studio, Daniel spent over 20 years designing civic, commercial, and residential projects including transportation facilities, fire stations, foodhall / restaurants, event spaces, and historic renovations. He has worked in South Carolina, Arizona, and North Carolina. An early education in art and art history translated to an interest in architecture and more broadly how issues of sustainability, ecology, and community play a role in the historic and modern built environment. This culminated into a view that architecture should foster a sense of community through building designs and art, seeking to reveal the unique character of a place. This view shapes his approach to the design process, collaborating with clients and consultants so that a project’s ambitions are fully realized.