About the Firm

Spencer Architect has been in business in the Charlotte, North Carolina area for the past 23 years providing insightful design and architectural expertise to clients both locally and nationally. The firm which was founded by Constance Spencer, a Yale and Harvard-educated architect, specializes in sustainability including container concepts, textile warehouse re-purposing and hospitality design, one of the most complex areas in the architectural profession. This work consists of custom restaurant concepts, container entertainment complexes, country clubs, commercial kitchens, and franchise restaurants. Working with an experienced team, the conceptual and technical challenges of these former warehouse renovations, historic landmark buildings or new facilities are solved with cost-effective and pragmatic solutions. The firm also produces design services for retail, medical office, and education projects, working closely with the client to understand their budgets, schedules, and program requirements to be successful.    

Ms. Spencer has over 35 years of architectural expertise designing commercial projects, primarily in the hospitality sector, after gaining experience in the construction field by working as a carpenter, design/build contractor, and architect for some of the largest architectural firms in Canada and the United States. She has experience in land planning, site and building design for hundreds of restaurants, retail projects, dozens of office/ industrial projects, multi-residential, and various other award-winning projects throughout North America. She is one of the few architects in the United States who is a kitchen consultant, as well as a qualified building inspector, with Building Code Official Level III certification. She has also acted as Project Manager and design architect on an extensive five-year-long country club renovation in Charlotte. 

After opening her architectural practice in Vancouver, BC, and then Toronto, Ontario, Ms. Spencer formed Spencer Architect in the Charlotte, NC area in 1999. She has been featured on Pat Summerall Success Stories on Fox Network, written for the Huffington Post, contributed to publications on architecture, and been invited as a career guest lecturer, with a symposium at Harvard University being the most recent. Additionally, she has served on both the Board of Variance and the Planning Commission in South Carolina providing invaluable expertise. Ms. Spencer has also worked as a graphic artist and technical illustrator for computer, watercolor, and airbrush renderings and she has displayed her artwork in galleries throughout the US where she has won numerous awards including the recent Holbein Award and the  44th National Show Invitation. She has also won awards for her volunteer work including the Board of Governors Award and Yale Service Award.

Her continued involvement with Yale University includes Board member and Chairperson of the Yale Alumni Service Corps, YaleGale participant in Turkey & China, the Alumni Schools Committee, a Delegate-at-Large, and Regional Director of the Yale Day of Service. She has also been a Faculty Aide for Harvard University doing research and editing the book Women vs Women by Dr. Joan Johnson-Freese after completing a second Masters in Sustainability at the university. Ms. Spencer is now teaching at Harvard, as a TA for one of the required courses for the Master's program in Sustainability as well as previously teaching a custom course for Yale called "The Art of Giving Back: Local & Global"  in the Global Scholars program.