ANGELA BOERSMA
ID8 Architecture
SAY IT LOUD - SOUTH DAKOTA Exhibitor
South Dakota Based Designer
Who or what inspires you professionally?
I'm inspired by community & business leaders who are intentional about lifting up & mentoring emerging professionals, creating opportunities for them to grow, & helping collaboratively create communities that future generations WANT to live & work in
ANGELA BOERSMA
Bio:
Angela Boersma is an Architect & Interior Designer, the founder of ID8 Architecture in Brookings, SD, as well as a founding partner and CEO of Linchpin, Inc. She has served as a Brookings County Commissioner, an SDSU professor, a mentor, and an advocate for her profession. In all of these roles, her big goal is to ‘build community – one project at a time’, & she loves to develop ideas into real solutions and help clients & communities create both a vision for their future & the plan to get there
How did you first learn about architecture and when did you decide that built environment profession was an area of interest for you?
I grew up in an extended family of contractors & have been enthusiastically designing, building, re-imagining spaces since I was about eight. As a farm kid, I would often disappear into corners of farm buildings for hours to imagine their potential
What do you do?
I'm an architect, interior designer, entrepreneur, preservationist, developer, recovering politician, public speaker, attainable housing advocate, teacher, mentor, and have my hands in things that help people reimagine the best for their communities
What excites you in the work you do?
We do a lot of renovation and preservation work, and the thrill of preserving and showcasing a piece of history is incredibly rewarding. The transformative ability of design to re-imagine historic buildings is one of my favorite parts of our work.
Who or what inspires you professionally?
I'm inspired by community & business leaders who are intentional about lifting up & mentoring emerging professionals, creating opportunities for them to grow, & helping collaboratively create communities that future generations WANT to live & work in
What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?
Starting ID8 5 years ago and growing an incredible team of professionals. Together, we're able to accomplish so much more, be more creative, and push ourselves to tackle projects like the Armory - all while being catalysts for a reimagined downtown
Featured Project Name:
Brookings Armory & Hotel Indigo
Featured Project Location:
Brookings, SD
Featured Project Completion Date:
Fall 2025
Role in Featured Project:
Principal Architect & Part-Owner/Developer
Featured Project Description:
The Brookings WPA Armory & Hotel Indigo is an adaptive reuse of the 20,000sf cast-in place concrete building, adding a 74-room boutique hotel & converting the Armory auditorium/gym space into a hotel ballroom. The project has been in the works for nearly 5 years, and represents the largest single investment in redevelopment in historic downtown Brookings to date. It features accessibility upgrades, facade restoration, and the addition of major food, beverage, event, and lodging space downtown.
