BSB Design Inc. is looking at demand for its architectural services with a nod to a W.I.N.K.

Other firms might do the same during a tight economy in which developers are locked in a “risk tomb,” said Daryl Metzger, co-founder of Architects Smith Metzger.

Both firms are working their way through the slowdown. Smith Metzger is looking to assignments from higher education institutions to keep its staff busy after a slow 2009, and BSB Design is looking for niches within the residential design market, where it has reigned as a premier name since the 1960s.

W.I.N.K. stands for “women with income and no kids.” That market might not be limited to women, but it is targeted for buyers who want to spend less on a home without sparing style.

Such markets are key to design firms that need to find “hedge” markets to play against their traditional strengths, Metzger said.

“You have to look at a different base,” Metzger said.

BSB Design’s base was production housing. The company traces its roots to 1966, when Jack Bloodgood left Better Homes and Gardens magazine, where he had been the building editor. Bloodgood believed that everyone deserved to live in a home designed by an architect. His building plans were a fixture in the publication.

Bloodgood is no longer associated with the company, which branched out into exclusive condominium developments, bigger-than-life custom homes, even resorts.

Prior to the collapse in the housing market, it had 15 offices around the country, with headquarters in West Des Moines. It has suffered layoffs and reduced its number of offices to six.

In 1999, BSB Design realized that it needed to broaden its business plan, but it also got caught up in the boom years of residential housing that peaked in 2006, then collapsed.

“We were so busy and so successful that we diversified only in residential,” said Larry Moore, a senior partner with the company. “Our diversification probably wasn’t as wide-ranging as it should have been. Our goal has always been not to put all of our eggs in one basket.”

The company has been nimble enough to change with market demands. It was the architectural firm behind Hubbell Realty Co.’s Brownstones on Grand, an upscale experiment in downtown living that proved to be “priced too high” for the current market. As a result, BSB Design and Hubbell scaled back on the design for the second phase of the project, Riverwalk Brownstones. (See story on Page 8.)

BSB Design did not come up with the idea of W.I.N.K. homes or communities, but it does believe they could lead home builders out of their current doldrums.

The idea is to build houses that are in safe neighborhoods, near amenities and at a moderate price point. The homes don’t need to be extravagant, but the buyers they appeal to – young and hip, according to Moore – do want them to be stylish.

“To a lot of builders, this means stripping down,” Moore said. “We like to call it styled value. … We’re really looking at who is driving the market now.”

He is not certain the W.I.N.K. model will catch on across the country, but it has enough promise that BSB Design features it as the company markets its services to builders.

“Most of our clients have not come out of their burrows yet,” Moore said. “They don’t know what is going on out there; buyer confidence is still lacking. We’re looking at helping clients focus on their strategic plan.”

Moore and Metzger said there has been a pickup in interest among their clients.

“Clients are on the sideline, but at least they are asking, ‘How can we make this happen?’” Metzger said.