Michael (Mike)
NicklasFAIA
(1949– )
Nicklas was born in Fort Smith VA. He found architecture in high school and graduated from NCSU's School of Design in 1972. During that time, he created his own company in San Salvador, Bahamas doing low-income design-build housing systems. Later he interned in Raleigh with George Ellingwood and Dean Best. His career began to focus on energy-efficient buildings and he became a national authority on solar and sustainability.
He started Innovative Design in 1977. By 1979, through a grant from the DOE, his firm ended up modifying and building about 4,000 passive solar homes throughout the Southeast. Since that time, the firm has done about 200 custom houses as well as many commercial projects.
If you know where these homes are, please write us!
Sources include: Mike Nicklas; Jean Thomas; Steve Warwick; Wake County Register of Deeds; Louis Gerics.