In Conversation with Pullen & Reed
Residential designers Todd Pullen and Christian Reed reflect on career moments and next moves
Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles: You’re building a practice in a city that is constantly evolving, while working in an architectural language firmly connected to history. How do you balance past and future?
Todd Pullen: We hope for every project to remain timeless and meet one’s needs for today and the future, while still honoring the past. To achieve this, we focus on how a person moves through a home—their daily processions and rituals, using unprocessed materials, pleasing scale and proportion, and consideration of the setting. Firmitas, utilitas, et venustas: Firmness, commodity, and delight. We apply these Vitruvian virtues which have described great design for millennia.
AH&L: Atlanta has a very particular architectural identity—part Southern, part aspirational, part contemporary. What do you think Atlanta gets right about design?
CHRISTIAN REED: Atlanta is a city sparking with opportunity, rich in its foundation of beautiful, traditional architecture, but also bounding forward with a contemporary exuberance. The fundamental elements of design apply across the board.
TP: Serendipitous timing. Architects, for the most part, were given a clean slate after the Civil War. The rail brought commerce, allowing the economy to blossom. Connection to the world became easier. Early 20th-century architects built upon the past while also being informed through their travels. This cultural momentum hasn’t slowed—it’s in our blood. We still take great pride in honoring our architectural history while looking for ways to meet the needs of today, whether it’s through adaptive reuse, or new construction with the intent of it becoming timeless. I find it fascinating to see AH&L in homes in places like Raleigh and Birmingham looking to us for inspiration.
AH&L: You spent years working with the late Frank Neely. How does his legacy show up in your professional lives today?
CR: I first met Frank when I was in school. Among other classes with him, he was my senior thesis instructor. He offered me a job the day I graduated, which was shortly after he opened the doors of his firm. He was a great mentor and friend, and I often find that many of my design sensibilities and practices are heavily influenced by my time learning from and working alongside him.
TP: Frank had a lot of pride in growing up in Brookhaven. I feel an especially close connection to that neighborhood as a result, loving every opportunity given to us there—and symmetry! My acceptance of the Beaux Arts style matured during my time with him. I try to break Christian from it occasionally, but most often, a good axis works.
AH&L: Is there a project you’ve worked on that changed your definition of what exceptional architecture is? Tell us about it.
CR: It may come as a surprise, but it’s a modern stone house set in Ansley Park. A construction project that spanned almost five years from concept to completion. The volumes and exterior aesthetic are heavily influenced by the late-19th and early-20th century architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, while the interiors are awash with brass doors, marble walls with hidden doors, and materials and textures with very modern refinement. We had a very amiable client that was engaged, loved design, and was on board with the vision. That vision was an ever-evolving process and, in the end, it made me more aware than ever that exceptional architecture often lives in pushing personal comfort levels.
TP: I first experienced what exceptional design really was while at my first job at Summerour Architects. Most of the projects I worked on during this time were inspiring; however, it was the last project I worked on that turned the corner. I was given the freedom and budget to design a mountain home that was the culmination of what I had learned about precedents, theory, and story. More importantly were the vision-driven and trusting clients, who wanted us to create a legacy, not a simple means to an end. Exceptional architecture requires exceptional clients. We’re very grateful to continue to have them.
AH&L: How has Atlanta shaped your opportunities and design approach?
TP: I’ve lived in the region my entire life. My first jobs in Atlanta gave me the opportunity to work in the homes and with clients that I still am associated with to this day. I was laying rugs while in college in the late 1990s in noteworthy historic homes and districts throughout Atlanta. This inspired me to go in the direction of classic and historic residential design versus the commercial route most of my friends took. The same circles of designers and clients I worked for overlapped into my first work for a firm. This network has continued to strengthen and grow ever since. I first met Christian this way almost 20 years ago in a collaboration between the firms we were both working for at the time.
AH&L: What makes you optimistic about the city’s design culture?
CR: The collaborative energy that is present in Atlanta, in our industry, is very inspiring. We’re fortunate to work with builders, designers, craftspeople, artists, and clients who appreciate the value of quality and good design. It feels like the collective “we” are always trying to make the next project better than the last project, and that’s invigorating. pullenandreed.com
A Day in the Life
Morning to night with Christian Reed & Todd Pullen
CHRISTIAN REED
6:30 A.M. Double espresso and announcing to my dog Hugo, “It’s a brand new day!” All while waiting for my brain to come online.
7 A.M. More espresso followed by a walk in Grant Park with aforementioned Hugo, my 110-pound rescue.
9 A.M. Todd and I review the calendar, check emails, and review the day’s deadlines and goals before design and drawing commences.
5 P.M. After work usually means I’m in my art studio or working on a classic car in the shop, followed by a dirty martini (Vodka! Clutch the pearls!), and inevitably I eat dinner way too late. Gratitude at any and every hour.
TODD PULLEN
6 A.M. Wake up. Yoga, walk, nothing? Turn on the TV until I catch the weather. Meditate by making a pour-over coffee and eating a healthy breakfast.
9 A.M. Turn on nonvocal music, jazz and lo-fi down-tempo preferred. Review the day ahead with Christian and whoever has called or emailed. Put the fires out. Draw if I’m lucky.
5 P.M. Start to turn it off except for that one contractor and client—they are all that one contractor and client. I’m often caught after dinner with pen and paper in hand sketching if I’m not at one of my two band practices, dart league, or just out with friends.
This is the 10th installment of AH&L’s Futures of Design. To learn more about the class of 2026, visit atlantahomesmag.com/futures-legends.
