Former University of Chicago Law School Dean Douglas Baird is unabashedly proud of the law school's Hyde Park campus but acknowledges that some people find it difficult to appreciate the "austere design." Others say that's putting it charitably. The 1950s design by renowned architect Eero Saarinen is rigorous and functional, but lacks the distinctiveness of other Saarinen projects like Washington's Dulles Airport or the TWA terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. "There's a lot of bare concrete; a lot of . . . unremitting gray," concedes Mr. Baird. So, when the university wanted to build an addition to the law school while Mr. Baird was dean, it searched long and hard to find a firm that shared its sensibilities. It chose O'Donnell Wicklund Pigozzi & Peterson Architects Inc. (OWP&P), a Chicago firm noted for its interior work, largely on the strength of what architect John M. Syvertsen brought to the table. "He told me that designing the addition would be like adding the last line to a poem," says Mr. Baird. Mr. Syvertsen, now 49 and president of OWP&P since October, is known for bringing his affable brand of intellectualism to projects. Although he's known he wanted to be an architect ever since his 12th birthday, he didn't set foot into an architect's office until he graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he'd studied philosophy and theology in the belief that a designer should have a broad liberal arts education. He became a big fan of the work of Thomas Aquinas: "I like what he had to say about the True, the Good and the Beautiful," he says. Mr. Syvertsen worked with a couple of Chicago firms and briefly ran his own practice before joining OWP&P. He also taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago and was president of the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. OWP&P, the city's second-largest architecture firm, has a growing practice designing buildings for educational institutions. It also worked on the redesign of Mayor Richard Daley's City Hall offices and is working, with VOA Associates Inc., on the design for Northwestern Memorial Hospital's new women's hospital. OWP&P divides its architects into groups based on level of experience. Before becoming president, Mr. Syvertsen led the firm's youngest professionals -- those with one to four years' experience, who are referred to as "the kids." No one had ever been promoted to president from that spot. Says Thomas Beeby, principal of Hammond Beeby Rupert & Ainge, a Chicago firm where Mr. Syvertsen once worked: "John is a great teacher."