The journey to becoming an Architect started long before I realized. I was constantly digging through my father’s scrap pile of wood. With hammer and nails in my hand, I was off to build a treehouse or fort. This was the beginning of my love to create space.
In high school, I discovered my love for art. I loved the freedom it offered, and the idea that nothing was off limits. I can still remember learning how to draw 1 and 2-point perspective. I can’t count the number of downtown city perspectives I drew using this technique. This was the beginning of my love of aesthetics, balance, and form.
During high school, I worked with a couple of local residential contractors building houses, decks, barns, etc. I continued working in construction for a couple more years. I worked in several different trades in this period. I was a union bricklayer, a union laborer, on a wood framing crew, and for a while was on a concrete flatwork crew
– training that benefits me and influences me to this day. During this period, I enrolled in a local state college. I was taking general studies, and as many art classes as I could handle while working part time in construction. I discovered my love for math during this period, especially math that involved shapes and pictures. Trigonometry was my favorite. I would complete my trig homework on paper by hand quickly, then redraw it all with proper lettering and pictures. I would even elaborate the accompanying pictures with shadows and material hatches, so that the triangles looked 3D. It was here that I was able to begin to see my career path. I loved math, but not enough to be a math major. I loved art, but talent is everything if you want to make a living at it. I loved construction, but worried about getting older and the physical nature of it. BOOM! ARCHITECTURE!
I was accepted into Kansas State University’s architecture program. They accepted one of my two years of general studies and placed me in a special one-year class for transfer students to bring us up to speed with their curriculum. During my 5 years at KState, I took as many classes as they would allow me, worked several part-time jobs on campus, did a one-year internship with DLR Group in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and spent one year at Iowa State University studying under a well-known professor who taught energy sensitive design for buildings. Needless to
say, it was a very busy, and tough 5 years. This is where I learned the meaning of hard work and dedication to my profession.
Upon graduation, I took a job with a well-known, medium sized firm. This firm was a little smaller than DLR but still did large commercial projects. The next five years were spent learning the basics of my profession: how to construct drawings, what to place on them, how to coordinate with the Engineers, etc. In 2003, I made the decision to accept an offer from an up and coming firm who specialized in smaller commercial projects, but with an emphasis on design. It was the owner, his partner, one full-time employee one part-time employee, and me. For the next fifteen years, the firm grew to 22 employees and two offices. I felt lucky to have been part of this growth. I became an associate partner in the firm where I learned the business side of Architecture and honed my skills as an Architect. The business side of Architecture is something they do not teach in school and a skill I believe you either have or don’t. It is about being able to listen to your client, design their vision, control the budget, navigate complicated codes and difficult city plan reviews, and learn the art of networking. Architects, unlike other professionals, find their work through word of mouth and repeat business.
When I decided to go out on my own, hang my own shingle so-to-speak, my goal was to apply everything I learned but provide it in a fresh new way, a way that avoided the traditional issues that you hear concerning Architects. I would provide reasonably priced services, cover and exceed the client’s expectations aesthetically and functionally, and be available at all times. I still hold strongly to my time as a contractor. I make sure the drawings are complete yet simple to read. This applies to both informationally and aesthetically. I make sure the contractor and owner
know they can call me anytime and, if need be, be out on site immediately.
I treat each job as if it is the most important job, because it is. I treat each project like it is my own personal project and my own personal money being spent. And when finished, I know that you will look back on my service and be glad you hired me.