One day in 5th grade I told my parents that I was going to be an architect. This was rather peculiar because nobody, including myself, can figure out how I made this decision. Our family did not know any architects and there was no career day at school that would have informed my decision. I suppose my obsession with Legos should have made it obvious. Fortunately, architecture turned out to suit my personality well. As a blend of analytical and aesthetic concerns at both small and large scales it requires creative problem solving that matches the way I think and work.

Creative problem solving and contributing to society are my two primary sources of inspiration. Architecture, and public architecture in particular, has such a morass of competing requirements that design is making order out of chaos in a beautiful and holistic way. When I find a solution that in retrospect seems like the obvious foregone conclusion, I know that I have successfully resolved all the requirements and that feels great.

As fun as creative problem solving is, the best part about working in social architecture with The Design Partnership is that at the end of the day I know that I have contributed to society. For example, I am currently working on a laboratory where the researchers are studying breast cancer. If I create a laboratory design that supports their efforts by letting them work more efficiently and allows them to communicate more freely then they have a better chance of making a break through. That is one of the fairly direct contributions to society that inspires me.

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