My Hat it Has Three Corners, Three Corners has my Hat.

I take my job seriously, but have fun doing it. How could you not enjoy having people pay you to spend their money! Whoa! that’s a lot of responsibility, so I better take it seriously.

Being an Architect, I get to wear a proverbial Three Cornered Hat. Each corner represents the roles I play as a Designer, a Broker and a Technician.

My role as a designer is all about being creative and thinking outside of the box. Great fun, no restrictions...the sky’s the limit! The extents of my imagination are my only boundaries…

Then, the Broker role says, “Hey, wait a minute, there are budgets to meet!” Each line I draw represents money my clients have worked hard for. It is extremely important to maximize the investment value of each and every line because in the end, as one my clients aptly expressed to me, “I am living in my portfolio.” That statement speaks volumes.

I thank Jack Breaks for making that comment because it altered my way of thinking. It is vitally important that I create spaces that become more valuable than the cost it took to build them, so the return on the investment can be positive.

My final role is being a Technician. Although this role is tedious, it is vital to the success of each project. Drawing a thorough set of plans gives me the opportunity to solve problems before they happen on site. These discoveries eliminate the costly surprises, and on-the-fly field decisions that always occur with incomplete and inadequate drawings.

My hat is has three corners, three corners has my hat, and had it not three corners, I would not be an architect worth much of anything!

I’m ALL Ears!!

Have you ever seen Star Trek, Deep Space Nine? There is a bar on this remote station and the bartender’s name is Quark. He is not a human, but a Ferengi, an odd looking species, with gigantic ears. Not a bad quality to have, if people always want you listen to and solve their problems. The great thing about my job is that I don’t have to listen to people’s troubles! I get to listen to their dreams. Listening is a key element to a successful design. In order to listen effectively, I must listen with my eyes, as well as my ears. Watching someone's body language often communicates information that is vitally important to the design process.

Listening is more than just hearing. It’s also attempting to understand what drives each comment, and deciphering the unspoken codes.