Did
you also know that they wear many shoes? Other than flats, heels and steel-toed
boots, I hadn’t really thought about shoes.
In
the past few months I have worn many “shoes” in my position and this “photo
essay” has been sort of enlightening to me about how we are designing for
others and shaping their environments. I’m sure I’ve talked about it before,
but it becomes clearer every day. It also showed me just how much an architect does
when they are working on every facet of a project or just within their firm or
even their lives outside of the office.
This
first one is from sometime in Mid-February. My coworker and I lead a pre-bid
meeting for a project that was rebidding. This wasn’t just any project; it was
the project that I’ve been working on since I started at Shive-Hattery. It’s
very special to me for so many reasons. As I trudged through several inches of
snow to show contractors the scope of work, I found myself, in this very
moment, standing where a new building would be and thinking about how badly I
hope it comes in under budget and how I can’t wait to show it to my toddler
some day and tell him that I poured my heart and soul into it. I am happy to say
that it DID come in under budget and I’ll be showing it to my son in a couple
years or so.
The
next one was when a couple coworkers and I were doing site verifications for a remodel
of an Operating Room Suite. Never thought I’d wear scrubs, but I have to say
they’re quite comfortable. I was mostly just helping out for this mission, but
I did get to design a couple Lounges that accompanied the project. This picture
reminds me of how hard nurses and doctors work and how tired I was after a day of field verifications. There was a surgery going on in
one of the rooms that, from what I understand, was several hours long. It
feels good to know that the Lounges designed for them will be there to rest
their weary bones and give them comfort when they hardly have time for it.
The
next is on a roof where davits for window washing were being installed. What a
beautiful day that was. Not too bad of a day to be a construction worker. 
This next one…well, those aren’t my feet. Those are the feet of my toddler “helping” me study for my next exam.
This
one is in an auditorium that is under construction. This space was a good
portion of a year for me and this moment was one of the greatest of my career
thus far. I stood on the stage as the contractor talked to the project architect
and I almost cried. It was exactly how I pictured it would be and exactly how
it looks in the documents. I’ve worked on a lot of projects in my time here,
but none quite like this one have been built yet. Here I’m standing next to a
railing that I painfully drew. I’m really not a fan of drawing railings, but it
was really cool to see those lines on the paper come to life. Knowing that this
school is going to have a fantastic auditorium come next school year to use
just makes my heart warm. I had some good times on a theatre stage in my school
days and it can be very enriching to have this kind of facility at a student’s
disposal.
The
final one in this series is this morning, when I printed off the document stating that I had passed my 5th
exam! That means 2 to go! This one, Building Design and Construction Systems, wasn’t
too bad in the end. The multiple choice portion was pretty straight forward and
I felt prepared, but the vignettes were HORRIBLE! I recall sitting there for almost 30 minutes, watching the minutes tick by, thinking "what am I going to do here?" Clearly I satisfied the program,
but I recall leaving the room and praying I didn’t have to endure that again.
Thank goodness, I don’t. 
