"I’m of an age when very young architects sometimes ask me, “When do you go out and open your own practice? And where do you practice?” My answer is, when you’re no longer capable of taking instructions from another architect, you should open your own office. And where? You should go home. Now, I suppose that sounds simplistic, since Chicago is just a great city of modernism—yet it is my home.
"It’s not important where you’re from, but you need to go home. Going home shows an allegiance that will be returned in kind by your city, by the city government, by the powers that be. My coming home after Yale has long since paid off. I wasn’t born on the right side of the tracks, but it doesn’t make any difference. You show your loyalty to your place of birth, and it will pay you back in spades."
"A ship is safe in the harbor, but that's not what ships are for."
-- William Shedd
This is a question I've been wrestling with for quite a while, especially now that I'm almost licensed and I'm ready to stop worrying about becoming an architect and start paying more attention to what kind of architect I want to be, and where. Until recently I had every intention of sinking my roots in NYC and building a career there, but the housing situation finally got to be too much for me to put up with, and I ended up moving back to my hometown of Cincinnati about six months ago.
My long-term goals are to eventually start my own practice (or at least take on a leadership / equity role at an existing practice) and do thoughtful design work that I can feel good about. I certainly don't see myself as the next Gehry or Zumthor, but I know that I'm capable of designing stuff that's a far cry better than your typical developer-driven schlock. Just for frame of reference, I have a lot of experience in higher ed projects, civic design, and corporate interiors. I design best when I'm working directly with the end users, rather than on spec projects for a third party who sees design strictly as a commodity. Starting my own practice, if it happens, is still probably a few years away at this point; I've done some small side projects here and there, but I feel like I need at least a few years as a project architect at a design-oriented firm before I'd be ready to take that leap.
I'd also like to live someplace where I actually enjoy living, where I can get outside the city and see cool stuff on weekends, and where I can eventually afford to buy a house or condo.
With all that back story out of the way, I'm torn between staying in my hometown of Cincinnati and setting off for greener pastures in the Pacific Northwest, particularly Seattle. Let's look at the pros and cons of each:
Cincinnati
Pros:
It's comfortable, familiar, and I have a good network of friends and family here. My parents are getting older and starting to deal with some health issues, so that's also a factor.
Cost of living is dirt-cheap compared to Seattle, and I could probably own a decent little home here within the next 3-5 years.
The city is undergoing a bit of a renaissance, with a lot of new development happening downtown and in the close-in neighborhoods. Although not as booming as Seattle, there seem to be at least a few opportunities for an architect to get their foot in the door.
As far as travel times go, Cincinnati is a half-day drive from Chicago and a 90-minute flight to NYC, even if airfares from Cincinnati's joke of an airport are obscene.
Cons:
While the city itself is somewhat moderate if not progressive politically, it still sits squarely in the middle of Duck Dynasty territory, and aside from a few city council members, Cincinnati's political leadership from city hall to its congressional delegation is about as progressive as Attila the Hun.
The city's design culture is similarly conservative; you'd think orange brick and beige EIFS were the only building materials that had ever been invented. There are a few small boutique firms who do nice work (mostly interiors), but the city's architecture scene is dominated by a handful of large legacy firms that tend to be very corporate and formula-driven. Local corporate clients and contractors also tend to be incredibly corporate and formula-driven.
The weather is terrible for at least six months out of the year. The older I get, the less tolerance I seem to have for temperature extremes, and my allergies are a constant source of angst here. I'm literally allergic to my own hometown.
It's technically my hometown, but my family moved away when I was 10 and I didn't move back until I came to UC for grad school. During the interim, I've spent most of my adult life living in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and a few other places. After all that, living back in Cincinnati often feels like living in my mom's basement.
Seattle
Pros:
Construction is booming there, and it seems like nearly every big firm in town is on a hiring spree.
I've always been in love with the design culture of the Pacific Northwest, particularly by firms like Mithun, Olson Kundig, Miller Hull, and others who design within the language of Northwest modernism.
It's a very progressive city politically, and I won't feel like bashing my head against the wall whenever a local pol opens their mouth. At least not as often, I presume.
The weather and natural setting are my idea of perfection. I'm fine with 50-degree temperatures and overcast skies (must be my British ancestry), and I could spend a lifetime exploring the Cascades. Where else can you stand on a downtown high-rise and see three national parks on a clear day?
Easy access to Portland and Vancouver is icing on the cake.
Cons:
With the boom comes the bust, and I wonder how long the current flurry of construction will continue. Another market crash or a natural disaster (hello, Big One) could bring it all to a screeching halt overnight.
Although I have a few friends out there, I'd basically be building my network from scratch in an unfamiliar city. Presumably this would be less of an issue the longer I'm out there, but it's still daunting at first.
The cost of living keeps going up by leaps and bounds. Although still a bargain compared to NYC or SF, I'm still pretty upset about being priced out of New York and I'm leery about putting myself into a place where that might occur again. Actually buying a house would probably have to wait until I either get a plum commission or marry somebody who makes as least as much money as I do.
The miracle of flight aside, Seattle is a hell of a long way from Cincinnati and NYC. I worry about being out there when I get the late-night phone call saying my mom or dad is in the hospital and things don't look good.
So, what will it be? Stanley Tigerman or William Shedd? I'm not asking the peanut gallery to decide for me, but I'd appreciate any insights or constructive advice. I'm hoping to have reached some kind of firm decision by the end of the year, and if I decide to move, it would be at the end of April.
Thanks in advance...
Andrew.Circle
Nov 12, 15 10:19 am
Good topic and interesting discussion.
I think it's sad that politics plays such an outsized role in how people interact with each other and relate to each other. I think it's giving too much power over to politicians / sociopaths to decide where to live based on which team controls the politics. The difference between red and blue is so minute on so many issues, and still we have been tricked into caring about which asshole will be elected. And the regular people continue to get screwed. That's a fact. Local politics is a little different, but not by much in my eyes. Maybe since we are tricked so easily we deserve to be screwed.
Enough about politics - I went to UC, so I have an affinity for Cincinnati. I never worked there, but some projects I see being built are fantastic. There seems to be enough 'fertile ground' there to sustain a design-driven practice, especially when thinking regionally like Carrera and others have mentioned. I think De Leon Primmer Workshop (Louisville) is a good comparable model to go along w/ LakeFlato etc.
Great point about the number of tiki bars in Seattle. My mind is made up for you David, do your tiki bar thang and move west. Seriously though, good luck w/ the decision.
Carrera
Nov 12, 15 3:52 pm
+++De Leon Primmer Workshop
David Cole, AIA
Nov 13, 15 9:49 am
Thanks again for the responses… This thread has helped clarify my thinking. De Leon and Primmer Workshop is an interesting example. They do great work, and that’s the type of practice I’d ideally love to establish someday. They’re often held out as an example of an innovative firm that has managed to thrive in a small city, but they’re also interesting to me because their decision to launch in Louisville was purely a business decision; my understanding is that neither partner had any personal connections to the city when they first arrived.
If pressed, I’d probably say I’m 80% in favor of heading off to Seattle next year, even though there’s a compelling case to be made for staying in Cincinnati. That said, I reserve the right to change my mind several times between now and the time I actually have to pull the trigger, and I probably will. But for me, it boils down to the consequences I’m willing to accept if either locale doesn’t work out.
If I’m in Seattle for a few years and things aren’t working out, I can always move back to Cincinnati or somewhere else. Doing so would be a major disruption and possibly a career setback, but it’s a scenario I’ve already faced and I'm willing to accept it.
However, if I decide to stay in Cincinnati a few years and things aren’t working out, I don’t want to end up kicking myself for not moving to Seattle back in 2016 when I had the chance, before getting tied down with a mortgage and becoming too old to make a fresh start someplace new. That’s not a scenario I'd be willing to accept; it gets back to Donna’s quote about regretting the things you did rather than the things you didn’t do.
My parents and their health is an issue, but they know how hard I’ve worked to become an architect and I don’t think they’d want to see me limit my possibilities on their account. Also, if running my own practice doesn’t work out or if I merely decide that I prefer the structure and stability of being an employee, Seattle offers far more options for that than Cincinnati.
Wilma Buttfit
Nov 13, 15 12:07 pm
You have to go to Seattle. If you are somewhere where you feel good and where you want to be, you won't regret it. Take a leap and build wings on the way down while you can.
Carrera
Nov 13, 15 6:33 pm
^^ While both are GSD, de Leon is from SF, but Primmer has Midwest roots as he went to Kent State & Ohio State before GSD…..grew up in Eastern Ohio...."Home" can be regional.
David Cole, AIA
Nov 13, 15 6:39 pm
^ In that case, the Pacific Northwest has always felt more like home to me than the Midwest, my affection for Cincinnati notwithstanding.
gwharton
Nov 13, 15 6:52 pm
Since I've spent my whole career in Seattle and AM more or less from here, I can at least speak to that option.
Seattle is a great town in which to be an architect. No question. The economy is strong and fees are high. It's been good to me, and I have never left for long.
But Seattle is a difficult place to break into if you're not "from" here, which despite comments made above, many people are. Seattle is the biggest small town in America, with everything that implies.
Seattle also has way too many architects, so the competition is intense. Because many successful firms are headquartered or have significant presence in town, Seattle punches way above its weight in the design world. That plus quality of life draws many aspiring design professionals to town. These are cannon fodder for those who are already established here. It's fine if you don't mind being cannon fodder, but at least go into it with your eyes open.
Despite the large number of designers here, Seattle itself is culturally VERY conservative. I don't mean we vote Republican or whatever. I mean that there is one way of doing things, and that's it. And that way of doing things was set awhile ago. Maybe before you were born. Deviate from it at your peril.
Which manifests in a lot of odd ways. When Seattle does big signature design projects, they tend to be horrible messes driven by an outside ego run through the local meat grinder, like the Experience Music Project or Central Library, or vast monuments to mediocrity and design-by-committee. The "Seattle Process" for getting projects approved is second only to San Francisco for its sheer, nonsensical torture by a thousand cuts. Nothing is ever straightforward in this town.
We do have some really great architecture here, but not nearly as much as you would expect for a city which otherwise prides itself on being an engine of innovation and tastemaking. I can probably count them on one, or possibly two hands, with fingers left over.
Most Seattle firms do all their best work elsewhere.
Honestly, I think Tigerman's advice is good: put down roots and devote energy to your career in a place where you are already connected. Move home, wherever that is. Build up the place you know and love, with people who know you. That's what I did, at a time when Seattle was far, far, far, far, far from being an attractive place for an architect to settle down for the long haul, and it was a very good choice.
David Cole, AIA
Nov 15, 15 10:16 pm
Gwharton, change a few details about Seattle's conservatism, and it sounds like you're talking about Cincinnati. Cincy can be so insular and parochial that it often feels like a small town one-tenth its actual size. If a city's design culture was my only criteria I would've stayed in NYC or moved back to Los Angeles, but I'm hoping to find a spot that strikes a balance between design culture and quality of life.
Cincinnati probably has more "signature" buildings within its borders than Seattle (mainly due to the University of Cincinnati making a conscious decision to hire signature architects to design new buildings on campus), but I'd argue the more everyday projects in Seattle are of a consistently higher standard of design than in Cincinnati. Your typical high-rise apartment tower going up in the Denny Triangle without much fanfare would be the talk of the town here.
What I'd like to do over the next few weeks is try to track down a couple of former professors who have their own practices in town and pick their brains about the climate here. I wonder how many of them would be able to survive from architectural practice alone without also teaching full-time at UC.
I may also meet with my bank to see how realistic it would be for me to buy a house or condo here within the next few years, versus someplace like Seattle which is already a hot market. Housing prices in the more desirable parts of Cincinnati are already starting to approach those in Seattle, while other parts of the city continue to be plagued by crime and disinvestment. Guessing which burned-out neighborhood will be next to gentrify seems to be the most popular parlor game in town.
David Cole, AIA
Nov 19, 15 8:51 pm
*bump*
AIA Seattle has announced their annual honor awards. Winners include projects by some of my favorite firms out there, as well as quite a few firms I'm not familiar with. The jury consisted of four architects. One of whom, Juhani Pallasmaa, had been a subject of study in my Phenomenology seminar at DAAP, which had a huge influence on my thinking about architecture.
The Cincinnati Design Awards were also announced a couple days ago, and the differences between the two awards programs are illustrative of the different approaches to architecture in each city. While AIA Seattle concentrated on architecture throughout Washington state, the Cincinnati Design Awards lumped architecture in with interior design, landscape architecture, and environmental graphics, and are presented jointly by the local AIA chapter as well as ASLA, ASID, IIDA, and SEGD. I believe there was only one architect on the jury. (On a similar note, Cincinnati Design Week was a couple months ago. While the local AIA chapter was a sponsor, the event was dominated by branding, marketing, and graphic design firms. I don't think a single architecture firm participated.)
This is unfortunate IMO, but maybe it's to be expected in a city so heavily dominated by consumer-based companies like Procter & Gamble, Macy's, Kroger, etc. that the discipline of architecture is typically seen as merely an extension of branding strategy or graphic design. It diminishes the role of architecture, and severely limits the possibility of architects to achieve local recognition. Not counting renovation work and interiors projects, it looks like only about two or three ground-up architectural projects won awards this year.
Carrera
Nov 19, 15 10:17 pm
Let’s see if I got this right….this is the “Award of Honor” in Seattle?
And this came in 2nd place in Cincinnati?
Maybe it was a good thing we didn’t vote to legalize marijuana in Ohio.
BTW – The Seattle site, home of Microsoft, crashed my computer twice when I tried to download the “Award of Honor” – Maybe that’s your answer…..
David Cole, AIA
Nov 20, 15 11:24 am
^ And yet you use Seattle-based NBBJ as an example of "great firms" located in Columbus.
It's easy to cherry-pick a couple of outlier projects and use them to score rhetorical points, but my point about the overall quality of the awards still stands.
SneakyPete
Nov 20, 15 11:45 am
Did you study with Afsaneh at DAAP, David?
David Cole, AIA
Nov 20, 15 11:48 am
^ No, I'm not familiar with her. I looked her up on Google and it appears she's at Miami University now. My phenomenology seminar was led by John Hancock (no relation to the founding father), who was also one of my thesis advisors.
SneakyPete
Nov 20, 15 12:20 pm
She seems to be jumping back and forth between the schools. I can't tell your age and, to be honest, I haven't been keeping up with these threads well enough to know if you mentioned it. Sorry.
Phenomenology is a difficult subject, but it was during those discussions when I felt that thrilling sensation of my brain being expanded while I was consciously aware of it.
Carrera
Nov 20, 15 1:40 pm
David, (Just having fun) – Seattle may be NBBJ’s “headquarters” listing 30 Washington/Seattle projects on its website, but its little 22,000 SF Columbus branch office lists 25 Ohio projects….thanks to Friedrich....hard to know where they are "based" these days.
"I’m of an age when very young architects sometimes ask me, “When do you go out and open your own practice? And where do you practice?” My answer is, when you’re no longer capable of taking instructions from another architect, you should open your own office. And where? You should go home. Now, I suppose that sounds simplistic, since Chicago is just a great city of modernism—yet it is my home.
"It’s not important where you’re from, but you need to go home. Going home shows an allegiance that will be returned in kind by your city, by the city government, by the powers that be. My coming home after Yale has long since paid off. I wasn’t born on the right side of the tracks, but it doesn’t make any difference. You show your loyalty to your place of birth, and it will pay you back in spades."
-- Stanley Tigerman, as recently quoted in Architectural Record
"A ship is safe in the harbor, but that's not what ships are for."
-- William Shedd
This is a question I've been wrestling with for quite a while, especially now that I'm almost licensed and I'm ready to stop worrying about becoming an architect and start paying more attention to what kind of architect I want to be, and where. Until recently I had every intention of sinking my roots in NYC and building a career there, but the housing situation finally got to be too much for me to put up with, and I ended up moving back to my hometown of Cincinnati about six months ago.
My long-term goals are to eventually start my own practice (or at least take on a leadership / equity role at an existing practice) and do thoughtful design work that I can feel good about. I certainly don't see myself as the next Gehry or Zumthor, but I know that I'm capable of designing stuff that's a far cry better than your typical developer-driven schlock. Just for frame of reference, I have a lot of experience in higher ed projects, civic design, and corporate interiors. I design best when I'm working directly with the end users, rather than on spec projects for a third party who sees design strictly as a commodity. Starting my own practice, if it happens, is still probably a few years away at this point; I've done some small side projects here and there, but I feel like I need at least a few years as a project architect at a design-oriented firm before I'd be ready to take that leap.
I'd also like to live someplace where I actually enjoy living, where I can get outside the city and see cool stuff on weekends, and where I can eventually afford to buy a house or condo.
With all that back story out of the way, I'm torn between staying in my hometown of Cincinnati and setting off for greener pastures in the Pacific Northwest, particularly Seattle. Let's look at the pros and cons of each:
Cincinnati
Pros:
Cons:
Seattle
Pros:
Cons:
So, what will it be? Stanley Tigerman or William Shedd? I'm not asking the peanut gallery to decide for me, but I'd appreciate any insights or constructive advice. I'm hoping to have reached some kind of firm decision by the end of the year, and if I decide to move, it would be at the end of April.
Thanks in advance...
Good topic and interesting discussion.
I think it's sad that politics plays such an outsized role in how people interact with each other and relate to each other. I think it's giving too much power over to politicians / sociopaths to decide where to live based on which team controls the politics. The difference between red and blue is so minute on so many issues, and still we have been tricked into caring about which asshole will be elected. And the regular people continue to get screwed. That's a fact. Local politics is a little different, but not by much in my eyes. Maybe since we are tricked so easily we deserve to be screwed.
Enough about politics - I went to UC, so I have an affinity for Cincinnati. I never worked there, but some projects I see being built are fantastic. There seems to be enough 'fertile ground' there to sustain a design-driven practice, especially when thinking regionally like Carrera and others have mentioned. I think De Leon Primmer Workshop (Louisville) is a good comparable model to go along w/ LakeFlato etc.
Great point about the number of tiki bars in Seattle. My mind is made up for you David, do your tiki bar thang and move west. Seriously though, good luck w/ the decision.
+++De Leon Primmer Workshop
Thanks again for the responses… This thread has helped clarify my thinking. De Leon and Primmer Workshop is an interesting example. They do great work, and that’s the type of practice I’d ideally love to establish someday. They’re often held out as an example of an innovative firm that has managed to thrive in a small city, but they’re also interesting to me because their decision to launch in Louisville was purely a business decision; my understanding is that neither partner had any personal connections to the city when they first arrived.
If pressed, I’d probably say I’m 80% in favor of heading off to Seattle next year, even though there’s a compelling case to be made for staying in Cincinnati. That said, I reserve the right to change my mind several times between now and the time I actually have to pull the trigger, and I probably will. But for me, it boils down to the consequences I’m willing to accept if either locale doesn’t work out.
If I’m in Seattle for a few years and things aren’t working out, I can always move back to Cincinnati or somewhere else. Doing so would be a major disruption and possibly a career setback, but it’s a scenario I’ve already faced and I'm willing to accept it.
However, if I decide to stay in Cincinnati a few years and things aren’t working out, I don’t want to end up kicking myself for not moving to Seattle back in 2016 when I had the chance, before getting tied down with a mortgage and becoming too old to make a fresh start someplace new. That’s not a scenario I'd be willing to accept; it gets back to Donna’s quote about regretting the things you did rather than the things you didn’t do.
My parents and their health is an issue, but they know how hard I’ve worked to become an architect and I don’t think they’d want to see me limit my possibilities on their account. Also, if running my own practice doesn’t work out or if I merely decide that I prefer the structure and stability of being an employee, Seattle offers far more options for that than Cincinnati.
You have to go to Seattle. If you are somewhere where you feel good and where you want to be, you won't regret it. Take a leap and build wings on the way down while you can.
^^ While both are GSD, de Leon is from SF, but Primmer has Midwest roots as he went to Kent State & Ohio State before GSD…..grew up in Eastern Ohio...."Home" can be regional.
^ In that case, the Pacific Northwest has always felt more like home to me than the Midwest, my affection for Cincinnati notwithstanding.
Since I've spent my whole career in Seattle and AM more or less from here, I can at least speak to that option.
Seattle is a great town in which to be an architect. No question. The economy is strong and fees are high. It's been good to me, and I have never left for long.
But Seattle is a difficult place to break into if you're not "from" here, which despite comments made above, many people are. Seattle is the biggest small town in America, with everything that implies.
Seattle also has way too many architects, so the competition is intense. Because many successful firms are headquartered or have significant presence in town, Seattle punches way above its weight in the design world. That plus quality of life draws many aspiring design professionals to town. These are cannon fodder for those who are already established here. It's fine if you don't mind being cannon fodder, but at least go into it with your eyes open.
Despite the large number of designers here, Seattle itself is culturally VERY conservative. I don't mean we vote Republican or whatever. I mean that there is one way of doing things, and that's it. And that way of doing things was set awhile ago. Maybe before you were born. Deviate from it at your peril.
Which manifests in a lot of odd ways. When Seattle does big signature design projects, they tend to be horrible messes driven by an outside ego run through the local meat grinder, like the Experience Music Project or Central Library, or vast monuments to mediocrity and design-by-committee. The "Seattle Process" for getting projects approved is second only to San Francisco for its sheer, nonsensical torture by a thousand cuts. Nothing is ever straightforward in this town.
We do have some really great architecture here, but not nearly as much as you would expect for a city which otherwise prides itself on being an engine of innovation and tastemaking. I can probably count them on one, or possibly two hands, with fingers left over.
Most Seattle firms do all their best work elsewhere.
Honestly, I think Tigerman's advice is good: put down roots and devote energy to your career in a place where you are already connected. Move home, wherever that is. Build up the place you know and love, with people who know you. That's what I did, at a time when Seattle was far, far, far, far, far from being an attractive place for an architect to settle down for the long haul, and it was a very good choice.
Gwharton, change a few details about Seattle's conservatism, and it sounds like you're talking about Cincinnati. Cincy can be so insular and parochial that it often feels like a small town one-tenth its actual size. If a city's design culture was my only criteria I would've stayed in NYC or moved back to Los Angeles, but I'm hoping to find a spot that strikes a balance between design culture and quality of life.
Cincinnati probably has more "signature" buildings within its borders than Seattle (mainly due to the University of Cincinnati making a conscious decision to hire signature architects to design new buildings on campus), but I'd argue the more everyday projects in Seattle are of a consistently higher standard of design than in Cincinnati. Your typical high-rise apartment tower going up in the Denny Triangle without much fanfare would be the talk of the town here.
What I'd like to do over the next few weeks is try to track down a couple of former professors who have their own practices in town and pick their brains about the climate here. I wonder how many of them would be able to survive from architectural practice alone without also teaching full-time at UC.
I may also meet with my bank to see how realistic it would be for me to buy a house or condo here within the next few years, versus someplace like Seattle which is already a hot market. Housing prices in the more desirable parts of Cincinnati are already starting to approach those in Seattle, while other parts of the city continue to be plagued by crime and disinvestment. Guessing which burned-out neighborhood will be next to gentrify seems to be the most popular parlor game in town.
*bump*
AIA Seattle has announced their annual honor awards. Winners include projects by some of my favorite firms out there, as well as quite a few firms I'm not familiar with. The jury consisted of four architects. One of whom, Juhani Pallasmaa, had been a subject of study in my Phenomenology seminar at DAAP, which had a huge influence on my thinking about architecture.
The Cincinnati Design Awards were also announced a couple days ago, and the differences between the two awards programs are illustrative of the different approaches to architecture in each city. While AIA Seattle concentrated on architecture throughout Washington state, the Cincinnati Design Awards lumped architecture in with interior design, landscape architecture, and environmental graphics, and are presented jointly by the local AIA chapter as well as ASLA, ASID, IIDA, and SEGD. I believe there was only one architect on the jury. (On a similar note, Cincinnati Design Week was a couple months ago. While the local AIA chapter was a sponsor, the event was dominated by branding, marketing, and graphic design firms. I don't think a single architecture firm participated.)
This is unfortunate IMO, but maybe it's to be expected in a city so heavily dominated by consumer-based companies like Procter & Gamble, Macy's, Kroger, etc. that the discipline of architecture is typically seen as merely an extension of branding strategy or graphic design. It diminishes the role of architecture, and severely limits the possibility of architects to achieve local recognition. Not counting renovation work and interiors projects, it looks like only about two or three ground-up architectural projects won awards this year.
Let’s see if I got this right….this is the “Award of Honor” in Seattle?
And this came in 2nd place in Cincinnati?
Maybe it was a good thing we didn’t vote to legalize marijuana in Ohio.
BTW – The Seattle site, home of Microsoft, crashed my computer twice when I tried to download the “Award of Honor” – Maybe that’s your answer…..
^ And yet you use Seattle-based NBBJ as an example of "great firms" located in Columbus.
It's easy to cherry-pick a couple of outlier projects and use them to score rhetorical points, but my point about the overall quality of the awards still stands.
Did you study with Afsaneh at DAAP, David?
^ No, I'm not familiar with her. I looked her up on Google and it appears she's at Miami University now. My phenomenology seminar was led by John Hancock (no relation to the founding father), who was also one of my thesis advisors.
She seems to be jumping back and forth between the schools. I can't tell your age and, to be honest, I haven't been keeping up with these threads well enough to know if you mentioned it. Sorry.
Phenomenology is a difficult subject, but it was during those discussions when I felt that thrilling sensation of my brain being expanded while I was consciously aware of it.
David, (Just having fun) – Seattle may be NBBJ’s “headquarters” listing 30 Washington/Seattle projects on its website, but its little 22,000 SF Columbus branch office lists 25 Ohio projects….thanks to Friedrich....hard to know where they are "based" these days.