My passion for architecture + design was sparked many years ago by a documentary called, “The End of Suburbia.” The film explored the future of the American lifestyle we are all familiar with, Suburbia, and how it will be affected as the earth’s oil supply becomes depleted. The film made me realize that a radical change needs to be made in the way we work, shop, eat, travel, live; and that change can be made though architecture. I believe as architects and designers we have an opportunity, and responsibility to change the American lifestyle to one which is much less dependent on oil.
Personally I am most passionate about two things: music + travel. I try to combine the two whenever possible. My most recent musical excursions include the music festival Out Side Lands in San Francisco, a brief Phish tour from Albany, NY to Portland, ME, and the music and arts festival Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn.
While I was in college I studied abroad for a marketing program traveling to Portugal and Spain. This gave me the opportunity to visit many European businesses. My favorite (which almost made me give up interior design for fashion design) was a visit to the Zara Headquarters in Coruña, Spain. I witnessed every step of the design process from the sketch on bumwad to the packaged clothing ready to be shipped to the retail stores. It was simply fascinating to see a design become reality. On top of that the complex of buildings was beautiful and was run by a single wind turbine, how cool?!
I am inspired by “do-gooders”. It doesn’t take much to be discouraged by mankind and the state of the world. Turn on the news and it’s all bad. So whether it’s a simple act of kindness, like someone dropping change into a homeless person’s cup, or something bigger like an organization donating their time to help rebuild after a natural disaster, or a corporation working towards solving a problem like oil depletion, I’m inspired by those that seek to better the world.