Education I started at the University of Utah in 1967, knowing I wanted to be an architect. The U had just transitioned from a five-year undergraduate professional degree to a graduate degree, so I had to choose an undergraduate degree that I didn’t really want to pursue. I started as an art major. Towards the middle of that year, I just decided, “I enjoy art, but I want to be an architect.” So, I went to the dean, Bob Bliss, who was a big advocate for the graduate program because they’d just initiated it. I told him I preferred a five-year track that would be more streamlined than a six-year graduate degree, and he said, “Why don’t you consider Southern Cal?” I applied, got in and completed my degree, only to find out it would take another three years to get a license. I was working for one of my professors in LA, and my wife was not happy with all the commuting and smog. We went up to San Francisco, where in the early ‘70s, every architect graduate went looking for work. I remember going into offices. They’d have a big stack of resumes, and yours would go on the bottom, and they would take from the top. I spent a month or six weeks in San Francisco looking for work, then sent a resume back to Salt Lake and got hired by Edwards and Daniels. Sopolosky might say, “You were just following a path that was laid out for you.” You think you are making choices, but certain doors open and others close. San Francisco was not open; Salt Lake was. I came back here, worked for Edwards and Daniels and then followed Tim Thomas and Steve Petersen when they set up Thomas, Peterson and Hammond Architects. About the time I got licensed, I recognized that the profession wasn’t what I thought it was. What were you disappointed with? I think the creative aspect was not what I thought it was going to be. You’re basically cranking out construction drawings and learning how to put buildings together. And at that age, I was anxious to get on with it. I’d gone through school, gotten licensed and realized I wanted more from the profession. I just found that discouraging. So, I thought, “Well, I just need to take some time off and assess my options.” I took a year off and traveled through Europe, looking at all Le Corbusier’s buildings. I returned and started a studio over Guthrie’s Bike Shop. I thought I could use my undergraduate degree in architecture as a prerequisite to get an MFA degree, only to find out I had to build up all sorts of studio hours first. So, I enrolled at the U in their art program, and it got to the point where I was practicing architecture on the side, paying the bills, and then painting a lot and going to school. I finally got the studio hours to apply to an MFA program and started doing a little teaching as an adjunct at the U. I enjoyed that and decided to pursue a master’s degree in architecture. I applied to graduate schools in architecture and art simultaneously. I decided, “I’m going to apply to the best schools that I can, and whoever chooses me is the path I will take.” I didn’t get into the art school I wanted, but I got into both Harvard and Columbia’s Master of Architecture programs. One door closed, while the other was open, so that was the path I took. We moved to New York, and I went to Columbia. I was an old student by then, mid-30s. I felt it was hard to keep up with the younger ones. Sopolosky says your brain is not mature until you’re 35. So maybe age 35 is when you really start understanding who you are or are meant to be. Before that, you’re responding to mentors, to people trying to guide you. I think you start developing a little more confidence. It was a great experience. I learned a lot more about architecture than I did as an undergraduate. Maybe that was maturity, taking it more seriously than an undergraduate would. I knew I wanted to teach and had some contacts at various schools. I’d get shortlisted repeatedly, go through the process and not get the job. I had a good friend with whom I had collaborated on some projects, Gerald Allen, who also taught at Carnegie Mellon and North Carolina State. He gave me the best advice: “Pursue your career, and if you want to teach, teaching will come to you. If you pursue teaching, you may end up bouncing all over the country at the expense of a career, as architects must be dedicated to a community and building relationships. It’s almost the opposite of academia.” Private Practice When I went back to graduate school, I had already started an office in Salt Lake, so I left my office with some very capable guys, but they didn’t really have the necessary management experience and incurred a lot of debt. I said, “We’ll come back 13
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