cultural resources was fantastic, but I also learned that I didn’t want to live in New York or on the East Coast. I’m not a big-city person, or at least not an East Coast big-city person. I finished my education at the Southern California Institute of Architecture and was fortunate to study with some amazing architects who really helped me launch my career. I also went to Switzerland to study, which I loved, because its mountains and contextual architecture are similar to those found in the American West. I loved every second of being an architecture student. One of my professors at SCI-Arc was Eric Owen Moss. I took an incredible studio with him, which I really enjoyed. I think he enjoyed having me as a student. I got a job in his Culver City office, where I did my internship. It was a lot like being in school, which was fun. It was very intense and immersive. We worked on projects in Culver City, but we also worked on competitions all around the world. I learned the technical aspects of architecture, like how to detail buildings, and my interest in materials was sharpened in that studio. The best thing was that it wasn’t all paper architecture. We could walk out the door and see our designs being produced down the street. I primarily worked on construction documents under the guidance of some very talented architects. AutoCAD was coming onto the scene. I started by hand-drafting and then transitioned to AutoCAD for our technical documents on notable projects, such as the Samitaur Building in Culver City. We also designed a unique experimental performance space for the Los Angeles Philharmonic that featured warped glass planes. When I was in school, a professor said, “You would be a good teacher; would you like to pursue that?” I said, “Sure,” and became a teaching assistant for an undergraduate design studio. I also began teaching in the summers, as well as in after-school programs for elementary school children in Los Angeles through the Vitruvius program, where we introduced young children to architecture. I didn’t see myself in front of large lecture rooms and classrooms, but I realized that I could get people excited about architecture in the same way that Gail Della-Piana had gotten me excited about architecture. Since then, I have maintained a dual career in architectural practice and teaching. Private Practice Let’s talk about the evolution of your career. My partner and husband, John Sparano, and I decided to start a practice in Los Angeles. We started it in our apartment, and it has grown steadily over the years. We have a practice of nearly 20 people across two states, operating in the western region of the United States. We’re generalist architects, and we’ve always wanted to be generalists. We don’t specialize in a particular typology, and that is really strategic. It might be a better business strategy to focus on one project type, but this way, we get to learn things from different typologies and apply them. We are a well-rounded team of architects in our office, and no one is ever bored with doing the same thing over and over again. From the very beginning, we’ve worked on public projects. We had a very early commission for a community center in a public park. We also work on arts and culture projects, and we consistently include single-family residences in our practice. We like to keep a couple of houses in the office because they remind us of the importance of the individual human experience and how important a home is in someone’s life. When and why did you decide to open a practice? It is a challenging business decision and kind of scary to open your own practice. It’s risky. I think the main reason I wanted to start a practice is that I would have more flexibility with my time. 9
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