Wow. Just like that three years have passed and I barely even blinked. So much and so little have happened in that amount of time to me. Let's hit some major milestones really quick:
- I continued designing hospital toilet stalls and spaces for a firm for another year following the last post I made. Then I left for a job in Detroit. That's right, I quit and made a move for myself. I got a taste of making moves and guess what? It tasted good.
- I worked in Detroit on so many project it would make your head spin. Some are in the limelight like the David Whitney Building. The first couple of months there, I was surveying each and every one of those floors. In the winter. with no gloves. I know. I'm stupid. But it happened and I'm all the better for it. For better or worse, I think I played a small part in helping bring back the core of Detroit. I'll be back one day but I left after two years. I've been jumping around a lot, I know. I kind of have that habit.
- Did I mention I got a dog? Best investment of 2012 bar none.
- ALMOST finished with my IDP. Tricky thing about these hours is some of them you have to stay with a project until it's complete to get them. Didn't pay attention to that. So all but about 80 hours are complete. It sucks but what are you going to do? I'm studying for the AREs now and trying to finish this last hurdle in my life before the years end. We'll see how that goes with everything else going on this year.
So you're all caught up with me now. So why am I coming back to write about life as a designer/architect/young black man in a profession where there aren't many of me? Well, there's a couple reasons but before I get into that, one thing I forgot to mention in the list of things that have happened to me. I moved to Chicago! I know it's not Spain, Africa, Portugal or any of the other cool places I've been, but this was kind of my 'end game' so to speak. This was the location I always wanted to live in and I haven't actually 'lived' here for more than a couple months in the summer - Shout Out to the NSLC and Hydzik Schade - when everything is awesome.
Anyway, why now? Well, this was always a very easy way for me to express design frustrations, triumphs, fears, goals and aspirations and I got away from it. Not everything I had frustrations with before bother me now but they have been replaced with new challenges, frustrations and hurdles. My Dad has always told me that everything is in my hands and I didn't really realize what he meant until I left home. I moved to Chicago in the dead of winter with my Moms assistance on December 6. It was on some real life Kanye West Last Call type stuff.
Moms rode with me 5 hours and helped me unload every belonging I own from a relocation cube. We put it all into a uhaul then unloaded the uhaul at my apartment that I found two weeks before I moved. Talk about a family sticking together. I wouldn't be here without them.
Chicago, I can't believe I finally got here but I have so far to go. But I have to say, I'm happy to finally be here. So let's have a toast, I said toast mutha....
I been listening to this RoSpit album at work and the title, The Glass Ceiling Project, has made me start thinking and reflecting. Hard.
As I sit here and grind on yet another hospital project for people I've never met or even know, the realization of a few things hit me and I thought I'd share.
1. This is the business. Unless you're the man
Most of the time, in the position I hold, ill never know who I'm designing for or why its particularly necessary. And I hate it. I'm a person who needs to know why I'm doing something and who I'm doing it for. How is it going to improve their life? Does it actually work like I envisioned? These are but a few of the questions that I like to be answered at the end.
2. Getting my license is/needs to stay at the forefront of my mind and actions
Let's face it. After college is over and an AK has his or her respective degrees in architecture, taking 7 more tests and working 5600 hours is the last thing on our mind. What is on our mind (or at least mine) is food, sleep, fun, video games, friends, and women.
But the reality is that it needs to stay at the forefront of our mind. Not only does it allow me to make more money, it frees me creatively.
3. The glass ceiling is real
I didn't realize it but this thought kind of goes back to number two. You can only get so far when you don't have all the tools. Some are easier to get than others: degrees, work (sometimes) and even the air of success through outer appearance. Others aren't as easy: those business connections that make you less expendable, knowing your boss and how knowing him will make your path easier, getting the job initially and even knowing when you've hit the ceiling.
I never claimed to have the solution for any of these thoughts. There just things I've learned or knew before I started down my career path. All of these issues and situations are apart of my glass ceiling. Knowing when and how to break this is the next step.
So I haven't been on the blog in a while and I have to be honest with you all. It's a the hardest thing in the world for me to do. Every time there's something that I want to write about, I'm not in the proximity of my computer to write about it. The blog's name is Architect In Training and guess what? I been training. Hard. I have to be honest though. It's not what I expected for the past year and some change.
Since March 4, 2010 I've been working in the Architecture world and it's been a roller coaster. In the beginning, like most things, there was a euphoric, honeymoon experience where everything was awesome. I had two jobs. One where I was my own boss basically doing CAD work for a 'real estate' company in Detroit and an actual firm where I gained my REAL experience. Life was good. Two days a one place. Three at another. Money on the table. Cash on the floor. The game was good. The hustle was good. Life was good.
Unfortunately, the honeymoon is over. I had to quit the 'real estate' company because of the dangers the jobs had. The properties that I was visiting and working in honestly called for me to carry a concealed weapon. I don't want to do that so I had to go. The job is at a firm that provides me with a LOT of security and a LOT of experience. I work in the healthcare studio doing labs, hospitals, small redesigns, etc in and around Michigan. To be honest, I'm totally unhappy with where I am and what I am doing. Healthcare architecture is helping me through the recession but it's definitely not my passion. I think I have been driven even more to smaller square footages and personal interaction.
I'm determined more so than now to start putting in entries and trying to help some one navigate these waters. It's hard out here and I've seen that through this past year.
Thomas Bowman Out.
It’s safe to say that music and designing on any scale will forever be intertwined but Architecture and music have a special ‘union’ that is unlike anything I will ever be able to explain. If it weren’t for buildings and the built environment, some of the greatest music videos would not exist – Thriller being one of the greatest.
When I design, I usually listen to a majority of hip hop and R&B with a lot of oldies sprinkled in there. I have been satisfied with the results thus far but sometimes wonder how others design and what music they listen to when they do so. And if you say ‘I don’t listen to music when I design.’ then you my friend are a dirty rotten low down shame of a liar. probably one in a million.
I have quite a few playlists so I'll just give you my Thesis playlist:
1. Big Sean - Rollin
2. Black Milk - Popular Demand
3. Black Milk - Play the Keys*
4. Black Milk - Purple Track 1*
5. Black Milk - Long Story Short
6. Black Milk - Deadly Medley
7. Elzhi - Motown 25
8. Elzhi - Save Ya
9. Elzhi - Transitional Joint
10. Elzhi - Intro to the Preface
11. Jay-Z - Can I live
12. Jay-Z - Can't Knock The Hustle
13. Kool & The Gang - Summer Madness*
14. Kool & The Gang - Winter Sadness*
15. Nas - Still Dreaming
17. Outkast - Mutron Angel*
18. Outkast - SpottieOttieDopalicious*
19. Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul
20. Isaac Hayes - The Look Of Love
21. Isaac Hayes - Precious*
22. Isaac Hayes - Walk On By
*Denotes Instrumentals, or mostly instruments
You know what? This playlist is about 57 songs deep so I'm just going to call it here at 22.
But what songs are on your ‘designing’ playlist?
Yeah that’s right! We can’t start the season off without confessing some things – Architecture related and otherwise. I also suggest you play this mellow groove whilst you read it. If you don't know who Kool & the Gang are, kill youself go learn about them. $2.50 to the person who can tell me who sampled this song in the next 5 hours.
Before I start letting all you AK’s and dumb dumbs into my life again, let me be clear about something: I expect you to contribute something to the conversation. I know I've been through some things but I know there's some of you out there that have seen some stuff too. We don't judge here. This is a safe place. What can I say. I like to know someone out there feels the same or differently and would like to debate. Please believe me when I say I can debate about almost anything. Case in point: I once debated about my food choices in Spain with a classmate for at least 20 minutes. I would go to McDonalds and/or Burger King when I need that little piece of ‘America’ every now again. She disagreed with my choices because we were in Spain and I needed to expand my palette. I won the debate in the end.
Before I start letting all you AK’s and dumb dumbs into my life again, let me be clear about something: I expect you to contribute something to the conversation. I know I've been through some things but I know there's some of you out there that have seen some stuff too. We don't judge here. This is a safe place. What can I say. I like to know someone out there feels the same or differently and would like to debate. Please believe me when I say I can debate about almost anything. Case in point: I once debated about my food choices in Spain with a classmate for at least 20 minutes. I would go to McDonalds and/or Burger King when I need that little piece of ‘America’ every now again. She disagreed with my choices because we were in Spain and I needed to expand my palette. I won the debate in the end.
But I digress. I know you all want to know what I have to confess and share with you in this wonderful season of changing colors, football, and cold weather. Well ask and you shall receive.
1. No matter what you do, how well you do it and many people like what you do, someone will be a hater.
There’s not much you can do about this other than count how many you have and strive to get some more before Christmas so you can do a 12 Haters before Christmas song.
2. All money isn’t good money. But sometimes, dirty money allows you to make it to the good ‘clean’ money.
I found this first hand very shortly after I got the first of two jobs that I held for no more than a month. I found the position on Craigslist – I know. You don’t have to say anything. I already knew the sketchy aspect of Craigslist work. But I needed money like Kanye needs attention. My student loans were getting ready to come out of deferment, the credit card bill was ridiculous, I could barely afford to put gas in my car and even with all this, a girl was interested in me so I had to put on airs because I was smelling her back.2
So what did I do? I took the job and within 45 minutes, I knew the job was sketchier than a Frank Gehry idea. They never had me fill out tax information, got paid every week by check, no reimbursement for driving from the office to Detroit, put me in harms way on a daily basis, they used illegal workers (and no they weren’t ‘Mexican’ you ass. They were Romanian and Greek) – which isn’t the worst thing in the world and generally sucked at being honest. The money was like a hooker – quick, dirty and satisfying. I gave them the most rudimentary space plans for these spaces they wanted to turn into ‘lofts’ so I could make money. Knowing that they would never try and get permits for anything they were doing, I never went anywhere past the idea phase.
In the end of that employment the Boss wanted me to do something construction-wise that’s just plain illegal, wrong and dumb. He yelled, I yelled back, he was shocked that I talked back and walked out. The next day I walked in with my resignation letter in my back pocket and pulled out as they said they were going to go a different direction. Ironically, I drove past both the properties in Detroit last weekend and nothing else has happened to them. Might be because I told them if they tried to build anything I’d shut ‘em down. Who knows.
What I do know is that ‘dirty money’ that I got from those people held me over until I got a better position with money that’s ‘clean’. I’m not advocating in any way, shape, or form nefarious occupations of late night pharmaceuticals but do what you have to do in this economy to survive to the next thing.
3. I really hate stark white walls
I been doing a lot of architecture and design observing through blogs and websites and the one thing that befuddles me more than a Lady Gaga outfit is the white wall. I know that it’s a facet of modern design and many people love it but I think a lot of people use that as a safety net. When you don’t know what to do with the wall, leave it white and someone will love it. I can almost understand a white wall if it is being used to accentuate or call attention to something in front of it or a detail near it, but I simply cannot stand a white wall of nothingness. Drives me crazy. My parent’s interior is mostly white and it makes me crazy.
I did a rendering of their kitchen once just to show them the difference between white walls and just one wall with color. After that little conversation, they started looking to have the kitchen redone.
4. When someone makes a life mistake – a breakup, egregious betrayal, felonious assault or questionable tryst - they’ll try to find ways back into your life. No matter how clear you make it that they’re not invited.
I’ve never made one of those mistakes but I have seen a couple people make that mistake and find it hilarious how they try to come back to the plate. No story for the internet but I will say that once you burn bridges with me, don’t even try to rebuild them because I’ll put dynamite on ‘em my damn self. No, I’m not spiteful. I’m respectful of the initial choice.
5. Architecture for the masses is the wave of the future. At least for me it is.
I still have dreams of being the next Paul Williams or just the ‘Architect to the stars’ but to be honest I’d rather go after the roughly 92% of people who think they cannot afford me and make my money doing all their small projects. I feel like in the end, 92% of a market can take on 8% of a market anyday. Am I right? So for the time being, Arrow&Bowman will focus on everything in that 92%. So anybody trying to get on the team better hurry up and send those resumes, cover letters, and worksamples to me so I can pick the cream of the crop. Two years from now it’s on.
But once Holly, Bolly, or any other place with ‘wood’ at the end calls with rich clients, we’re going to go take their money and give them some awesome designing. Promise you that.
6. I’m intimidated at work for reasons that make absolutely no sense and make perfect all at the same time and it frustrates me.
What do I mean when I say this? Let me paint a picture: I have been working in the same place, same seat, same station for the past 8 months. Know what I have on here that belongs to me. Nothing. No pictures. No cards. No Michigan stuff. Nothing. The only things that belong to me leave with me everyday in my messenger bag. Why? Because it’s a recession man! There’s no guarantee that I will have this job for the next month so why decorate my desk with all these things that I may have to take down, put in a box and do the walk o’ shame with? There is no reason. And so I don’t get comfortable, stay on edge and intimidated all day, everyday.
I know it’s hurting me in the end because my personality comes off as skiddish but it’s a tough habit to break. Trust me I’m trying stop acting like that but everytime I go to bring something in, I forget it or don’t have the intestinal fortitude to do it. I need help. I know. But the first step is admitting the problem.
I don’t really want to move away from Michigan – forever.
I want to get the hell out of Michigan. But in my mind I always came back to ultimately make it awesome on some super hero, Young Jeezy ‘I put on’ – type stuff. Right now, Michigan is like the relative whom you are ashamed of and you hate to talk about because you are embarrassed of what people will think. So to make yourself, in this case me, feel better you distance yourself from them. Barring the music in Michigan right now and a few choice special people, I have no tethers to Michigan right now.
I always tell everyone that I’ll go anywhere because that’s the easiest way to stay in the game. Would I go to Japan for two years? Yea I would – only if it benefitted my ultimate goal of getting licensed by the age of 27.5 and I know for a fact that I can only count a years worth of work out of the country. So yes, I’d agree to two years and see how I felt after one. If I were inclined to leave, I would do so. I’m not into wasting time.
I love Great Lakes Splendor and seasons (though a three week winter would be ideal).
I have an arranged marriage
If the woman and I are still single by 35, then we’re getting hitched.
Still a jerk and hard on the ladies
Now I never knew I was until my brother and several others told me and I heard some things I said to girls. After I heard said statements and reflected upon them, I agree and have no qualms about it. I have offended my fair share of the fairer share because in all honesty, I feel like it needs to happen to girls more often; especially cute girls. An a**hole comment or action placed just right will have a girl initially complaining about you coming around then eventually pining to be around you. Plus, whoever heard of the nice guy getting the girl? Right, no one. Every girl needs something about their boyfriend/husband/boo to complain to their girlfriends about. The chore for the guy is to find something that is minute enough that she won’t go anywhere but still do it to get on her nerves every now and then. Example:
You get something out of the refrigerator from the very back and ‘forget’ to put one thing back after putting back numerous other things. Your girl goes in the kitchen and finds it and complains that you left it out but puts it back. She’s not going to leave you over it. But yes, it’s annoying as hell.
It’s a science and I’m the mad scientist. I stumbled upon all this in my adventures with women. 60% of the time it works. Every time. Ask Brian Fantana.
Alright – let the winter come and do what it may.
Thomas Bowman Out.
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