There is this elusive thing called talent that follows me around. Frankly, I’m not concerned about it because ego isn’t what gets me out of bed in the morning. It’s the desire to do what I did the day before but with a little more wisdom and insight and continue down the path I’ve chosen or have yet to choose. One of the things I’ve learned is I can do whatever I want, provided I apply myself to it. In my case, I’m a design professional and a business man. To be honest and equally thankful, there is more than plenty for me to learn in both of these endeavors.

 

Question or statement?

 

I received a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University in 1984. Diploma in hand I moved to Washington, DC without a stitch of work experience and was grateful to get a job within a week of arriving. My first assignment was to make changes on a drawing I did not understand and therefore, I had no clue what I was doing. I fought the urge to get up and quit on the spot, and determined to rough it out for a year. After nine months I had a new job where I spent the next ten years.

More than anything else, what got me from that dismal first day to a place where I was ten years later was determination. First, I identified early on that I wanted to be a designer, which is the primary reason I left my first job. I firmly established myself as a designer thereafter, and then I found that design concepts have to constructible, so I learned to design and draw details, learned about building codes, zoning ordinances and work with engineers to make intents realities.  Later, to be able to represent the firm on a construction site I needed to be a registered architect because of the liability involved. So when my first big job went in to construction around the time I was eligible to take my examinations, I gave up evenings and weekends for months and passed. I don’t think any of this happened because I was merely more talented or smarter than my colleagues, but that I realized that to get what I wanted I had to learn and study; what is often referred to as “paying dues.”

Greater opportunities imply greater responsibilities, and so I entered the world of client relations, which is at the crux of a firm’s success. Without clients, we don’t get to do what we do, and no amount of talent is going to change that. Unless, of course, all of a firm’s projects were self-funded.

It was during this period of great professional growth that I identified other areas in the design world that appealed to me, namely interior design and graphic design. The firm had a separate interior design group, so I aligned myself with them and worked on projects together as a team, rather than handing them off to them to “finish,” which is I concept that to this day I can’t fathom. The fascination with graphic design started as I worked on assembling brochures for presentations, direct mail pieces, etc. I learned how to create  “mechanicals,” as it was all done manually at that time. Interiors and graphics were the first of many things outside of the architect’s traditional endeavors I’ve pursued.

The firm was known as KressCox Associates PC at the time. Because the firm has evolved, it no longer shows any of my projects I worked their website, so here are few images.

 

The Colorado Building in Washington, DC

 

 

W.B. Doner, an advertising agency in Baltimore, Maryland

 

 

Private residence in Chevy Chase, Maryland

I was fortunate to work on these projects. The firm consistently produced high quality work and therefore, more of it came. I was equally fortunate that these projects won design awards and received media coverage, for which I was given proper credit and savored recognition for my work. I figured there was something there, perhaps talent. Then it was back to work.

More on my career trajectory soon.