About Your Personal Architect

How I Got Here

I came to architecture through a long and not-obvious path. I’d been building and working with my hands all my life working alongside my dad, who to my eyes could build anything. I went to Boston University and majored in Systems Engineering (the architecture of the engineering world I learned later). But through the summers I often found work as a carpenter. And my senior year in college I took a Architectural History class that I found really fascinating.

After college I was a programmer for Computer Sciences Corporation. But I often found myself involved in building projects. It was the three-story playhouse with a matching gazebo that I built with my family at my parents house that convinced me that I should see what architecture was like. So I enrolled at Drexel University in the evening program and I loved it. Eight years later I found myself deeply ensconced in the architecture world.

When I was laid off in the midst of the recession, I took stock of what I wanted to do with my knowledge, skills, talents, and interests. I decided that I wanted to do architectural design, and also to build and to teach. I opened a booth at a local farmers market in 2009 to network and generate some business. What I found was that many people need the unique skills that architects have developed to solve their problems. They needed their own Personal Architect, just as you might hire a Personal Trainer to help you get in shape. After that first year, I signed up for a second farmers market. Then a third.

I also have four kids (including twins) and my wife and I have spent considerable time and energy in thinking about how we parent. And I find that those skills come into play in my professional practice as I listen for the unspoken problem, seek solutions that solve many problems, and strive to acknowledge the person you are.

This journey has taught me that the thing that I bring to the relationship with my client is a willingness to pull alongside them, easing their burden, helping them get to where they need to go, lifting the cart over the problems that lie in the way. Often I find that people know what they want, but not how to get it. So we pair my knowledge and skills with their desire, and we achieve their dreams.

Come Meet Me

I am back at the Newark Natural Foods Farmers Market in Newark DE where you can ask questions, have conversations, and get advice for a quarter on second and fourth Sundays from 9:30 to 2 May to November.

Drop Me a Note

I’m always glad to chat through e-mail to see if I can help you with your problems.