Designer Q & A: Simone Saidel, AIA

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Contributor: Margaret Hancock

You are currently designing corporate interiors. What excites you about this niche and working with corporate clients?

Last year, I shifted to my current firm OPX from a small local firm in Alexandria. This is an exciting transition for me because in addition to a more distinct focus on corporate spaces, my portfolio is now at a national level with clients throughout America. It is invigorating as an architect and a self-identified “people person” to travel and meet with different individuals, and it is rewarding to help a company and its constituents transition into a new phase. 

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Capturing the Architect’s Voice: An Oral History of Virginia Architects

Posted on by cguske

Contributor: Bryan Clark Green, Ph. D.

Capturing the Architect’s Voice is an oral history project designed to address one common question: what is it like to be an architect in Virginia? By recording conversations with architects (and others in related professions) at various stages of their careers, this project proposes to assemble a collection of interviews with the community of Virginians who earn their livelihood by designing, constructing, and caring for buildings. Interviews are conducted with architects of different backgrounds and experience, ranging from students currently in architecture school, to those in the early stages of their practice, to mid-career architects, and those who have retired from the profession. When possible, engineers, developers, and preservationists are also interviewed. The result is an oral history archive that captures the myriad experiences of this unique community. With support from AIA Virginia, this project seeks to record the lives of architects who practice architecture in Virginia today. The Heritage Conservation Foundation, a 501 c (3) foundation was created to support this oral history project

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Designer Q & A: Thom White, AIA

Posted on by cguske

Contributor: Margaret Hancock

What was your personal path to becoming an architect?

Accounts from my mom say that I wanted to be an architect early on. When visiting Virginia Tech, I fell in love with the architecture school and in my fourth year, had the good fortune of interning in Europe. That internship proved a formative experience for me as I spent six months in Berlin working alongside two Tech grads as they operated their international office.

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