Firm Crawl- First blush

I should probably be working on school stuff, but since I decided to take the time to do this, I should get my thoughts down while they are still fresh.

The graduate architecture council organized a "firm crawl" which is basically an event where students travel from design firm to design firm where beers and canapes are served. We had to basically pitch in $15 for the charter bus, which is nothing in comparison with the four and a half hours of prime working time we were sacrificing. However, in graduate school, I've really worked hard on going outside of studio as thats where the really interesting stuff happens. I already know whats going to happen in studio: I've been there for the past eight hours, straight. So, I signed up, along with another 20-odd graduate students.

This tour is actually the B-side of St.Louis architecture firms. The heaviest hitters are, of course, Cannon Design (no connection to the camera makers), and HOK architects, which has its global headquarters here. Both are among the biggest international architecture firms in the world.

The first firm, let's call them WowZebra. The firm is actually very niche, specializing in 'destinations'. This means anywhere you might expect to see fake rocks, pirate ships, three story aquariums, etc. Clients include theme parks, aquariums, natural parks. They are heavy into branding, demographics, placemaking/theming, pretty much going into any destination to make it more destinationable, by which I mean they (A) make it more engaging, and (B) try to get more money out of people going there. I am all for destinations, especially local ones. I think cities and communities should have exciting places for people to go that spark their interest in wildlife, nature, science, etc. Those are real assets that give life to communities. On the other hand, I don't think that adding a log themed roller coaster to a natural park is adding much to the natural park. It's the whole IMAX at the Grand Canyon kind of thing. The office was nice, the people there were a little stiff. There was a hint of an odd vibe, which is probably more of a reflection of the niche firm they are. Lots of artistic backgrounds, zoologists, industrial designers, illustrators, model makers. They actually had an art gallery, not just a designated wall, but a whole separated room specifically for showcasing artwork of their employees, and it was pretty good stuff. WowZebra ushered us into a conference room and showed us a presentation of their work, afterwards, we were split into groups and led  on walking tours of the office. They served cheese plates (good artichoke heart dip), soda, and water. No beer. Its ok, its the first stop of three.

At the second stop, the employees came down to open the door already carrying open beer bottles, and I thought, this is more of my kind of place. This firm, shall we call them The Allinone Company, was a large firm with about a hundred employees in a few branch offices plus the headquarters in St.Louis. They occupy about four floors of a 1890's office building that Charles Lindbergh came to seek financial backers for his trans-atlantic flight. They have the best floors, obviously, nicely renovating the spaces. Great views of the Mississippi and the arch. Seems like the work was at a variety of scales from local bars to urban scale projects in China. They have their own development company and construction company in house. Not quite what to make of the work. Not quite great design from what I saw, but the heart in the right spot. I got a good vibe from these guys. I could see myself working there. Also some renovation and adaptive re-use, which is something that I'm very interested in. They had ok beer. I grabbed what was the last of the shock top wheat beer and all they had left was Bud Light. Good canapes though. Bacon covered fruit skewers. Nice. No presentation show, no narrated tour, people just allowed to wander around, talk to whom they wanted to and look at what they wanted.

Last stop was a firm I shall call Archeon, which has a striking resemblence in feel and mission to Gensler. Apparently they started as an interior design firm and gradually rolled architecture into the scope of work. Still smacked heavily of a national corporation, interior design-y-ness, and that kind of corporate feel good-y-ness. There's a company 'green team,' there's signage and chalk writing on walls and products to trumpet how sustainable they are. They donate time and money to United Way, assemble teams for baseball, cancer awareness, fundraising, etc. They had a RockBand game console set up in next to the bar style kitchen/break area. The work they do is absolutely mediocre. The kind of corporate headquarters for accounting and hedge funds in the bland conservative modernism that can be placed anywhere in the world and look distinctly mediocre in every spot, where you know you'll walk into a glass walled three story atrium and immediately feel unwelcome. They did offer the best beer. However, they made us watch a homemade video of a slideshow of photos of "fun times at the company events" accompanied by Lady Gaga music.

What work do I want to do? I don't really know. I'm still not seeing the right spot of where I can fit in. I would like to think that with my experience and my Revit knowlege, I could get into wherever I want. The question is, where and what.