Why did you become an Architect? What made you interested in Architecture? It was my love of The Brady Bunch! I started watching in middle school and was inspired by both Mike Brady’s career as an architect and his incredible house. That show sparked an interest in architecture that stayed with me into adulthood, despite the fact that being an architect is pretty different from how it looked on TV.
Do you have a favorite project you’ve worked on in your career? Definitely the new Effat Library in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The library was for a private, women’s university dedicated to architecture, technology, and engineering and was a unique experience all around. A women’s college dedicated to STEM is a unique project in itself, and it gave me the opportunity to travel to Saudi Arabia twice. This project also wasn’t limited by a budget, so we were free to design without constraints.
What’s new and exciting in Nashville? There’s so much growth happening in Nashville! The skyline is constantly changing, with new developments going up all the time. Then there’s the massive East Bank Redevelopment that’s happening, which is going to add billions of dollars of mixed-use space. Many national companies like Amazon and Facebook are opening offices here, and there’s a ton of new people moving to the City, so it’s a very exciting place to be right now.
On the BL side, we’ve been working on a 40th floor residential penthouse that overlooks downtown Nashville and have also had great success working with Thompson Machinery / Caterpillar on projects throughout Tennessee. They’re a newer client for BL and came out of our great relationships from the Amazon program.
What do you like to do outside of work? I love visiting the State Parks in Tennessee, and I’ve been trying to see all the waterfalls in the state. I love traveling to see the national parks; I’m currently planning a trip to Utah to explore some of their parks. I also have property in Montana, so I’m out west quite a bit as well. Montana is absolutely beautiful.