I’m thankful for the excellent community of individuals we are surrounded by and fortunate to work with. Thank YOU to all our wonderful friends for this past year of project collaboration—to each of you, client, builder, sub-consultant, vendor, teams we’ve designed with and so many more—we couldn’t do what we do without you! We are so very grateful for you.
Wishing you a fantastic Thanksgiving!
8 things I’m thankful for
1 | clients who get it
Let’s face it, some clients get it and some don’t. We love the clients who value the creativity and skill we bring to their design projects. Those who understand that architecture and design is not a commodity, it is an expertise that helps to bring value to their project. Whether we are helping a developer get a higher lease rate, a homeowner live better, or a business owner create a market identity, we want to be a valued member of the team and we appreciate the clients who are willing to invest in our creativity and skill. Oh yeah, and clients who pay on time. . . (or basically on time) are super awesome as well.
We love clients who love us. This photo was taken at the ground breaking for Spring Creek. It reads: LHDC (Longmont Housing Development Corporation) + LHA (Longmont Housing Authority) + DD (Dwelling Development) + W8 (WORKSHOP8) + REIS (Michael Reis, Executive Director of LHA and LHDC).
2 | the ability to be creative on a budget
Some of our colleagues get to work with really big budgets ($300 or more per square foot). Typically, we work on architecture projects with budgets of less than $250 per square foot. WORKSHOP8 isn’t about trying to spend the most money to make something cool; we are always looking for ways to do something awesome and be on budget.
The Jamestown Firehouse project just won a design award, we designed this project in four months and it cost $221.35 per square foot.
3 | amazing team members
Seriously, Joseph and I could not do what we love to do if it wasn’t for our staff who “bring it every day” (Melissa, Amanda, Marcel, Ivan, Shawn, Emily, Chelsea, and Kate)! We all work in this super-competitive field (for not so much pay) because we f’ing love making beautiful, functional, powerful designs. Buildings, logos, kitchens, homes, businesses, you name it, we have ideas.
We come to work every day because we love it, not because we are making a bunch of money.
4 | great consultants
Our staff is terrific, but we also need the support of our vast team of consultants including: structural engineers, civil engineers, mechanical engineers, building scientists, specification writers, landscape architects, etc. Thanks to those of you who help us get our work done.
One of our favorite consultants, Mark Bloomfield, Owner of Sustainably Built, offices in our building so we get to hang with him all the time.
5 | living in a beautiful state
I’m actually a California girl at heart, but my husband makes me live in the gorgeous state of Colorado. And yes, we live in the People’s Republic of Boulder, which is a little boring for my taste, but it’s clean and friendly, so I really must keep my mouth shut. I mean, who can complain about 300 days of sunshine per year.
Truth be told, I don’t go outside much because I’m a workaholic. This amazing photo of the Flatirons at sunrise, by my dear friend Nico Toutenhoofd (Owner of Insight Designs), is what I would see if I was a cyclist and woke up early in the morning to do a training ride instead of sleeping in. If you like this photo, check out more on Instagram. He is a Boulder native and used to be a professional photo journalist with the Boulder Daily Camera and he took photos of my daughter’s birth. . . so we go way back.
6 | enthusiastic and patient mentors
I just finished the REDI program (Real Estate Diversity Initiative) through ULI Colorado (Urban Land Institute), so I’m really cognizant of how much there is to learn from those around me. I was lucky to have Mark Goldberg (Goldberg Properties) and Ismael Guerrero (Denver Housing Authority) as mentors for the program. It reminds me that no matter how old I get (and I’m getting pretty old), there is always plenty more to learn. Joseph wanted me to add that he is still grateful for the mentoring he received from Scott Lancashire and Jim Manning, the two architects he worked for when he started his career.
Here is our great team from the REDI program. We rocked our project and our presentation.
7 | inspirational husband and wife teams
Just as we are are inspired by people we actually get to meet in real life, we are also inspired by larger-than-life figures. Because Joseph and I have been working together as a husband and wife team for over 14 years, we take inspiration from famous husband and wife teams including Charles and Rae Eames and John Lennon and Yoko Ono. We hope we can continue the winning streak.
I found the image of John and Yoko here and it inspired our photo at the right. Our good friend Dan Knudson took the picture of Joseph and I a couple of years ago for our anniversary. We’ll be celebrating 23 years together on November 27th. I’m pretty thankful that I’ve go a husband willing to go along with my corny ideas.
8 | friends, family, and Facebook
Clients pay our bills and allow us to pay our team members and consultants, but friends and family put up with us through feast and famine. They pat us on the backs for our triumphs and commiserate with us through our failures. They read our blog posts and follow us on Facebook.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I sincerely hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving break.
All the best,
Brandy
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[/one_half] [one_half_last]Brandy is currently working on a series of neo-pop paintings for an upcoming art opening at Mercury Framing on January 8th, 2016 (which also happens to be Joseph’s birthday). Look for more information about the show in an upcoming blog post. You can check out sketches for the paintings on her portfolio page.
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