I’ve spent the last 25 years of my life pursuing and designing laboratory projects near and far and honestly believe that I’ve reached the point in my career where I have a deep enough understanding of how they work to design them in such a way as to improve the results my clients achieve in the spaces I design. If I see a project that allows my team to apply and/or expand the expertise we’ve built I will most often pursue it aggressively.  During this same time period, just like you, I’ve had a unique set of life experiences which provide me the motivation to continue what’s become my life’s work.  I really love what I do which sometimes leads me to the false assumption that I can be successful with any project when I’ve got the right motivation.  I’ve recently had to pass on a project where my life experience said “go”, but my professional expertise said “no”.  I think I learned a lesson in the process.

For you to understand my point you have to know a little more about my non-professional life.  I’m a guy who’s been blessed with 7 children.  They provide me with adequate motivation to have a successful business, and countless joys which could make for a series of blogs all by themselves.  Twenty two years ago the first of my children was born in an operating room in University Hospital here in Cincinnati, Ohio.  It was the culmination of what turned out to be a very difficult pregnancy.  I won’t go into the medical details, but I’ll simply say that any doctor today who hears the details of my wife’s first delivery does not believe she was able to have (6) additional pregnancies.

The doctor moved with urgency, precision and confidence.  I knew the situation was serious, but like everybody else in the room, I intuitively followed her lead.  She showed no fear as she moved methodically through a process she had clearly done before.  At the time I knew I was witnessing something special, but had no idea until years later the depth of the expertise I had witnessed.  The attributes she displayed in her actions in the room that day were curiously similar to how we’ve come to define expertise in our practice.  Those very same elements of experience and confidence seem to feed a level of passion for a job well done that ensures a successful outcome.

Last week I found it ironic that I was asked to propose on a project to renovate the very operating room where this miraculous event occurred.  Yes, I’ve had a life experience and powerful motivation to roll up my sleeves and help, but to be honest I and my team don’t have the expertise necessary to ensure a successful result.  We at BHDP Architecture really do believe that we can design better spaces when our entire team possess a deep understanding of how our clients must work in the spaces we design.  Even thought I’ve once witnessed the work process that occurs in this space first-hand, it’s not an experience that my team shares and I’ve definitely not spent 25 years thinking about how I can make it better.  In good conscious I had to say “no” to this opportunity.  I sincerely hope they hire an architect with the level of expertise necessary to deliver results for the next generation.  They deserve nothing less!

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