FORTY TO 40

Forty to 40 is a Blog & Podcast Hybrid Project looking back, living in the now and pondering on the future as Raymond Nurse turns 40. Each blog or podcast episode will feature topics beginning with ‘F’ such as ‘Foundation’, ‘Family’, ‘Financials’ and ‘Frenemies’ and much much more.

09/40 - Form vs. Function

What a joy it was to have my mother on Forty to 40 as my first guest for last week’s episode entitled ‘Favorite’, I could have gone on and on talking to her about anything and everything under the sun. I was just happy to learn a bit more about who she is and how having a scoundrel like me shaped her world for better or for worse. She has gone on to be the single biggest influence on my life in almost all arenas. Two things she instilled in me from early days were pride in the work I do, and a proper work ethic. I won’t tell you the age I started to work at because you would hear murmurs about child labor and alla’ dat jazz. Literally, alla’ dat jazz. I was 8 years old when I started my first paid gig in life tagging along with my mum as she did a one week in January stint at the Barbados Jazz Festival. She had her reasons for taking me to work with her during that week and I had an 18 year career that saw me start with selling Jazz Festival programs and ended with me designing t-shirts and memorabilia for the festival patrons.

We’ll get into that more at some point later. Today we get to look a bit at my profession of Architecture, how I got into it, and where I am professionally as I barrel towards 40 and beyond.

I was introduced to Technical Drawing in secondary school at the age of 11. That would go on to be the only subject I studied every year from start through finish until I was 18 years old and it was college time. It was Geometrical and Mechanical Engineering that was the focus of my TD classes but the concepts are pretty similar. Somewhere in there, you get a plan, elevation, dimensions, isometric, and orthographic views blah blah blah. My aunt Yvette, Dad’s sister, is one of my earliest points of references for a professional in the industry. She had studied Urban Regional Planning and was using AutoCAD to do some of her work for Town Country Planning and National Housing Corporation during her 40 years at those government entities in Barbados.

It only felt natural that I would progress from drawing by hand with a T-square to drawing on the computer with mouse and keyboard inputs. My journey into Architecture was not fully centered on the field as this was my way to escape Barbados and have my forever and a day with my girlfriend at the end of secondary school times. The relationship did not last my first year in college as distance with these things called love is tough, and distance with these things called love at 18/19 is even tougher. But… Architecture…

Not in Kansas Anymore

Dr. Rohan Bailey at the Caribbean School of Architecture (CSA) in Jamaica opened his spiel to my graduating class on day one with the famous Wizard of Oz quote, “You are not in Kansas anymore”. Lordy, was he right. That day at the end of August or early September in 2003, yes yes bring out the calculators, he made that declaration and how many ever years later, he was right. My thought process and the way I view the world was constantly changing as time went by with me operating in some capacity in the Built Environment.

This world of ‘Architecture was now my Oz’ and I was far, far, far away from home. I drank the kool-aid and was fully vested in this new paradigm. That is one reference I am expected to make because the way you communicate should highlight ‘Architecture is now my Oz’. This juxtaposed with writing everything in real life in ALL CAPS granted me entry into this exclusive club. Blink and you might have missed the 2nd reference. You could not sit through a critique without hearing paradigm or juxtaposition at least once from either student or lecturer. If you did sit through a critique and hear neither, ask for your money back one time because those professionals are real pretenders.

But… I drank the kool-aid and it nearly took my life, fa real. It would have been a ‘glorious’ way to go. My first weekend in Architecture school was the first of what would be countless all-nighters as there never seemed to be sufficient hours in the day to get the job done. One thing I had to reconcile with in early days was the job is never done in Architecture. There is a level of doneness but you can always take it from well done to ‘burnt out’. Architecture school flared up my heart issue and at the end of my first year, I was scheduled for open-heart surgery. I went on to always try to impart my lived experience on my students as a Teaching Assistant in grad school. Take care of yourself and know the level of doneness that works without pushing it all to ‘burnt out’.

‘Form vs. Function’ is Architecture’s version of which comes first, the chicken or the egg. I believe it simply comes down to what do you prioritize and hold dear in life? ‘Form’ is the aesthetic, the pleasing to the eye, the beautiful. While ‘Function’ is layout, the purpose, the reason for the season. I am repping heavy for team ‘Function’. It can look as stunning as ever but will it work sums up which camp I reside within.

My undergraduate degree completion in Architecture was the toughest thing I have had to do in life. I did not take time off to fully recover from surgery and that was an error on my part. If I could go back, I would not force myself to try to balance life and the cornertstones of my career. It would be a simple choice with life being the clear winner. Here we are, the decision was made. I still had to spend an extra year at the University of Technology doing a design studio course so the time was the time and it could have been spent differently. Another reason for choosing my health at the time would have been to get honors. I had the CSA secretary look at my grade slip once and she was shocked that my GPA was as high as it was despite me failing Design Studio the year after surgery. The writing was on the wall regardless as one of the requirements for honors is not failing Design Studio at any point as that was a prerequisite course in Architecture.

My choice also made it extremely difficult to get into a grad school program so I had to bide my time and bide my time and bide my time some more. What turned out to be a gap year turned into 2 then 3 and before I knew it I was over half a decade between degrees. I look back at the time and I am grateful for those tough years, floating around the Built Environment. How does a chap that had a job lined up before leaving Jamaica to head to Barbados end up floating around?

Easy…

Timing is everything. That chap left Jamaica on Sunday to start a job the next Monday. He stayed there for 7 odd months but saw a few things he didn’t like and decided to get up the first day of the year two thousand and nine, iron his work clothes and head to the office to resign his position immediately. He ensured to turn away the pleas from his boss to reconsider and stay onboard. He did not have a clue about the implications the great recession in America in the year two thousand and eight were about to have on his island home. He did not have another job lined up before he jumped ship.

Not fully easy but you get it, flotation devices attached and some fun in the sun was about to go down.

I ended up unemployed for a good chunk of my time between degrees. It did not break me, I stayed resolute on the end goal of licensing as an Architect and going on to have my own practice. That was the evolution of my ‘Function’ and it did not have much ‘Form’ to it at all. That time had me continue to scour for chances to further my education. It also gave me a more holistic approach to design and the Built Environment. I worked for myself in Architectural Design with stints in Barbados working for others in Engineering as a Technician, Environmental Protection as a Building Development Officer.

A chance came up for me to work as an Architect at a multidisciplinary firm in St. Lucia. I remember getting to my mum’s house and while pulling up getting the call. It was the year two thousand and fourteen and surely this was the start of the end of hard times.

Error…

I have had 3 ‘not nice’ bosses in my career. This guy stands alone on my podium but there were lessons to learn as he was a top businessman despite a few other shortcomings. I went from euphoria at the start of that gig to learning how stress felt with throbbing at certain parts in my cranium and funky feelings around my thyroids. It was a shame too because I loved St. Lucia so much and wanted to stay.

My biggest achievement over there was a 3 floor, 15,000 square foot office building for the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC). A high percentage of the projects we design in Architecture go unbuilt. This office building is one of them but it gave me the opportunity to take the design principles I learned with regards to form and function and apply to the project. With a team of 3 or 4 in 10 weeks, the office building went from creating the design brief with the client to full approval in the building department. The pride I take in my work shone brightly that day when I was summoned to the building department thinking they wanted to discuss revisions with me. The building officer let me know that in the history of her working there, my drawing set for Carilec was the first and complete one that required no revisions prior to approval. Yup, yup, yup. Her words not mine.

Architecture in America

With things not working out with that job, I went back to Barbados to continue plugging away at finally getting my break. I met someone and was introduced to Iowa. I was told about the amazing program in Architecture that was on offer at Iowa State University. I did my research and reaching out and things were shaping up. I made a recon trip in October of the year two thousand and fifteen to check out schools in Chicago as well. It turned out that Illinois was right next to Iowa so I figured I would check there out too. It was totally unplanned but the time I was Chicago bound, there was an Architecture open house throughout Downtown Chicago. I made the rounds, I was visiting buildings and firms, the worse thing you can give this man is hope. I had hope in a future with Architecture in America. Doug King of Stantec formerly VOA turned out integral in keeping hope alive. That open house day in a conversation with him, I expressed a desire to practice in Orlando due to my family ties there. He gave me a business card of his with a number for Tom Matzke who was working in the Orlando sister office of VOA. I was instructed to call him when I was ready for an internship. I bought a laptop bag on that trip as my bag strap had popped and the bag was super heavy to lug around. I placed that business card in that laptop bag and it stayed there for 2 and a half odd years until 2018 when it was time to reach out to places for interships.

Another reason why I had hope was because during those 2 and a half odd years, VOA was bought over by Stantec. When I finally called and I spoke to Tom Matzke, he was super surprised to hear that this lad seeking out an internship was also in the Stantec family. During my years of floating around, I had worked for Stantec Barbados as an Engineering Technician. It was all coming together.

Iowa State University turned out to be that moment of hope in a future for me, and I was able to do a double Masters in Architecture and Urban Design. Once again, I had dusted myself off, licked my wounds and got ready to give it a good go and not die trying. I entered grad school as a mature student. I know one of my former students and a good friend now, Kayla is going to get a grand kick out of that line when she listens to it. That one is all for you Kayla. She was one of my students when I was working as a teaching assistant during my time at ISU. I also worked on a book publication as a research assistant in my final few semesters.

ISU was the first time I was learning that ‘White is Right’. It was a tough lesson to learn but it is one that I took onboard quickly as I had to evolve with this paradigm shift of dynamics in power and privilege. I navigated it all as best I could and departed ISU as a double masters degree holder as well as a Barbados National Development Scholar. I hope you are still with me, paying attention and caught the other reference of paradigm, that is the absolute last one.

‘Form vs. Function’ mattered no longer as I was on the top of the totem pole. Whichever I said it was, it was and the debate is over. Life has a way of humbling you time and time again so I just stay humble these days to make the job life has to do much easier. The year is two thousand and nineteen and I have done what I set out to do. I now have 3 years I can work in America under a program called STEM-OPT before I have to leave unless I have figured out another way to stay professionally in the country. Everything was working out.

I got a job at HHCP now an Orcutt | Winslow Company. I had a few options after interviews and went with HHCP. After a half a decade of portfolio and resume revamps, false starts, applications galore to schools of Architecture and too many zeroes behind tuition costs for international students, it was all coming to a good place. My belated restart was upon me and it was great. Fun work events, happy hours, cool coworkers, I was living the dream. Fully living the Corporate America Architecture Dream.

It is the year two thousand and twenty. Under a year on the job and the world is about to battle with the cooties. The Covid-19 pandemic did not want to see me reveling. I took my immunocompromised self indoors to work from home, and everything came to a grinding halt. There were 6 weeks when everyone was working from home but once Florida opened back up, yes it did shut briefly, people went into the office and being one of a few working remotely was not a grand time.

I now had the distinction of finishing with an undergraduate degree in the year of a recession and finishing double graduate degrees within the year of a recession and the pandemic. To everyone severely impacted by these events, I take full responsibility and I am truly sorry. No more tertiary education for me, the apolcalypse and/or rapture might manifest itself if I pursued a PhD. Plus Dr. Architect Nurse would surely confuse the masses and I definitely don’t want to be D.A.N.

I end up being laid off from HHCP though I wish I could have stayed since it was such a nice organization for me professionally. Persons talk about how tough the job hunt can be. The job hunt on STEM-OPT or a work visa like H1B is even tougher. You have 90 days to find your first job out of school or you are homeward bound. If you are laid off at any point during that time, you have 90 days to find another landing spot. When you get on H1B, that time drops down to 60 days I believe which is a rough ask but somehow I managed to get through that period too. If you take in Forty to 40 and you employ a non-national, please please please give the person some heads up that the layoff is coming so they can properly plan the transition to another spot. I know it is business and there seems to be this notion that the person will not want to be productive if they know etc but the gratitude of that employee will likely see their productivity rise through the roof in that moment as you have helped them significantly by providing them with that information. If you are the employee and you suspect things are not going great, try your best to highlight the constraints you exist within. Advocate for yourself and stay on top of your status in office, it is a business and no favors are owed to you.

The One that got away

With a few H1B visa processes under my belt, I had a gap year in Birmingham, Alabama while focused on Multifamily Architectural Design. It was another experience for the books, there is always that One, you know the one. There is always the One that got away. Interplan represents that organization for me. I went in a different direction from Interplan but even with a lower paypack and no plan to sponsor me on offer, this Architecture firm was most attractive to me. I probably should have followed my heart but my head told me that securing your H1B visa status was top priority so I went away from Interplan. Interplan tried to make me stay though, I know the culture in work is one to negotiate but that is not something that I had done or planned to do when I reached out. Before I knew it, the salary was being matched and this One didn’t have to get away. The only hurdles left were my H1B visa status and exam resources for licensure in Architecture. We were not able to clear the H1B visa status hurdle but the parting of ways was doing amicably, professionally and I have nothing but high words for that Architecture firm.

Interplan was the One that got away for me and the feeling was reciprocated. I say that because they let a few weeks pass when I had gone in another direction and checked in with me to see how things were going and if I was holding firm on that decision. We caught up just under a year down the road and at this juncture, I received some of the best news I could get about an Architecture firm that I was not tenured with. Interplan let me know that after missing out on me, they went out to remove one of the hurdles that prevented my recruitment. They were now providing exam resources for their employees and 10 of their employees were now benefitting from that perk as they worked towards licensure as an Architect. I smiled thinking of the positive change I was able to bring to others while advocating for myself in a foreign land. Your story is not my story but if you are looking for a landing spot in Architecture in Orlando, check out Interplan, tell them Raymond Nurse sent you… I jest. Just give it your best shot and fulljoy your journey. My journey took me away from Architecture and into Property Condition Consulting and I am loving it here.

D.E.Why?

Architecture in America is very much an old white boy’s club. I remember growing up being exposed to milk, bear with me here lol. There was whole milk, chocolate milk, vanilla milk and of course 2% milk. I would ask myself is 2% milk really milk? this was the form of milk that was most suspicious to me. When I heard the following statistic, the link to 2% milk stood out to me. You have probably caught on to where I am going with this but if you haven’t know that I lean heavy towards function over form, I love numbers, I love statistics, I love how things work.

The second largest minority group in America are African-Americans. 15% percent of the population of America is Black. At the time when I saw the statistic, 2% of licensed Architects in America were Black. Black men made up 1.3% of that 2% with Black women making up a mere 0.7% for the remainder. Is 2% milk really milk? I have had numerous discriminatory moments in Architecture with the most being in practice in America. It sucks but there is a serious lack of representation in the field. I think the numbers speak for themselves. Where there is a 750% contraction of people from 15% to 2%, something is amiss. I will continue to fight for what is right but I get why so many African-Americans are tired and just depart the field. They have reached a level of doneness that just prevents them from being able to carry on any further.

With the push to further decimate any attempt to provide diversity, equity and inclusion, I suspect Architecture will see any gains made diminish to get the industry to 2% milk or something even more heinous than that. I am here wondering what percentage of milk truly makes it no longer milk. I will continue on in the field as it is coming up to two decades I have been entrenched in this love-hate relationship. Ultimately, I want to continue to position myself in a way to give back to Barbados and my Caribbean region. Whichever team you are on in ‘Form vs. Function’, is 2% milk really milk?

The next episode will be a podcast hosted by Ashley Long.

Cheers for listening and stay ever blessed, Family.