Q&A With Todd Smith, Founding Partner / Principal Architect
Todd Smith, Founding Partner & Principal Architect
Q&A with Todd Smith
Professional Journey
What inspired you to pursue a career in architecture?
Todd: Growing up I was into a ton of different stuff and influenced heavily by my parents’ variety of endeavors: music, art, drawing, sports, math, reading and a few other things that when it came down to “what am I going to do with my life?” I found out that there was this thing called Architecture that can contain it all. Architecture is an occupation that includes any cultural, scientific or artistic adjacency….and being that I wanted a job perfect for a jack of all trades, master of none: Architecture fit the bill.
What motivated you to start your own architectural firm, and how did you know it was the right time?
Todd: From 2002 to graduating from the UW School of Architecture in early 2008, things were sailing great. I had a great job at Johnston Architects in Seattle, a kid on the way, Great Marriage and all things Great. Then all of a sudden, the recession hits, and it hits the Architectural industry hard…for close to two years we felt a slow chiseling away of the industry, lessened work load, and lessened staffing needs, all the while I was doing plenty of work in Leavenworth at the time, which took a lesser hit than the Seattle area. Around 2010 with kid number 2 on the way, and a majority of my work taking place in Leavenworth, I thought it an opportune time to switch things up and aim towards a move back to Leavenworth. In May of 2010 I left my principal position at Johnston Architects (which I loved) to start a long journey back home and build a practice from scratch.
Looking back, what are some of the key lessons you’ve learned throughout your career?
Todd: To be grateful to the people that have helped you out and who are doing great work; recognize the efforts of others and have empathy and respect for the toil everyone goes through; and wear other peoples’ hats.
Is there anything you would do differently if given the chance to start over?
Todd: Don’t hire architects first to grow your business. Hire people to help you focus on architecture and your value doing architecture as opposed to one being an anchor by doing their business functions. An MBA would be handy to have. A Doctorate in Psychology would be handy to have too.
Design Philosophy and Work
Which architectural styles or movements have influenced your work the most?
Todd: Modernism and Traditional Alpine Architecture.
Can you share some insights into your design process when starting a new project?
Todd: At the start of my career, I spent a lot of time iterating, and diagramming, and flushing out what something could be. This process was exhausting, and I’d often times spend too much time on too many options and iterations. Now after 20+ years, I often times find that I can visualize the solution by closing my eyes when I visit a site for the first time. Granted, this doesn’t happen like magic. Prior to a visit, most of the rules of the site are known from a legal, and environmental perspective. In tandem with defining the legal rules, client relationships inform the direction that we can go together. We’ve profiled each other to define how we play “music” together in the form of a building’s design for extended periods of time; IE multiple dates. After all the effort of establishing the rules of the playground, I find from there, it’s really a process of proofing a visual hypothesis, by documenting linearly into drafted plans coinciding with a pretty well flushed out digital model process. What we find out is where we originally started on an initial site meeting to having a cup of coffee in a built living room: is that the initial kernel idea wasn’t that far off.
What are some commonalities among the most successful projects you’ve been a part of?
Todd:
A triad of admiration and respect between client, architect and general contractor.
A triad of solution-oriented communications between client, architect and general contractor.
Unwavering trust between client, architect and general contractor.
Transition of client to friend somewhere in the middle of construction.
What makes a truly great architectural design?
Todd: I don’t know for certain, but I’ll give some elements that can get one on the right path.
Reverence towards the site, sun, water, wind, stars and surroundings.
Making the everyday, the mundane: exciting
Turning peoples’ heads, pausing peoples’ walks, taking peoples breath away.
Resetting peoples’ brains
Slowing time
Inspiring someone to think about how they’re living, working, recreating.
How do you approach problem-solving when a design or project hits an unexpected challenge?
Todd: Every project is a prototype. Every project has problems to be solved. Don’t cast blame, discuss solutions and how to get there as a team. The minute one blames, relationships are ruined, and projects crash.
Company Culture and Team
What’s your approach to fostering collaboration and creativity within the team?
Todd: I’m one to request solutions with my team and collaborating diligently together until we’re all on the same page conceptually, and even sometimes technically. From the Conceptual level I then entrust that from those kernels creativity in developing comes from their initiative: collaborating with others in the office to solve problems, and I then become an advisor, and advocate for their direction and solutions.
What advice would you give to aspiring architects looking to advance in their careers?
Todd: Fine tune your love of design with the equal understanding of business and the importance of accountability. You can be an artist, and a scientist at the same time…in fact it’s necessary to do so….we often times think that our role only has one lane, and that if you do something exceptionally well, you can focus solely on that. Well, if you do not have perspective of how it relates to everything else….its rather worthless.
What core values do you believe have shaped the firm’s success?
Todd: All of them….but my favorite is “Design Everything”. Being nimble is a part of this, and if we weren’t pursuing a literal “design-everything” in the past to now aiming for a larger “Design” with a capital D…we wouldn’t have been as successful as we are now.
Partnering with Steven
How has partnering with Steven influenced the firm’s direction and success?
Todd: This has meant the world to me, to share something formally, financially, and philosophically that he has been such a vital part of for so many years. It allows lessening of a burden for me of course, and a propping up of others and potential long term certainty to sustain the firm. It provides a structure for growth, and legacy planning, coupled with having more strength to pursue more, with more clarity as well.
What strengths does Steven bring to the table that complement your vision for the firm?
Todd: I’m a story teller, and a hand waver. Steven has a Hemingway’s efficiency in language and Meditative quietness that is results driven. I’m Forrest, he’s Lieutenant Dan.
How has your collaboration evolved over time, and what impact has it had on the way the firm operates?
Todd: I think any firm owner goes through a control freak phase, or maybe never. Once you start involving more people in an organization, this becomes more apparent, and its not sustainable. Relinquishing control is hard. However once you trust and admire someone without question, control is easy to “let go of”, because it’s most likely controlled way better, outside of yourself. Steven has great control, and it’s allowed many more voices to “syndicate” over the years.
Personal Insights
Outside of architecture, what do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Todd: Biking (mountain and road), Skiing, Playing Music (alphorn, keys), and of course being with my family, kids, and wife. The thing that brings me the most joy is Travel, I would have to say: with my family…this is what I get most excited about.
Tell us a bit about the library in the office and what are your favorite books to share with others?
Todd: The library is a snapshot of me and my interests since college. At the end of each college quarter, I’d buy an architecture book as a treat to myself, and then it became habit to just buy books upon finding out or discovering something that was unique, or special to me, or the office. My favorite book to share with folks or to evangelize is “Rock the Shack” published by Gestalten. It contains the most information on architectural possibilities through “small projects” that I’ve ever seen in a book.
You’re involved in various creative fields outside of architecture—how do music, art, fashion, or food inspire your architectural work?
Todd: It’s all intertwined. One topic, any topic can be connected to another and most importantly, to other people, and their loves/interests. A broad array of interests completes the circle as to why I went into architecture in the first place. There are interesting connections to be made with other people, whether it be underground hip-hop, f-1 racing, Saville row Tailoring, or street foods and methods. I’m one to collect this information for conversations’ sake and connections sake. Similarly, discovering new things is endless fun and invigorating.
How do you stay creatively engaged outside of architecture, and does that ever affect how you approach new projects?
Todd: Photography, Music, Biking, Eating, Cooking, Talking, Traveling, etc…are all creative acts, and as long as I can actively keep up with all of them, they inform new projects every time. A discovered inference traveling in Portugal, or seeing a new popular music photo shoot/video….art and creativity is all around us. This is only exponentially expanded by the access to “new” and “fresh” around us via the various technologies we pursue every day. Engagement is rather easy….it’s toning down the amount of subjects that is hard.
What’s something unexpected that you’ve learned from your involvement in these other areas of art and culture?
Todd: By being a cultural chameleon, one can have a lot of fun relating to people who are fundamentally different than you….this allows for a level of tolerance leading to admiration leading to Love, that I don’t think I would have learned if I didn’t think that opinions should be “informed”, as opposed to saturated, absorbed and consumed.
A Friend in high school once said ”Todd, have you tried it?”
I said, “no and I probably never will”….
“well”, said my friend, “when you decide to do so, let me know, and we’ll have a real conversation about it”.
This hit hard, the right way for me….
Looking Forward
Looking ahead, what are your hopes for the future of the firm?
Todd: I hope growth can happen abstractly to the highest of highs, 1st. I mean abstractly, as in strength, efficiency, clarity, culturally, performance, etc… Then Growth from a size perspective can be achieved through want and pursuit, not reaction to the business environment. This would be ideal.
How do you see the role of architects evolving in the next decade?
Todd: Ugh….I’m no talisman…but perhaps, 2 parts:
The one constant is that technologies always change and adaptation and some form of embrace is essential. Whether it be papyrus to paper and fountain pens and inks , to pens and mylar, to Autocad to AI….everything changes and evolves. If new tools can do better: then informed opinions ought to be pursued about them.
Architects are going to be reacting to destruction, repair, and reconciliation more and more….Our world is an organism, similar to any other organism….it grows, plateaus, then starts to die….We’re reacting to this currently, our organism’s growth. Whether or not it’s plateauing or dying, I’m not sure…it will be interesting to see how an equilibrium or entropy occurs with our involvement in it, or without.
What motivates you to keep pushing the boundaries of design and architecture after all these years?
Todd: Equilibrium and Entropy
