So Much More Than Blueprints

“It’s more than drafting floor plans and blueprints,” says Christy Riggs, Principal Architect at 308 LLC in Colorado. Architecture is an intersection of art, science and math and as a result, requires a lot more complicated work and offers a lot more possibilities than many people realize. 

 

Going forward, flexibility will play a major factor in building spaces, as people will need rooms to be able to be easily transformed to accommodate various needs. Technology, particularly AI, is taking on an exciting new role in the architecture space and Christy describes the opportunities and challenges it provides. 

 

Looking toward the future, Christy hopes to see craft return to architecture, with more consideration of the “why” in design choices. Today, she describes the buildings throughout the world that she admires most. 

 

Quotes

 

• “My immediate challenge is finding staff.” (3:38-3:41 | Christy)

• “Architecture is definitely a lot more complicated than just drawing blueprints of floor plans. And like I said before, there are so many avenues that you could go into, even with an architecture degree, whether it's on the technical side, or on the design side.” (8:00-8:12 | Christy) 

• “Architecture is pretty hefty and I think a lot more than what people realize.” (9:23-9:26 | Christy)

• “This is a tool. I really see I can get art, science, math all together in one career. That's really interesting to me.” (15:55-16:05 | Christy)

• “There were a lot of options going, like I said, we just have this drafting class, and the guy was great. But at that point in time, I thought, that's what architects did, we drafted. So having the knowledge to say, you could come out of this and be set designer for theater production. Or you could go into your 3d, futuristic design and just do, “unreal buildings,” build sets for movies. And that computer, if you do sculpture, design, you can do furniture design, and you don't have to just do typical buildings. And like I said, where I grew up, it was a small town, and so things tended to look a little bit the same. But it could go anywhere.” (16:54-17:38 | Christy)

• “I would love to see a lot more craft brought back into architecture, we have all these great tools and 3D visualization and material options. I think sometimes we get a little stuck in our own programs, their own tools. So even on the single family side and come back and just get into the details and get away from the kind of back home stucco box. It would be nice to see that brought to all levels not just the residential, but to come back and do trim details and really intentional planning is just so easy to build in the programs that we have, we need to step back and start asking ourselves a lot more ‘why.’ Why is this space here? Why is this window here? What is happening with the light?” (33:35-34:27 | Christy) 

Links

Learn more about Christy Riggs:

Website | https://308llc.com/

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/308LLC

Email | christyriggs@308llc.com

Learn more about Better Buildings, Better Society:

Website | https://www.dma-eng.com/

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/dma-engineering/

Steven’s Personal LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-forrester-36a91517/

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/dma_engineering/ 

 

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