guy geier interview
On the Vortex:
What is your overall opinion of the vortex?
Guy: I think the vortex is an awesome experience for everybody. It is a great way to kick of the second semester year especially when sometimes the middle of winter you come back from vacation and everyone is kind of ughh...but then boom. It is an energizing activity, which is really a good thing. But it is just great that everyone comes together to work on a single project. I wish I had something like that when I was here. It is really a great program that hopefully will continue. It seems like it will. It has a lot of momentum.
In your lecture today you talked about many of your firm’s projects that were won in a design competition. How do professional architecture design competitions compare to the vortex competition?
Guy: In the vortex, the problem that each team is solving is different. In a competition, we get a much more defined program, budget, and those types of things. We are all going in the same direction. In the vortex, everyone has a different site, different programs, and are taking more liberties than a typical design competition.
What is the typical time frame of an architecture firm design competition?
Guy: It can vary significantly. Sometimes they’re very quick, almost charette like. About a week or a few weeks. Others are much longer term. Six months is the longest typically that you get.
On the 2015 Competition:
Our current project is these new residences that encourages students to be together. Do you have any other specific things you would focus on if you were to do the project? You have done a lot of campuses and you work a lot with public space.
Guy: I would like to see more of a take on the Jeffersonian philosophy of mixing faculty and students together that the lawn represented. Some of the teams I have visited have talked about initiating that some, others not so much. That idea is a unique characteristic of what could be here at UVA, so if there is a way to mix students and faculty, that would reinforce community and the true idea of a college.
It would be a good draw for faculty.
Guy: It would be a good thing for faculty. Young professors with families would have babysitters near by. It all on the life of the housemasters and the residents in the college. You get a much more rich community.
On the A School:
We get to have a rich community in A school students with their studio professors. It is sad that many students take huge lectures and never meet their professors.
Guy: It is true in A School you get intimate relationship because we are working side by side and that is true of the profession too. You get very close to your co-workers because you are with them all the time. I do think what is going on today, with changes in the culture, there is much more collective work. When I was here we were given a brief and then we were on our own. Within the group, we shared ideas and talked about the project but in terms of coming up with a design proposal you were on your own. As opposed to now where it is much more of a group effort, which I think is really cool. And that is the way the world is working. It is not someone working at a desk coming up with a brilliant idea; it is a collection of people working together.
Along with the addition of the vortex, what has changed in the architecture school since you have been here?
Guy: A lot has changed. Physically a lot has changed. At the same time a lot has stayed the same. The desks are the same. Some professors here were professors of mine, which is kind of cool. The integration of the various programs and the things like vortex, that is encouraged I think much more than when I was here. I knew people in landscape and history but we never did anything together. That has improved since I have been here. Also, the amount of work that is being done internationally outside the local confines has changed quite a bit. I participated in the first Vicenza program, which was the first foray into kind of any international program. It has really taken off and now there are a lot of opportunities outside of the school.
On the Real World:
Is there any skill or qualification that you would want recent grad students to have to make them more marketable in the workforce?
Guy: I think the skills need to be broadly based. We are looking at well-rounded people right outside of school. As great as it is that they are highly skilled with digital design tools, it is important that they are able to draw well. And as I said earlier, that they can write well and speak well and present themselves because we tend to put them out there. As young designers we don’t hold them back. If we are presenting to a client, well let them do it. We’ll be there to back them up. If people are up to that we don't hold them back. Well rounded as possible.
Between disciplines also? You were talking about how it is nice that in vortex we talk to landscape and planning, and your firm has different disciplines. Do you think that broad knowledge is important?
We work at a range of various scales. We have architects working on large planning projects and we have architects working on interiors. At the same time we have interior designers and planners. Having a mix of makes for a richer culture as a firm and it also makes for better projects and outcomes because you have people bringing different viewpoints to the table. We are not a firm that has a singular design aesthetic or design direction; it is a group effort when we attack a project. So people being able to communicate together and work collectively is very important.
-Annie Cathriner (B.S. Arch 2017)
What is your overall opinion of the vortex?
Guy: I think the vortex is an awesome experience for everybody. It is a great way to kick of the second semester year especially when sometimes the middle of winter you come back from vacation and everyone is kind of ughh...but then boom. It is an energizing activity, which is really a good thing. But it is just great that everyone comes together to work on a single project. I wish I had something like that when I was here. It is really a great program that hopefully will continue. It seems like it will. It has a lot of momentum.
In your lecture today you talked about many of your firm’s projects that were won in a design competition. How do professional architecture design competitions compare to the vortex competition?
Guy: In the vortex, the problem that each team is solving is different. In a competition, we get a much more defined program, budget, and those types of things. We are all going in the same direction. In the vortex, everyone has a different site, different programs, and are taking more liberties than a typical design competition.
What is the typical time frame of an architecture firm design competition?
Guy: It can vary significantly. Sometimes they’re very quick, almost charette like. About a week or a few weeks. Others are much longer term. Six months is the longest typically that you get.
On the 2015 Competition:
Our current project is these new residences that encourages students to be together. Do you have any other specific things you would focus on if you were to do the project? You have done a lot of campuses and you work a lot with public space.
Guy: I would like to see more of a take on the Jeffersonian philosophy of mixing faculty and students together that the lawn represented. Some of the teams I have visited have talked about initiating that some, others not so much. That idea is a unique characteristic of what could be here at UVA, so if there is a way to mix students and faculty, that would reinforce community and the true idea of a college.
It would be a good draw for faculty.
Guy: It would be a good thing for faculty. Young professors with families would have babysitters near by. It all on the life of the housemasters and the residents in the college. You get a much more rich community.
On the A School:
We get to have a rich community in A school students with their studio professors. It is sad that many students take huge lectures and never meet their professors.
Guy: It is true in A School you get intimate relationship because we are working side by side and that is true of the profession too. You get very close to your co-workers because you are with them all the time. I do think what is going on today, with changes in the culture, there is much more collective work. When I was here we were given a brief and then we were on our own. Within the group, we shared ideas and talked about the project but in terms of coming up with a design proposal you were on your own. As opposed to now where it is much more of a group effort, which I think is really cool. And that is the way the world is working. It is not someone working at a desk coming up with a brilliant idea; it is a collection of people working together.
Along with the addition of the vortex, what has changed in the architecture school since you have been here?
Guy: A lot has changed. Physically a lot has changed. At the same time a lot has stayed the same. The desks are the same. Some professors here were professors of mine, which is kind of cool. The integration of the various programs and the things like vortex, that is encouraged I think much more than when I was here. I knew people in landscape and history but we never did anything together. That has improved since I have been here. Also, the amount of work that is being done internationally outside the local confines has changed quite a bit. I participated in the first Vicenza program, which was the first foray into kind of any international program. It has really taken off and now there are a lot of opportunities outside of the school.
On the Real World:
Is there any skill or qualification that you would want recent grad students to have to make them more marketable in the workforce?
Guy: I think the skills need to be broadly based. We are looking at well-rounded people right outside of school. As great as it is that they are highly skilled with digital design tools, it is important that they are able to draw well. And as I said earlier, that they can write well and speak well and present themselves because we tend to put them out there. As young designers we don’t hold them back. If we are presenting to a client, well let them do it. We’ll be there to back them up. If people are up to that we don't hold them back. Well rounded as possible.
Between disciplines also? You were talking about how it is nice that in vortex we talk to landscape and planning, and your firm has different disciplines. Do you think that broad knowledge is important?
We work at a range of various scales. We have architects working on large planning projects and we have architects working on interiors. At the same time we have interior designers and planners. Having a mix of makes for a richer culture as a firm and it also makes for better projects and outcomes because you have people bringing different viewpoints to the table. We are not a firm that has a singular design aesthetic or design direction; it is a group effort when we attack a project. So people being able to communicate together and work collectively is very important.
-Annie Cathriner (B.S. Arch 2017)