PRP Now! Chris Winkler // ZGF Architects

April 14, 2015
PRP Now! is a series of interviews that highlight a current UTSOA Professional Residency Program student every few weeks.
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PRP Now! aims to showcase the great experiences students encounter within the Professional Residency Program. PRP offers upper-level architecture students a unique opportunity to expand their education through work experience in the architectural profession. Over the past twenty years, our students have been linked with 260 firms in 29 countries. We will feature a handful of students within each session, graduate and undergrad, domestic and international firms. PRP staff mostly recently had the pleasure to speak with Chris Winkler  [B.Arch. '16] about his experience:

PRP: Tell us about your PRP firm. Where are you working?
I am working at the Portland office of ZGF Architects. The firm has over 500 employees total, with 250 in the Portland office, working on a variety of project types including healthcare, government, university, and commercial.

PRP: Do you enjoy the city you’re working in? Favorite aspects?
I've really loved living in Portland! There's always something new to try, be it restaurants or one of the dozens of food carts just two blocks from the ZGF office, festivals, museums, and tons of parks and natural areas. Forest and Washington Parks are just a 30 minute walk from my apartment, and have the city zoo, a number of gardens and arboretums, and almost 100 miles of trails.

PRP: What is currently on your desk? What are you working on?
Right now, the most prominent thing on my desk is a (growing!) pile of drawings with redlines and markups. Otherwise, the computer, a project schedule, my tea mug, and assorted books are the only things on my desk. I am working on on a hospital project for Nampa, ID, for which we are just about to finish design development.

PRP: Can you describe the firm culture? The office atmosphere?
ZGF is currently in a state of rapid growth; it's not a young firm by any measure, but they are currently expanding around the continent and are hiring staff almost every week. I feel that because of this, the firm seems to focus on creating the most functional buildings possible, with design goals differing between each principal. The office is always busy - mostly focused on the work but with elements of the crazy Portland vibe popping up at random moments.

PRP: What is the first thing you'll tell your classmates upon your return to UT?
I would say that residency is something everyone in the architecture department should take part in, both as a way of spending a longer time understanding the field they are studying, as well as to get skills to use for future studios and applying for jobs. The difference in immersion between the 6 month residency and a summer internship is immense; you get so much more time to integrate into the firm as well as experience the full extent of what goes into designing a building.

PRP: As you’re finishing up the week, what are your plans for this weekend?
So far, no definite plans, but I do have a long list of weekend goals! Now that it's spring I'd like to get out to both the Oregon coast and Mt. Hood. I've gone on two different hikes so far in the Columbia River Gorge, but there are dozens more, many to either great views of the river or along valleys filled with waterfalls. And I bought a membership to the Japanese Garden (cheap for students), which besides getting into the garden for free, lets you get free admission to a different museum or garden each month.