PRP Now! Drew Wilson // Marmol Radziner Architecture

October 31, 2014
PRP Now! is a series of interviews that highlight a current UTSOA Professional Residency Program student every few weeks.
marmol radziner, Los angeles

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 Drew Wilson (M.Arch First Professional, '15 ) about his experience:


PRP: I understand that you are currently doing your PRP internship. Where are you working? 
I'm going into my sixth month of working at Marmol Radziner Architecture on the west side of Los Angeles.   

PRP: Currently, what is on your desk? What are you working on?
My desk is cluttered right now, because we are preparing for a client meeting in the morning.  It is covered with interior elevation redlines, rendering revisions, manufacturer specifications for appliances, a half-size version of the current drawing set, and always trace paper and a scale.

I've worked on mainly two projects since I've been here.  The first is a residence for a celebrity client in Montecito.  The framing has just been finished, so it is in construction administration phase.  The second is a large residence for a young family in Pacific Palisades.  It is currently in design development phase and we are having to produce a lot in a short amount of time because the clients want to begin construction as soon as possible. The firm is Revit-based, so I usually am working in the model.  I do renderings for client presentations as well.  I've drawn countless hand sketches over revit perspective views to show clients design decisions, and I've also done several photoshopped renders over model views to show material characteristics.

PRP: What song best describes your work-style?
Feel It All Around by Washed Out.

PRP: What is the office atmosphere?
There are about 65 architects in the office, but because it is a design-build firm, there are another 40 people or so on the construction staff.  The office space is a large warehouse in west LA that was used for manufacturing airplane parts during World War II.  It is a completely open office - we all work in one big open space, even the partners.  

The office is very busy, with multiple projects going on simultaneously.  The architects are divided into six or seven studios, with each team having a senior associate, a project manager, two or three junior architects and designers, and usually an intern.  Each studio handles three or four projects at a time.  There is a lot of daily collaboration between the team members, and we usually meet with senior staff once a week to review progress.

PRP: Are there any unusual traditions? Funny stories?
Right before I started in the office, one of the wood trusses that allows for the open floor plan and spans the entire width of the office, began to crack and the whole roof structure started creaking.  The office had to close for a day while temporary columns were put in place for safety.  The first couple months of working here i had a wood column that split my desk in half - my computer and monitor on one side and drafting area and lamp on the other.  Over several weeks, the trusses were fixed one by one at night, so each morning there would be fewer columns until all the trusses were replaced.

As for traditions, there is usually pie and beer in the kitchen on Friday afternoons at five - kind of like tea time.  

PRP: What is the first thing you'll tell your classmates upon your return to UT?
Working in an office is way better than being in grad school.  Everyone works hard during the day, but the office is usually clear by 6pm.  I have so much free time and I live a few blocks from the beach in Santa Monica - I get to see ocean sunsets every day.  Readjusting back to grad school mode for that last semester is not going to be easy.

PRP: So, as your finishing up the week, what are your plans for this weekend?
Since Friday is Halloween, I'm dressing up as a pirate and going to the big parade in West Hollywood.  Then I'm heading to Palm Springs on Saturday and Sunday to check out some of the desert modernism.