PRP Now! Sara Harpole // Guerin Glass Architects

November 5, 2018
PRP Now! is a series of interviews that highlight a current UTSOA Professional Residency Program student every few weeks.
prpnow

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 undergraduate, domestic and international firms. PRP staff most recently had the pleasure to speak with Sara Harpole [B.Arch. '19] about her experience.

PRP: Tell us about your PRP firm. Where are you working?
I’m spending residency with Guerin Glass Architects in their New York office. It’s a small firm of 20 people with projects from high-end NY apartment renovations to hotel towers in Hawaii with a design build sister firm, Composite Fabrication and Construction. 

PRP: Do you enjoy the city you’re working in? Favorite aspects? 
Living in New York has always been something I’ve needed to do. I’m calling the chill East Village home and commuting into bustling DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). With the great nightlife, museums and food from every part of the world, it's hard to complain. 

PRP: What is currently on your desk? What are you working on?
I’m running between five different projects at the moment: a penthouse a few blocks from where I live, a series of private villas with the Four Seasons in Cabo, Mexico, Aspen’s newest ski lodge and lift, as well as two renovations of apartments' shared spaces in Manhattan. Working in a small office allows me to experience each stage of every size of project Guerin Glass has. I spend time creating client presentations, drawing up new design options and documenting projects in construction sets.

PRP: Describe the firm culture? The office atmosphere? 
This office is pretty casual. Partners show up in jeans and a t-shirt routinely and grab a beer with the whole crew at weekly happy hours on the office's waterfront deck. Plus with a UTSOA alumnus who loves to grill, you won't even miss Texas bbq that much. 

PRP: What is the first thing you'll tell your classmates upon your return to UT? 
I’ll probably humble-brag about how thankful I am to work with such a talented group of designers on such a vast range of projects. 

PRP: As you’re finishing up the week, what are your plans for this weekend?
I'm visiting a pal in Chicago and taking advantage of the cheap air fare before the holidays set in and the wind chill gets too low.