Royal Hogan Petrie // Furman + Keil Architects

Tell us about your PRP firm. Where are you working?

I’m working at Furman + Keil Architects here in Austin. It’s a smaller studio of 9 employees (including myself) that mostly focuses on high end residential projects, but also does some great smaller-scale commercial work. The firm designed the office building we work in, which is a beautiful space in East Austin filled with natural light.

Is Austin a bit different when not in school? Favorite aspects?

I’ve really enjoyed working in Austin. It’s been great having time to explore new parts of the city and go to concerts and studio tours and other events like that. Also, FKA does a Lunch Club™ every month where we pick a new restaurant to eat at in East Austin, so it’s been fun to try out new places through that too!

What is currently on your desk? What are you working on?

A few of my favorite items on my desk include my old Lufkin tape measure, a tiny dinosaur that mysteriously appeared on my monitor, my ceramic pencil jar, and a small box I made last semester in wood design. Also on my desk are some yellow pine and douglas fir samples as well as a redline set, both for a project on a conservation area in East Texas I’m helping wrap up construction documents for. I’ve gotten to work on both residential and commercial projects while working here, and it’s been great to experience the differences between those project types.

Describe the firm culture? The office atmosphere?

The firm culture is friendly, engaging, and fun. We all sit in the same big room which makes it easy to ask questions and collaborate with anyone in the office. Everyone here is passionate about the work that they do. I like how the firm treats each project as unique and values a teamwork-based approach to create the best design for a given location.

What is the first thing you'll tell your classmates upon your return to UT?

I would tell them to seriously consider doing PRP. I’ll be honest and say that as a grad student who had prior work experience and was ready to be done with school, I was not interested in PRP initially. Thankfully my classmates changed my mind. I’ve had a great experience and cannot recommend PRP enough!