Michael Garrison and Larry Speck Still Find Joy and Responsibility in Architecture
Full interview with Larry Speck:
Full interview with Michael Garrison:
Larry Speck
''What we do is timeless and eternal and fundamentally important to human life.''
''I have changed the way I teach ‘Architecture & Society’ a lot through the years, but the mission is the same: Architecture is a tool to make your life better, to make your job better, to make your family better. Architecture is something you can use to accomplish things you want to accomplish. I want people to understand how fundamental it is to having a good life.''
''I would tell myself 50 years ago you can’t predict or plan a career. You have to see what the opportunities are when they come around, and you have to be able to make the most of them when they happen. I couldn’t imagine being anything but an architect. No career is more interesting, variable, or satisfying than architecture has been for me. It’s an amazing field.''
''My parents knew no architects. There were no architects in our town, but I loved buildings. I don't know why, but I just was enamored with buildings.''
Michael Garrison
''In all of my work, nature is my silent client.''
''Commencement means to begin. One thing I want to tell my students is to stay curious. The value of your education is not just what you can do when you graduate.”
“Ten years after you graduate, you will look at your project and ask yourself: Is this good enough? You will harken back and remember that all your friends and classmates and colleagues at The University of Texas were saying, ‘It can always be better.’ We're always pushing each other to try to be better.”
“Anybody can learn to sketch well. Just like learning to sing or play an instrument, you have to practice again and again and again. If you do that over time, you develop hand-eye-mind coordination. Your ideas flow through your pen. That's what I want design students to be able to do.”
“I talk to my students about thinking with both sides of their brain — to work within the confluence of design and technology. Buildings are responsible for almost 40% of carbon emissions, so we have a responsibility to make great-quality buildings that operate more efficiently with low embodied energy materials.”