Office-s Chapter One

Back in 2007 one of my first goals was to get an internship in Architecture in the DC area. All I wanted after working briefly in Bogota was to keep in touch with Architecture. I knew this task would require a lot of effort since I was supposed to be enrolled full time in college and on top of that I also was working as a part time server (more like a full time server) in a popular restaurant in Tenleytown. So, in between of college assignments and selling fajitas, enchiladas, quesadillas and margaritas I found some space to update and translate my portfolio, resume and cover letter. In the beginning I started sending one to three copies a day. I tried every single website and search engine in the area and also went to several offices in person, at the end of this process I was submitting an average of ten to twenty resumes a day. Nothing happened after three months of searching, until one day I got a call from an Architecture office located in Tysons Corner in Virginia. I went to see Mr. Lee on Monday after a two hour commute (two hours each way for one year! do your calculations) from Rockville MD. as soon as the interview was finished he asked me if I was going to be able to start next tuesday and I said yes.
This stage of my life is called "The Hit Man". Like the best mercenary my mission was to kill any creative process and deliver. This was a very painful practice. They were not interested in any dynamic that would involve construction of knowledge. And just like the best mercenaries around the world they were motivated to take part in the hostilities (dealing with the client making them believe that we were custom designing for them) essentially by the desire for personal gain (money). I spent long twelve months in the battle field wishing every single day to go back to the peaceful land of creativity.
Being at Lee Architects allowed me to understand Mr. Philip Johnson when responding to some critics he expressed that "Architects are pretty much high class whores. We can turn down some clients, but we've both got to say yes to someone if we want to stay in business." But I did not wanted to be that kind of Architect, I did not want to kill for living, I did not want to put myself on the red light, that is why I felt more than happy when they had to "let me go" because of the bad shape of the U.S economy. After one year of assembling new projects with old projects or leftovers of projects I dedicated myself to study arts and to deal with costumers that are convinced that a "Chimichanga" is a traditional Mexican dish.

After six months without practicing Architecture I started applying again. This time with a totally different criteria, meaning being excessively meticulous (Picky). But changing my search settings would make this process a real challenge. With the economy going down and the lack of credentials in the country I was losing my hope to find that dreamed job. One regular day at the restaurant a former worker (server) came back to the tables due to the lack of business as a contractor and construction manager. In the middle of our conversation trying to
establish if an enchilada was beef, chicken or seafood I let him know that I had a Bachelor in Architecture and I showed him some of my work. As soon as he saw my portfolio he exclaimed "you are Sule's boy", I was confused and without asking he gave me a phone number of this Architect who happened to be looking for someone with my profile (which profile? I still do not know!). this way I went to this office located in Eastern Market close to Capitol Hill in DC to meet Mr. Umar Suleiman and Mr. Mario Pareja, partners at UPA Architects.

I decided to split this post in two chapters because this new stage deserves its own time! Thanks for reading. please find attached some of the projects that we GUNNED down at Lee Architects......By the way today Washington DC, was hit by an 5.8 earthquake, nothing major happened this could be another situation where your point of view towards Life and Architecture could change.