Meet Greg Perkins who has been with Synthesis for only five months. He earned his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Southern Illinois and his Master's from the University of Michigan. With Greg’s eye for detail, creativity and organizational skills, he has lead various production processes on current projects.
How do you define success?
I think architecture and design is done best when it is driven by the client’s needs. It is great when a client brings a challenging problem to the table and we can provide a new perspective that adds value to the project. When a client starts to get excited because their project is turning out better than they expected, that feels like success to me.
What’s the best advice someone ever gave you?
I had a professor once tell me to stop worrying so much about the outcome of my design and instead to enjoy the work and the process and the good outcome will work itself out. That idea has really permeated the way I do everything in my career. Revising, tweaking, and always thinking about how a solution could be better has really become the best part of the job.
What does being an architect mean to you?
To me being an architect means taking the opportunities we are given each day to make our surroundings better for the people who inhabit them no matter how big or small the intervention. It means having the integrity to adhere to the architect’s code of conduct by promoting the health and safety of the public. I often see signs on hiking trails that promote leaving the trail better than you found it. I think that is also true of being an architect. Let’s build things that make a statement, have longevity, and give our communities something to be proud of.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Being outdoors, hiking, traveling, or working on one of several projects I have going in my free time whether it be some kind of drawing, a home improvement project, or most often a woodworking project. Over several of the past years I have been slowly building and replacing most of the furniture in my house with custom pieces that work better than the ones from a box store. It is a great feeling to say that I made that and hopefully some of the pieces will last long enough that my kids will want them. Speaking of kids, that is my next side project because my wife and I are expecting our first child in July.
What did you want to be when you grew up? Does it reflect what you’re doing now?
I am not sure I had one big idea of what I wanted to do when I was young. What I did know from an early age is that whatever I grew up to be, I wanted it to involve making things. As a kid I probably spent more time hot gluing pieces of cardboard together than I ever spent playing with the toys I had. I also loved to draw and when I got older Architecture brought those two passions together.