Architecture Competition Archhive Books' Portable Reading Rooms Honorable mention - SMRT

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the winners of the Honorable mention of our “Archhive Books' Portable Reading Rooms” competition - Ashley Lepre, Philip Chaney, Lodrys Gomez and Scott Pakulski from United States.

SMRT team from United States

SMRT’s roots reach back to 1884, when American architect John Calvin Stevens FAIA, nationally acclaimed for his “shingle style” designs, established his architecture firm. A versatile artist and architect, Stevens saw no separation of design from construction, of beauty from practicality.  Today, the creative challenge of exploring opportunities between idea and implementation continues to inspire and guide the growth and evolution of our multi-disciplinary practice. Our ability to simplify the complex, collaborate across disciplines and solve problems together carries our legacy forward.

Brief information about the projects that you/your company have been involved with.

We’re a team of architects, engineers, planners and professionals committed to solving problems through design. With four offices across the Northeast United States, our 125-person, fully integrated firm builds lasting relationships and friendships with business partners. Our work helps clients commercialize innovative research, compete for talent, meet stringent sustainability goals, optimize productivity, better serve expanding populations, and improve the user experience – all at a cost and in a way that makes business sense. Our clients come to us with big opportunities, first-of-a-kind challenges, hard deadlines and limited budgets. This is where we thrive.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of the architect in your society?

Architecture is the language through which we, as humans, relate to and appreciate the world we live in. In as much as it is an act of defining space, it is also an act of reflecting space. Architecture is not an objective or solitary practice; good architecture is achieved by those who are motivated to create spaces through the process of learning, understanding, and enhancing the inexhaustible diversity of ways in which humans live.

Why do you participate in architecture vision competitions?

Architecture competitions are a unique platform on which to design and represent experimentally. The fun of it is that design for competitions need not exist in exact reality. They are a chance to take risks and to work with different people in different ways. Ultimately, embracing this freedom allows for discovery and inspiration that provides invaluable insight for larger scale, commissioned design work.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture vision competitions?

Regardless of outcome, the decision to enter an architecture competition is the decision to think creatively and collaboratively. For an architecture firm, they are a change of pace and a way to generate ideas for future work.