My office is amazing and I can’t believe I am leaving it. I have not been looking forward to moving out of my office – there are a lot of memories in there …
Before I start boxing everything up and sending stuff off into storage, I thought I would walk down memory lane and take one final look at what once was – there are a lot of memories and inspiration to be found here.
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Let’s go through the what’s and the why’s:
A] Thermostat – don’t kid yourself, having control of the thermostat is huge. Am I cold? I’d turn it up… What about hot? I got this. Everybody wants the thermostat.
B] Employee Address List – Every time someone was hired, left the firm, got married, moved somewhere new, we got a new address list. I have a complete history of the firm’s employees pinned here.
C] Classic Miniature Chairs – I received these from my wife as a present, they are awesome
D] Old School Panorama – this is from the first trip I took to the Hawaiian island of Lanai. Perfect pristine beach and not a single other person [it was kind of creepy to be honest]
E] The original Robot Dad and Spider-Girl – one of my favorite pictures of my daughter Kate and myself from Halloween 5 years ago. This picture has been on my ‘About Me‘ page since day one.
F] Restaurant Tickets – this is my collection of tickets from a restaurant here in town. Not sure why I’ve kept them over the years but I did.
G] Panorama Pictures – these two panorama pictures are from my time spent going to school in Europe. One is the view room from my room in Lugano, Switzerland, and the other is Notre Dame du Haut (Ronchamp) by Swiss Architect Le Corbusier.
H] Thank You Notes: I have kept every ‘Thank You’ letter ever written to me – these are the ones I’ve received so far this year.
J] Thermometer – I’ve had this hanging in my workspace for 10.5 of the last 11 years thanks to one of my co-workers at the time – Audrey. We made a deal of when I could (and could not) turn down the temperature when it got hot.
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Here’s another view of the sweet office I am leaving behind … [sigh]
K] The aforementioned bulletin board – call it what you want, it was basically where I pinned all the personal things that mean something to me
L] Comfortable Chair – I was lucky to have an office large enough to accommodate a dedicated sitting chair. There were really only two people who ever sat in this chair, one of the partners and me (and one of us has actually slept in this chair … but I’m not going to say which one of us)
M] Half-Size Drawing Sets – there are actually two piles of half size drawings in my office. I prefer them to full size even though this office could easily fit the full size 30″ x 42″ sheets
N] Binders – I am a big fan of 3-ring D type binders to store all the paperwork from my projects
O] Wall of Glory – I am not ashamed to admit that all the AIA awards, LEED certifications, my Architectural License all mean something to me and make me feel proud of my accomplishments. They remind me of why I work hard … recognition by my peers is one of my goals.
P] Seriously Sucky Chair – I had this crappy rolling desk chair since I started working here. You can’t move or shift your weight without it creaking and squealing. Possibly the worst thing about it is that the pneumatic piston slowly lowers the chair as you sit in it so every few hours, you realize that you are about 3″ lower than you should be. It sucks but even given the opportunity to replace it, I’m not interested.
Q] Big Ass Desk – its awesomeness can NOT be underestimated. 42″ deep and over 20′ in total length. I love you desk, you are my favorite.
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The rarely seen on the blog “window view” – let’s give it some love.
R] Glory Wall – already reviewed why I have all my awards on the wall, still love them and they motivate me every day.
S] Interior Designer’s Office – yes, if you were to look out my office window you would see the coming’s and going’s of one of the best interior designers in Dallas, possibly in the country. Do they have a bunch of cute Interior Designers and interns that work there? Puh-leeeease.
T] Dark Underside of the Desk – I’m not going to talk about this area … it’s dark and scary down there (but if someone wanted to sleep down there, they might appreciate the darkness).
U] Potted Plant – 5 years ago when we moved into these new offices, the two partners and myself all received a potted plant for our offices. Does it matter to me that one partner’s plant died within a few weeks and that of the surviving two plants, mine is waaaaayyyy bigger than the there partner’s plant? Clearly.
V] Sherwin Williams 6431 ‘Leapfrog’ Green – I choose this color for the accent walls in the office and there was something quite soothing about this color.
W] Submittals – with as much floor space as I had, this was where I stuck all the product submittals that came in on my projects.
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This is the carnage that was left behind once I pulled everything down. Pretty easy to tell that once things found a home on my bulletin board, they tended to stay there. I gotta say, I do like the mosaic UV pattern left behind on the board
Buh-bye bulletin board.
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So I started boxing stuff up on Memorial Day – I knew the office would be empty and I could take some time going through everything, thinking about if it was mine what role it has played and if it was something that would have value coming with me or if I should leave it behind for others.
It is funny how things have evolved as I’ve gotten older. Most of the stuff I’m leaving behind are things that I would have wanted to take previously. I don’t need copies of the work I’ve been doing. In fact, I didn’t even need to show my new partner what I’ve been doing. One of the nice things about getting older is that more people know you and what you’re capable of doing. The act of demonstrating your abilities, either through your resume, drawings, or portfolio, become less critical – making a lot of the work I’ve been doing not have the value outside of the office that it might have once had.
I imagine at one point I will show everyone the new office once I move in – unfortunately I am leaving my private office behind for a 36″ stretch of desk next to a handful of other employees. I don’t mind working in an open office, maybe they won’t like how often I am on the phone (I think that’s how I got my office in the first place).
Cheers,
