 Welcome to today's 2017 Valentine's Day edition of Human Humane Architecture, and of course we will have a couple of declarations of appreciation in the show, promised. And the show today will be about an issue that one of our first guests in the show many shows ago was bringing up and we did a little screenshot here of picture one if we can get this. This is the first declaration of appreciation is to our discipline of architecture and the one of human humane kind. And our dear friend and activist journalist Kurt Sandburne about a year ago when also architectural week is nearing itself again always in March. In his very last piece he wrote for civil beats unfortunately his last piece and we hope to have him back soon so Kurt we miss you. He wrote about the architectural emerging generation and the challenge between how they get educated by us in a very avant-garde idealist way and then once they get out of school they end up in a very mainstream realist world and Kurt showed empathy and interest in that and interviewed some of our students and we want to basically connect to that and go from there and in order to do so we found someone who is a great representative for that realm who knows the corporate architectural realm very well and he is in the epicenter of the corporate architectural America which is the middle of the continental mainland surrounded by land masses just like we with water masses here and this is in Omaha Nebraska and his name is Matt D'Abor, welcome Matt to the show. Wonderful to be here. And I'm glad you stayed up that light because it's getting late over there. We want to jump right in and we don't want to share yet where and what you are right now we want to actually share the whole story and where it all started so if we can get picture two where is that and what was that Matt? In slide two that was in a building where we both have a lot of love again Valentine's Day very appropriate and that is I am Pays and NBC bank headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska and what the slide shows is you know a wonderful opportunity to display our work our studio's work in the main lobby of that building and to the right is actually one of your first publications in newspaper article that is actually featuring one of your projects but if we go to slide three actually your project we have to explain in Nebraska at the University of Nebraska last show was because forward we talked quite a bit that this is where we both had been given the chance to start our academic career thanks to Dean Drummond and director Hoistad and this was a terminal project of yours where you decided not to do a thesis but actually go into a vertical studio however then and this is my judgment as the instructor you pulled three the equivalent of three projects and we unfortunately don't have the time to explain them but a little bit we want to explain why three projects and that has to do with our next most important declaration of appreciation and love which is the next slide yeah it's my beautiful bride and more importantly my toughest critic who said Matt it's not really all that great to do one project in one semester you need to push yourself so she's she's really tough but she's also my biggest supporter so very happy to still have her in my life again Valentine's Day that's great exactly and the next slide is going to be one project we only show it in the glimpse but once again I was lucky to have a great co-coach with Leslie because he indeed was saying after the first project it's great but not good enough and he said this again so there were three projects this project however I selected because we want to make a reference to Hawaii not only did you do it through IMP who did the most significant building on on the campus here the east west center and this project here could very well actually work here in Hawaii and make a difference that we currently don't have we have a high-rise boom but we don't do buildings like that so in a nutshell in one two sentences which I know is tough because you're a great speaker what is this project about just very briefly sure you know so all three towers that were designed that semester found themselves being a place in alleyways in downtown Lincoln to deal with the housing shortage that was happening there at the time and this one in particular was interesting in that it was all about user control in dealing with the sun and controlling your environment via these pods that could move via some type of lever system to a pulley system and adjust and so you kind of had this very dynamic facade you know based on how users wanted to spend their days and evenings which is pretty much what made the project his name which is called environment dynamic tower right and when you talked about the time we were talking actually 2008 and that was a tough time right you betcha tough time to graduate and can we get the next picture so just to remind ourselves which probably there's no need to that was the middle the center of the recession the global recession and I think you have the numbers right because you have empathy with your colleagues you said there was three out of 35 got a job I have to say before the recession every one of our graduates got a job and three out of 35 and the other number is more scary that was two out of help me out and he was 50 that's all in Europe yeah and so you as talented as you are the corporate realm already had put an eye on you and they were smart enough to basically snap you and and this is there's a couple of pictures of the firm that give you a chance to start your career this is leeway daily they're one of the largest firms in the US and in the world and I'm going to go for these next couple of pictures rather quick because this is my observation of the firm you had me visit you and this is my big boat way back and this is the building which is a wonderful mid-century building and next picture and we walked inside and we we observed it together and I'm you know these are louvers that basically are retractable with a sun we did a show about the alamoana building that did the same so they were architects and firms they're really really innovative and pushing and next picture is that these louvers work rather simple and mechanic there's the caretaker guy who goes twice a day and cranks them and so very very great stewardship and pioneering leadership in sustainability when at a time when the term wasn't even around and the next picture is that you discovered that there is a legacy another legacy on top of that this is attention to materiality to detail to finish and you like to call this design excellence but you were at the lowest point of entry level into that firm and had to work your way up and me having been your advisor in all ways I was worried and because I was caring for you and said you're so talented I'm worried you end up being the draftsman for many years and might probably not have the chance to design the way you you you were so good at it and and you took this to your heart and and started in the firm the very first project where you have found a way to deal with that dilemma and turn this into an opportunity is the next picture tell us about what this project is and kind of stepping back just one second you know I'll say that you hit the nail on the head when it came to the the tough moment in which I graduated but my my career at lee away daily was was really great and they gave me a lot of opportunities really early on as a young designer to work on some pretty awesome projects and this first one is interesting in that it was very very small it was a canopy addition to a credit union headquarters really you know fairly old building I think 1980s and what's also interesting and a bit of a side note that translates to the rest of these slides is that the three projects that we'll show are all for the same client of SAC federal credit union and what's fairly unique is that my mother is the CEO of the credit union that posed a really interesting challenge for me as I was starting to design the canopy because I didn't want her to know I was doing it I wanted to make sure that you know the appropriate design came out without influence from you know someone who I grew up with so when I started designing this project I didn't tell her I didn't tell her at all and I you know the first moment I saw her when I came in to present the project to her she goes what are you doing here and I said I said well I'm designing the canopy and I called her gale for the first time and I kind of freaked her out so um and if you go to the next slide I think you'll see a few more a bit of a tectonic diagram of the components of the canopy yeah and a few detailed shots of you know how we handled kind of this interesting engineering solution for the canopy and that's the the previous picture if we can get this back this is what you're talking about I subtitled that as the five t's which is one of the terms we talked about in school as the techniques and tactics of typology uh technology and and tectonics and and you really sort of be mastered yourself in that and and for me brought sort of the firm back to what they're really great about they were a very heroic firm the office building is is a proud heroic modern mid-century modern building and you kind of said well why why don't we bring this back and and you took that risk this is a rather ambitious crazy cantilevering reminds a lot about reminds us a lot about the art which she called basically here Kurt and I called the best building in Honolulu which is Rainbow Drive and so um then there was another moment in your life Valentine's Day next picture which is your most important projects right so absolutely absolutely is what's making my heart big and my hair is gray my two kids twins exactly and whereas I call that previous project your apprentice piece a good one I call the next project your first masterpiece and the audience will say oh great project looks great but that's not it right it's the beginning of it right and so yeah another opportunity to another opportunity to transform uh uh not so great uh shell uh retail building into uh essentially a great project for SAC credit union again uh and turning it into um a branch facility for them in a relatively low income area of Omaha and and that's something what Jay really gets excited about he keeps bugging me and so we gotta do uh really innovative um renovation and and and upgrades of buildings so we're going to take a little promotional break here for a minute and then we're going to be back and talk about Matt the emerging architect hey has your signal just been taken over or am I supposed to be here this is Andrew the security guy your co-host on hibachi talk please join us every friday on think tech away aloha kako I'm marcia joiner inviting you to navigate the journey with us we are here every wednesday morning at 11 a.m and we really want you to be with us where we look at the options and choices of end of life care aloha aloha i'm richard emory host of condo insider a weekly thursday show at three o'clock that goes all summer long talking about issues living in a condo association each week we bring experts to talk about the rights and obligations of owners and boards of directors to successfully run their condominium it's a great educational show answers a lot of questions we hope you'll visit us sometime aloha so we're back to uh the valentine's day uh edition of human humane architecture with Matt emerging architect who walks us through his masterpiece so as I was saying this was a shell retail building um and it was an interesting challenge and how you take what was essentially a you know 5000 square foot uh video store that's been abandoned for four years and turn it into a branch and so you know the challenge is how do you make it unique um and uh and stand out and still live up to the sac uh image and brandon and so right away we knew that because we did because we didn't need all of the square footage we blew through the building for the canopy reusing the existing roof as the canopy structure and then applying a thermally modified wood exterior skin which kind of unified the entire design I think if you go to the next slide 17 and with this you know as martin always talked you know in our studios you know you're not just designing exterior to interior it's you know it's always always both and so here we show an interior shot of the new the new lobby for the branch where that thermally modified wood continues in and forms not just space but even the mill work and and and kind of brand wall and then moving on to 18 where you see actually kind of stepping back a bit and you see the the conceptual rendering you know what I was using to communicate the design to the clients and make sure things were moving forward and then moving on to 19 where um this is a photo I took of the project once it was complete and you know there you see it illuminated at night um and kind of a really nice addition to the neighborhood and and one thing that martin always instilled on on on myself and his students is that you know just because it's a small project just because it's in an impoverished area doesn't mean you don't do things right and I think that's the type of work that we want to promote uh it's it's it's a big deal to do uh do the right thing and I think the the individuals in that in those communities I think appreciate that a lot and talking your appreciation here I gotta get things a little bit more clear because usually when you start in a firm once again as the recent hire you assist the design teams and then you work your way up and that's a gentle way to say it but after you've proven yourself with your with your apprentice piece you you cut a deal with the company and you basically say I bring in now my first actual project and what I would like to have in return is the okay that I can work for that through all the architectural phases meaning from the design the schematics all the way through construction management plus a bonus because besides your many talents you're also a very gifted photographer actually you have a business on the side that's wedding photography and all the pictures we see of your project is met the board architect met the board photographer right so this is very very unique because again normally you start and for several years you assist with with drafts work and then once you've proven yourself over the decades you might make it up to a point where you're actually allowed to to be the design principle right and and that gets us to the next picture that um that um usually just the nature of the corporate is has to be profitable so you cannot massage the avant-garde do the nature of the corporate as much as you would do it in a boutique that's another term a boutique firm so uh near daily was always interested in getting awards but it didn't always happen the way they wanted it so what happened here in this case met with that picture we just saw 20 well I was uh very honored to have uh been able to represent the firm and and pick up an AI in Nebraska award for um I believe it was reused architecture like I can't remember the exact uh exact name and um and to have tre trehan uh be the one the juror who was a part of selecting my work was just you know it kind of blew me away at the time yeah and it blew him away because he is a boutique architect he does small selected work doesn't have to feed a lot of people that's the benefit of that and he opened the envelope and was rather surprised that he awarded what usually is not his peers right he awarded corporate America and was a little astonished to say the very least and that was very very happy to hear the story behind which is a young architect basically reconnecting the corporate to their roots the way I look at it and the next picture is you got the recognition that you deserve so you got it published um internationally peer reviewed well deserved but the next picture is for us the most important because awards and and and and publications mean nothing if the client isn't happy and I had the great chance to have you show me the project two years ago and it was on a weekend and we have to also be more specific about the neighborhood the neighborhood is very challenged and north Omaha is known as one of the most problematic neighborhoods as far as crimes and shooting and stuff like that and so we came there and the bank was already closed and then we met the director that we just saw and she was more than happy to reopen and very proudly show her piece and share with me how amazed she is what a difference that little project as you saw humbly said has done to the community right so exactly exactly and you know uh you know I have to uh the rest of these photos are of of Martin's taking and and it was great to have a very proud moment to to have my my mentor walking through some of my my uh projects and and for Kathy here that's pictured the branch manager um and and her glowing review of you know being in the space and what it's meant to the community and and being uh in kind of having SAC and and and her employees be a part of that is she's very proud of it so to me that's that's the most important you know the architecture just houses uh you know the function of trying to be a really great credit union in that area but for her that's that's the biggest deal yeah no it's really a commendable cultural approach to architecture which meant century so the roots of leo daily always had but in a highly capitalized commercialized commodificated culture this is sometimes tough and that's why architecture is isn't isn't the same anymore but so you tried one more time with leo daily and and and and bigger really big right so we already saw a little pre glimpse and that's also the background we're constantly seeing behind so picture number 23 is your imagination of what so after the branch facility opened uh got another great opportunity to um help SAC uh kind of consolidate they had several buildings in which they were leasing and had people in and it was time for them um they had seen tremendous growth during actually during the recession uh which is great and they were able to embark on a new headquarters for themselves and and kind of find a way to bring all of their people under one roof and uh while I mean I could talk about this project for hours but right now you're getting a glimpse of one of the more important spaces which is the main atrium right off the entry yeah and why that's important was you know for a small credit union who didn't want to lose its roots um I didn't want to lose the openness uh that that makes them who they are they they wanted to use architecture as kind of an emblem of that openness and so when you walk in as as a member you can right away get on a on the stairs that goes all four stories and move through the building you know and that's a pretty pretty unique thing in these day and age this day and age and the next picture um I apologize I take the blame for it being a little blurry because I took the picture and I'm not the gifted photographer that you are so talking mentor a mentee for a mentor is the best when the mentee surpasses which has long happened a long time ago so I'm really happy to to experience that but and I corrupt it also here but um so this gets again you are not just designing this and then passing it off I remember you told me about these uh facade emollients that you were very passionate about and Leo ideally's headquarter has glulam beams so this is reconnecting almost literally the tectonics of the firm and reintroducing that normally a corporate headquarters of a bank you use aluminum or steel post period that's it right you choose the color but you want it would and you help the local I will never forget you help the local uh trades because there was a little guy little guys again you know who was actually only able to do that there was none of the bigger you know uh companies were not able to do that there was this one guy that you're rather impressed so there's this empathy I want to get across so you the corporate is usually considered to be cold and kind of standoffish you know but you have this uh empathy and and love valentine's day for what you do and for the people who are involved meaning your clients and your contractors and your users at the end and we want to show the next picture number 25 so the first picture was two pictures ago was imagination the next one was sort of the execution and this one is the final product which again here is your mother and uh think think her and thank you to having shown the project to me these few years ago and once again you can see Omaha we have to say when we talk about why we can't compare things literally because this is tempered climate cold climate but if you imagine right now a cold day and having the passive solar gain coming in this is this is pretty huge and with a little eye wink as you know I always gave you to push your harder for the next step I said if you add some external shading you also get some great uh summer overheating protection so and there's some on there's some on other portions of the building it's uh you know and you know and it's pretty pretty unique uh in Nebraska it was the first first office building to take advantage of not just geothermal wells but also geothermal wells and a chilled beam cooling system so I don't know of any other uh installation of that uh that's active right now in Nebraska very greatly pushing innovation and before we get to the end of the show which is unfortunately is soon we want to show with one picture what followed then and actually also where you are right now and we talked so previously we talked about a Hollywood blockbuster and here we're talking a border's bookstore on the right side what happens around one so and I transitioned from leo a daily to HDR a little little over two years ago and first project I was able to be a part of uh it was not as a designer actually but rather as the project manager and kind of one of the kind of the key uh key leaders for the project but it was a border's bookstore that was abandoned for I think two or three years and we transformed it to the first in Nebraska and one of the first in the country in all digital library um and notebooks it's all about access to technology access to learning in new ways uh software etc um a pretty awesome maker space as a part of the project as well and it's centered right in right in the middle of Omaha um at the busiest intersection in the city and it's uh it's been a wild success uh for the organization that's funded and puts this project on thank you very much so that gets us close to the end of the show and now we will reveal and we already did it sort of uh you are now Vice President Managing Principal of HDR which is the other biggest firm in in the United States and in this little you know prep talk we had and and you said well that's actually nothing in your very humble way but but I want to point out the way we're talking 2009 when you graduated we're talking 2017 so these are a few years and the amount of work you have accomplished is one thing but what's really commendable and I want to use this as an encouragement for the emerging generation they have that we have here in in Hawaii as well and the nature of the firms is rather similar to the one in Omaha we have more bigger firms with corporate firms and yours is a perfect case study that you don't have to give up your integrity you'll love Valentine's Day for design if there's a will there's a way and you had a very very strong will and made a very very strong case for yourself and and and we're phasing out here once again we want to conclude with your wonderful wife hi Leslie and the kids who besides everything you've done you always dedicate the time to them and with that we also want to let you go so can you you can get your kids to bed because it's about that right now I'm surprised they didn't come down at any point and thank you for the awesome inspiration and motivation and that great raw model you are met it's a pleasure appreciate it thank you for having me on thank you so much