In his Rotary vocations talk on September second, Jay Holley said as a licensed architect he wants to be well rounded and include all aspects of architecture. He said some architects are visionaries, some emphasize the technical, some are business people, and some are project managers., depending on the person’s strengths. He believes a combination of these skills is the path for him.
Becoming an architect involves three to six years of school, a professional internship that can be from three years to “forever,” and becoming a licensed architect (which means, he said, you are through with tests forever—unless you practice in California.)
Jay worked as a summer intern for an architect and in his last semester at KU was in a program called Studio 804. They built modules in a warehouse that were then installed in Kansas City, KS. “You are, literally, in the trenches,” he said. “The jobs involve long hours and hard work.”
After school he went to an architecture fair to find a job, showing projects and hundreds and hundreds of sketches. He is with GouldEvans architects and several years ago took the advanced tests to become a licensed architect.
He showed pictures of his projects including the new Lawrence library.
“Architecture,” he said “is more than just going to a builder. Some things as small as where the coffee pot is will influence a whole design.”
