Maria, 35, is the owner and principal of Gray Area Design, which she founded, and a partner with Leo in Gray Mascotte Design. Her projects are primarily comprised of residential renovations in the New York metropolitan area, with additional retail projects in New York City and nationwide. In addition, Maria is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture at Barnard/Columbia Colleges, where she teaches undergraduate design, theory and survey courses.
The pair cut quite striking figures on the architectural landscape, having carved out their niches in the city with arguably the biggest architectural market in the United States. Newborn babes by professional standards, they've got successful businesses and, in Maria's case, teach the art to undergraduates. Yet their journeys to reach this point came literally from opposite ends of the nation.
In 1985, at the end of high school at Northfield Mt. Hermon in Massachusetts, Leo took an opportunity to attend Harvard's Graduate School of Design for a summer. He then began his undergraduate studies at Brown University, where he was a History Major and Art History minor. After graduating Brown in 1989, Leo attended Washington University in St. Louis, when he graduated cum laude in 1993.
The summer session at Harvard was monumental for Leo because "they run a 'Career Discovery' program which offered an introduction to architecture, and it was a great way to dip your toes" into the career, Leo says. With that sneak preview in his mind, he resisted diving headlong into architecture at college. "I did not study architecture as an undergraduate, and I am really thrilled that I did not." By majoring in history and minoring in art history, however, Leo was able to direct his studies in an architectural direction. Much of the course work for his minor focused on architectural history, and by his senior year, "many of my history essays referenced the 'built environment' as primary source materials. I was fascinated by how governments and individuals literally built their legacies." At grad school ("it really does a good job of weeding people out; you work insane hours and either love it, quit, or are totally miserable," he says), Leo's thesis focused on schools. He designed projects for an elementary school and a high school for single mothers.
Meanwhile, Maria Gray was finishing her Master of Arts degree at Columbia University, from which she also graduated in 1993 and where her projects for school were featured in its brochures as jewels of Columbia's Master's program. The San Francisco native graduated from Lowell High School (public) and went on to receive her B.A. in Architecture from University of California at Berkeley in 1989. Maria describes her specialty as "listening carefully to each client to make sure that they are serviced well and get the design they want. I encourage the use of interesting and rich materials while still focusing on an 'airy' uncluttered layout."
As a professor, Maria manages around 100 students in a given semester, dividing her time among a studio design course, a theory lecture course and an introductory course that she designed with the Dean of the school for non-majors who are seeking to discover whether architecture interests them. "I love teaching," Maria says. "It allows me to keep learning and expanding the development of what I want to do professionally. It's invaluable to discuss new ideas with faculty as well as students."
What are the skills needed to build a successful career in architecture? Maria cites "patience and the ability to deal with many different personalities, including the client, vendors, general contractor, sub-contractors, and trade consultants -- mechanical, structural, and lighting to name a few." If client contact seems heavy, it is. "Put it this way: an average residential project of 2000 square feet has roughly 15 to 20 people working on it. And obviously, design skills are needed."
Leo finds it "a tough question" to define necessary skills for the career, since "the profession accommodates so many different types of practices. Anyone considering the profession, at least as I have chosen to practice it, should love to draw and build, be able to visualize three-dimensionally, not be terrified by math, think critically, and be interested in problem-solving."
Maria agrees that the attention to the details can be mind-boggling: "Initially, I was amazed at how many small details go into a project. Each door, for example, might have 10 to 15 different parts and each project has 10 to 30 doors. Compare that to how little time is spent on the design of the project; roughly only 10% of one's time on a project goes into the design of it, while 90% goes into the documentation and execution of it."
Professional requirements to become a licensed architect include a minimum of three years at an architecture firm after graduation, after which one is eligible to take a licensing exam, a "12-part nightmare" that is now given in a computer format. Computers, in fact, have come to play an omnipresent role in the architecture industry. Says Leo, "At each of the firms I have worked for, all drafting has been done on the computer." He calls CAD technology "industry standard for the majority of firms, and has been since I left grad school."
How would one approach the first job out of school with limited computer savvy and less real-world experience? Luckily for Leo, his first hire was by a firm that left nothing to chance with his core skills. "My first job did not assume that I had the computer skills -- they were not taught in school -- and trained me. Many architecture schools, including Washington University, where I studied, now integrate the computer into the studio environment." Leo is proficient in AutoCAD, MiroStation, Adobe Photoshop and Aldus Pagemaker.
The evolution of technology has also thrown more veteran architects a "learning curveball," challenging more senior positions to learn from more recently-graduated colleagues. "The academic training is often weighted toward the generation of three-dimensional modeling." Leo says. "I missed this '3D' revolution and have to play catchup, picking up as much as I can from associates. People just a few years younger often bring very different skill sets to the table." While Maria concurs that "we do all our drafting on the computer, using Autocad, most of our designing [including important phases such as sketches] is done by hand."
Leo and Maria both came to New York confident that they could embark on their careers in the "city that never sleeps." "There is an incredible concentration of top firms in New York," says Leo, "more so than any other city in the States. This makes movement from firm to firm much easier." While the volume of work is a pro to being in New York, "a lot of the work is interior renovation work," Maria says, and she sees that as an occasional negative aspect of the New York market.
In a fluctuating and even depressed market, the list of professionals with whom Leo and Maria work in their line of work is long: engineers ( structural, mechanical, electrical, civil), contractors, construction managers, real estate developers, building department expediters, vendors (such as bathroom fixture manufacturers), lighting consultants, mechanical consultants. Still, there's no professional colleague as important as one's spouse.
Leo is thankful that Maria can add valuable input to his professional projects. "It's great to have someone to bounce ideas off, and I count on Maria for that a lot. We also act as resources for each other, frequently calling for building product, detailing information and resources. On the con side, we each ride the same waves that affect our profession - good times and bad." Maria agrees "it's great to have someone to talk about the profession with. There are no cons."
Looking down the road, Leo and Maria are cautiously optimistic about their professional futures. While Maria has a goal "to grow my firm to between five and 10 people, and to get larger projects," Leo "can't really decide if the self-employment option is for me, though Maria loves it. I hope to work on more large-scale projects, and would love to design a house for myself."
Overall, their level of satisfaction seems sky-high. Leo will "catch myself in the awareness that this is what I do for a living, and that I am lucky for it." He finds problem-solving among the greatest challenges a career in architecture has to offer. "I love the opportunity to think critically and creatively, the call to precision. I also take energy from the fact that it is always changing." On the other hand, Leo abhors "the tedium of precision and the lack of power accorded the architect. Managing deadlines and project budgets can also be very difficult."
Maria treasures "the ability to be artistic and meet many different people." At the same time, "dealing with so many different people, budgets, and fast track projects, and poor pay" make it onto her list of drawbacks.
Leo and Maria's advice for prospective architects falls back to the foundation that brought them to graduate school and ultimately, to each other: Make sure you have a love for the work.
"This is not a profession that offers monetary rewards," explains Leo. "Look elsewhere if you want to make a lot of money." Maria puts it a little more gently, perhaps because of her empathy for the undergraduates with whom she has experience as a professor: "Work in the field before deciding to become an architect. You have to really love it to stay in it or to be happy in it."
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