When David asked his mother at age six what job lets you build things, she answered with one word: architect. During his seven years of multifamily housing and mixed-use design in Moseley's Baltimore office, he has navigated federal incentives, complex financing, and overlapping regulations on projects including 40Ten, winner of multiple AIA awards. This May, he was promoted to associate in the firm's leadership program.
What attracted you to this profession?
My interest in architecture started at the age of six, playing first with Legos, and then with full size bricks that my grandparents had leftover in their yard from a landscaping project. After obviously getting in trouble for playing with something so dangerous, I asked my Mom "What job is it where you build things?" She answered "architect" and from then on I knew it was what I wanted to grow up doing.
What are the most important personality traits to have in your profession?
Optimism and passion are the two traits I am most thankful for in my everyday life. After specializing in affordable housing for the past seven years, I've realized no project comes along easy. From ever-changing federal incentives, overlapping (and conflicting) regulations, and "financing stacks" that could make your head spin, we are pushed to the limits of our brain power to sort everything out and take a project not only to completion, but to compliance and certification.
It takes a special type of person to sign up for this job, and I feel at home here at Moseley, surrounded by people that know this work is good and worth doing, that love this work and how challenging it is, and that can't imagine doing anything else.
What's it like to work in your office?
I feel so lucky to work in an office as energetic as Baltimore is. Our South-harbor, waterfront location is the perfect mix of bustling and scenic, and our three walls of windows offer ample natural light, as well as great direct sunlight that make the winter months feel a little bit warmer.
We are quite a chatty group in the Baltimore office. Between bagel Tuesdays, the daily lunch room conversation, and impromptu meetings at one another's desks, we have become a tight knit group and I appreciate all the genuine friends I've made working here.
What’s the most challenging part of your job?
I was asked to lead the recent renovation of the Baltimore office after a neighboring suite vacated. We decided to expand our footprint into that space and take up our entire floor, increasing our total desk count for future growth, and re-configuring some common spaces that weren't working for us anymore. It sounds easy enough, but pleasing an office of professional architects and designers while balancing the new normal of the workplace was no easy task. It's also extremely rewarding getting to see a space you worked so hard on be used every day!
What’s the coolest thing you’re working on right now?
I'm working on a really great new multifamily building in St. Mary's County, Maryland. It's a location we don't get to work in often, and anyone that's visited knows it's full of early colonial and Maryland state history. Being able to pull from that context and incorporate historic detailing into a contemporary building is such a cool design challenge and I can't wait to see it come to life in construction.
What have you accomplished at Moseley that you’re proudest of?
Being a part of the team that completed 40Ten honestly feels like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. To create the first modern mass timber building in Maryland was a career defining moment and taught me so much about what it means to innovate. We leveraged every tool we had not only to create an award winning design but also to even get it built in the first place, which required multiple meetings with the fire marshal to convince them that this building type was safe in the event of a fire. It was no easy task in a city that famously burned down in 1904, but it was our deep relationship with the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Baltimore City Fire Department, and over 50 years of experience in Baltimore City that gave us the credentials to convince all parties that a building like this could work in the city.
One of my proudest moments was inviting my parents to tour 40Ten as it was finishing up construction. I always find it so lucky in this profession that our achievements are physical and make a lasting mark on the places we work, but to have family members that supported me in becoming who I am today, to be able to walk through and experience the work that our team had created, was a feeling that will be nearly impossible to match.
What’s your favorite thing to do outside of work?
I love playing tennis at the different parks around Baltimore. I've met so many people who happen to play and it’s such a fun outing with friends that's also good exercise!
What music are you listening to right now?
I have a very mixed taste but right now, I'm deep in an Alternative R&B and Soul rabbit hole. Some recent favorites include Ravyn Lenae, Minnie Ripperton, Solange, and Amber Mark.
What’s the best gift you’ve ever received?
One really fun gift that I use on a regular basis was actually a “secret Santa” gift I received during our annual holiday party. A coworker got me a miniature palette of bricks. It's incredibly nerdy, but I actually use those scale bricks to mock up different brick details on upcoming projects, and it really feels like a full circle moment after playing with Lego my entire childhood.
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