Finding an architect

Hello my name is Karla and I am a student at P.S1. Charter school. I was introduced to the Museum of contemporary art/ Denver (MCA) through a class called urban citizen I took this class about a year ago and now I an intern at the MCA.

Everyday that I walk into the museum I see the final design of the upcoming building and I am just so proud that I was able to be a part of it and this is how.

 During  the urban citizen class you had the chance of going outside the school and do projects with either other schools or associations that you may be interested in.

 During the quarter we were given the chance to work with the MCA by helping them find an architect for their new permanent building. And I as an artist just had to be part of it.

 Right away when we got there we were told what they wanted from us and when everything was going to happen. So all students were to come up with some questions that we could ask every architect such as what is your philosophy when it comes to your architecture?

Or maybe what do you hope to bring to the museum if you are picked?

We made a short questionnaire that we could ask every architect.

 We came up with questions that would not only tell us what their intention with the museum was but also it told us about their passion for architecture and why it would they would be the best match for the assignment.

 We got to interview all six architects TEN Arquitectos  from Mexico, Snohetta from Norway, Rick Joy Architects from Arizona, Predock_Frane from California, Gluckman Mayner Architects from New York, and Adjaye/Associates from UK and we found something beautiful and interesting in each one of them.

We would ask the same questions every time questions like why did you pick to enter this project?

Or Denver is an always-changing city how are you going to make the museum work with that?  and after every interview the whole class would sit down and just write some comments about each one.

 For example I really liked Rick Joy because he had a good sense of humor and you didn’t feel the need to have a straight face when you were talking to him, Enrique Norton from TEN Arquitectos was from Mexico.

I am from Mexico so it was really nice to be able to talk to them in Spanish about the things that are going on back at home, one of the most memorable ones was  Hadrian Predock and John Frane from Predock_Frane almost all the girls of the class thought they were so cute, and for David Adjaye I remember talking about his amazing accent and his great personality he was one of the few that I would architects that anyone could relate with, he was so down to earth and so much fun to talk to.

At the end of all the interviews we put all of the notes we took including all the questionnaires and put them in a folder that we would later turn in to the Museum of contemporary art as a reference.

 At the end of the journey I not only got to meet some amazing people but I also got to work in an environment that was new and fun for me.

It gave me a chance to really get to know each architect and with that make my own decision on which one would be the best candidate for the job. at the end of it all when they announced that David Adjaye was the one chosen I knew that I was right all along.