We enjoyed talking with CMBA Principal Architect Adam Van Gorp for this week's episode. Adam is bright, competitive, and once had ambitions to become a professional rollerblader!
Join us as he talks about his life and how it led him to become an architect with CMBA. Find out what passions and influences led to his choice in the profession and why he loves being an architect.
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Episode Transcript
Skyler: Welcome to another episode of Laying the Foundation.
Skyler: Hello everybody and welcome back to another episode of Laying the Foundations. Today we're doing another one of our Behind the Blueprints episodes, and with me today is Adam Van Gorp, did I say that right?
Adam: Correct.
Skyler: Awesome. Perfect. He is one of our principal architects here at CMBA so he's got all kinds of awesome experience and stuff within the field, and he's going to be able to talk a little bit about that, as well as what sent you into the architecture field. What drove you to take on that direction in life. Awesome. Perfect. So I've got a series of questions here to kick off things and help lead the conversation a little bit. So, Adam, tell me a little bit about yourself. Where are you from, where you went to high school, where you went to college, all that good stuff.
Adam: Yeah, so I grew up in Sheldon, Iowa, just down the road from Spencer here. I always liked northwest Iowa, had roots here. Was an Orub and I can tell whether or not you were an Orub by how you say it, so definitely know. Definitely know. Got to say go Orubs on that one. But yeah, grew up in Sheldon, had a really pretty traditional, nice, easy family childhood. No complaints. No complaints at all. I've got one brother who's three years younger than me, and he's got his Master's in Psychology now. So he went to school a lot longer than I did. But yeah, graduated from Sheldon, went to Iowa State.
Skyler: Oh, awesome.
Adam: Yeah, so moved to Ames for five years. Really enjoyed that, really enjoyed architecture school, and then eventually moved out to Cedar Falls where I worked at an architecture firm out there. And then moved back to home here a little bit, in coming to Spencer, just 45 minutes way down from where I grew up, back by both sets of grandparents. Me and my wife both grew up in Sheldon and we now have four kids. And so, getting back closer to family, getting closer to grandparents to watch kids and all that.
Skyler: Oh yeah, there you go.
Adam: It's been really good. It's been a good change for us. And there's a great opportunity that came up with CMBA to work here and to come back to this area.
Skyler: Yeah. Awesome. Well, you definitely covered all the rest of the background questions. No, no, that's fine. That's totally fine.
Adam: So yeah, I mean, it was good childhood, good growing up. That's kind of where I found my love for architecture, I'd say.
Skyler: Was going to say, what sparked that along the way? What was it that really caught your attention? You said, hold on, designing buildings, designing spaces, all that kind of stuff. Where did that come from?
Adam: Yeah, I've said it a couple different times to other people, but if I really knew what architecture was going into it, I don't know if I ever would've done it. It's always something that's ever evolving for me, and it's always been a challenge for me, which I really actually enjoy about it. It's not something that's come super easy for me. And there wasn't a moment where I was like, oh ... Where I studied a famous architect or saw a famous building. It didn't happen for me like that. It just kind of built upon itself. And my mom had always said, she recognizes my skills in drawing and in math, and said, "Put those two together, you become an architect."
Skyler: There it is. It's almost pre-written, almost.
Adam: And then my grandpa was a contractor for many generations, owned his own contracting company.
Skyler: Very cool.
Adam: And honestly, I knew that I didn't want to be a general laborer and work out in the field. I knew how hard it was for my grandpa pouring concrete for 30 years. He doesn't have very good knees anymore, for sure.
Skyler: It takes a toll.
Adam: Yeah. And I knew that wasn't for me, I knew that wasn't necessarily what I wanted, but I really liked the putting things together. The construction aspect. How things go together came really natural to me.
Skyler: Yeah, absolutely.
Adam: So those two people, my grandpa and my mom, influenced me in that way. And then said, okay, well if you're going to start down the path for architecture, Iowa State's probably one of the best schools to do that. And so again, not really knowing what architecture was, got into it, said, "If it's not something that I end up doing, I know that Iowa State is a good school. I can always switch if I need to." So said, "Let's try this, see what it's like," and fell in love with it. And like I said, it was never easy going into it. It's not something that I always said, "Oh, I'm born to do this. It just comes so naturally for me." That wasn't the case at all. It was something that always was harder. There was no one solution to the problem, and there was no one answer. And I always enjoyed that, you could always keep working at it, and you could always make it just a little bit better.
Skyler: Sure, sure. Because you mentioned at the beginning, you said that if you had known what you were getting into beforehand, you maybe wouldn't have gone into that direction. But something along the way definitely was holding your interest to keep going with it rather than switch over to something else.
Adam: For sure.
Skyler: Was it that challenge aspect? That, I could go do something else, but I want to figure this out.
Adam: It was. Yeah, it definitely was. It always kept me engaged. There was always a problem to solve. There was always something to work at and to get better at. And it continues to this day. I mean, as you move through an architectural company, as grow in responsibilities and you take on different leadership positions in different roles, it's always challenging.
Skyler: Absolutely.
Adam: And that's what I've loved about it. So it's something I've gotten a lot better at. It's something that you grow with your skillset in, for sure. But definitely something that has always piqued my interest because it doesn't just come easily to me.
Skyler: Oh, absolutely, yeah. Every space is going to be different. You're going to grow and gain skills and ideas and things from each space that you put together, which you'll then maybe move into the next one and be like, "Hey, I tried this out one time, and the people that we built it for or designed it for really love this, so maybe we try this out here." So awesome. Very cool, very cool. So within architecture, what's your area that you personally feel like you really love to work within? Because I know we work in our K-12, higher ed, healthcare, that's our big three. Your personal passion area?
Adam: Well, I mean, I really love working with our team. I really love working with the people here and mentoring and coaching people and working as a part of a team member. And so I really do have a passion for the collaborative, mentoring, teamwork side of things.
Skyler: Yeah, absolutely.
Adam: But I think that also relates, too, because I really do want to focus in on, and really have focused in on school design. Doing K-12 education design work is something I've done a lot of, both at my previous position in architecture and here. Again, pulling back from my history, my dad was on the school board for 15 years.
Skyler: Oh, okay.
Adam: And he actually signed my diploma as the president of the school board.
Skyler: Oh, that's cool.
Adam: Which is pretty neat. Not something everybody gets to say.
Skyler: No, absolutely.
Adam: But yeah, so I always saw that school board side of things from my dad. My grandpa was on school boards before that. And so I've always been engaged in that. I've got a number of aunts and uncles that are teachers and so that world really made sense to me and understanding that realm. And as I really got into architecture and love for problem solving and helping people, that K-12 design work really came naturally for me. And it's something that I got a lot of history in. And again, it's a lot of those iterations of learning. We tried this, it doesn't necessarily work. What's the next version of that look like?
How is K-12 design and education changing for the future? And I know the schools that I went to and grew up in are not going to be the schools that my kids are going to and need to be in. Especially because that relates to the jobs that those kids are going to have. The schools are designed, or should be designed, to support you after education. The goal is to get you through education and into the workforce and prepare you with those skills. And so, how does that space want to be designed to help make that transition as smooth as possible?
Skyler: Absolutely. Give those opportunities to learn and to grow as a person within what you'll eventually be doing. So, awesome.
Adam: Yeah, for sure. Exactly. And so I really love that challenge going forward with saying, even I've got four kids, and what is the world going to be like when they're my age?
Skyler: Yeah, absolutely.
Adam: And what skills and how can I help to make that better all along the way? So it's pretty cool.
Skyler: Yes, absolutely. That's awesome. Yeah, being able to take what you want to see. Because you have kids and they're going to be going into that and you're like, I want them to have the most opportunity possible.
Adam: Exactly.
Skyler: I want them to go into schools that maybe you didn't necessarily design, but you know you want designed in a way that really is going to help them grow and to learn and such. Wow, that's amazing.
Adam: And I recognize how much of an impact that makes on your education. I've probably moved through education despite of some of the spaces that you're in. You find a way if you're determined, but how can you make sure that people that maybe don't even know those opportunities are out there, or don't have the same drive, still achieve those same goals and still find the same opportunities.
Skyler: Awesome. Very cool. Okay, okay, very cool. Well, I would say, looking at all of this that you've said so far, it's pretty incredible to see all the factors that came into growing up and your grandpa in the contracting and your dad on the school board. And then the natural skill that you were having with the drawing and the math and how it all came together into the perfect storm for architecture.
Adam: It did. It did.
Skyler: It's really cool. That's amazing. So awesome, awesome. So when you're here at CMBA or whatever, what does the typical day look like for you? What does that look like? Because as a marketing person, I only see fractions of what all of you architects are doing and such. So what does that look like?
Adam: And again, that's one of those things that's always continued to pique my interest because no two days are the same ever around here. We're always working towards the next project, handling a multitude of projects, day kind of is typically from 8:00 to 5:00 most of the days. But a lot of times you're going to school board meetings, we're going to church meetings, we're meeting with clients in different hours, and it works into their availability. We're working on different projects with different timelines in different schedules. And so, I do spend a lot of time in the office when I can, I spend a lot of time collaborating with project team members, working through different problem solving. Some days it feels like I don't get everything done that was on my list, but yet we're still working through problems.
I'm still helping other people, still making a difference, still working and solve problems. It may just not have been the ones that I was planning because you have to be flexible. You have to be willing to shift some things around and go where those needs are. And so it ends up making no two days the same and that's what I really liked about it is that, there's not a lot of monotony. We're maybe designing schools over and over every day, but they're all different. They all have different needs, they all have different clienteles, they're in different areas, they have different goals. And so really trying to maximize on each of those keeps it interesting. Keeps it exciting every day.
Skyler: Absolutely. And you mentioned before, about the idea of working off the client's schedules, going to these schools or whatever the case. That's a really cool concept too. Because you guys are designing the spaces, you need to see what it looks like currently and then, how can I best use what's here? Or see how things work and then adjust that and move that in a direction that works best for what the client wants to be able to do in the future. Which is really cool, I think that's a really cool direction.
Adam: Yeah, it's nice when you're in those early phases of the design, to get to go to those buildings, those school districts, for example, and really get a good understanding of, how do you function? Maybe not like everybody else. What are your goals? What are your specific challenges to your building? A lot of school buildings anymore are hundreds of years old. You're finding a way to prepare students for 21st century. You're finding a way to move them forward and provide that emotional and educational support that they need. But maybe you're doing it despite of your building and maybe you don't even know any different, because a lot of times you only know what you know.
And so bringing in a little bit different perspective, getting to see what they're doing, touring spaces with clients, a lot of that. So it's a wide variety of fun things that we do early on. And again, a lot of it's not in the office. A lot of it is getting out, really knowing people, engaging with people, problem solving, understanding their goals and desires. So yeah, I mean, like I said, we do collaborate in the office and we got to then sit down and figure out how to solve that problem, which can be daunting. But yeah, I mean, it's a good mix of both time to focus and work and produce some drawings and produce some good designs. But a lot of it is meeting with those clients, meeting with them and understanding them and all of that.
Skyler: Yeah, absolutely. Where they need to get and what kind of ideas that they have and stuff. Which is cool. It's kind of fun to see, I'm an architect and I know what I'm doing, but I'm curious to see what ideas you guys have to throw in. Because you know your space and what you need.
Adam: Exactly.
Skyler: Awesome.
Speaker 4: Attention architecture professionals, are you looking for an employment opportunity that will provide you with a wonderful work culture and a competitive pay rate? Look no further than CMBA Architects. Our firm offers flexible scheduling, a casual dress code, and a great work environment that will help you collaborate and create. Plus, who doesn't love having Fridays off?
Skyler: To learn more about our available positions, visit the Careers Page at cmbaarchitects.com and apply to join the CMBA team. Do you, amongst all the stuff that you've worked on and the projects you've been a part of, do you have any personal favorites that you were like, oh, when we did this or this idea came in and was like, oh my gosh, I've never done something like this before, but that was super fun. What kind of personal favorites do you have?
Adam: That's always a hard one. And again, I don't necessarily get caught up on what the best design was or what my favorite detail was. I think every architect, to some degree, loves putting that puzzle together and the craft and that. But where I find probably the most joy and the most personal satisfaction is when you do projects for people that you know, that really matter, that make an impact. Ever since I started at CMBA back in 2017, we actually got the opportunity to do a redesign of a church in Sheldon, that I grew up in. And really, just now they're actually kicking off the construction of it. So it's been over five years that we've been working with the client and understanding their goals and working through cost inflation changes and goals and right sizing this space. But in the long run, it's been really rewarding because you're making an impact on all those people that I know, that I personally grew up with.
Skyler: You grew up in that area.
Adam: But they knew me when I was running around church in diapers still. And so that's really cool.
Skyler: Yeah. That's awesome.
Adam: Yeah. And I also really enjoy, a few years back now, we actually got to work with the Spencer School District to design two different elementary editions.
Skyler: Oh, very cool.
Adam: Both of which, my kids were able to go through and use. And they're open now. And Carter was actually, my oldest son, was actually the first class to go into the new edition where we added on.
Skyler: And that's exactly what you were talking about earlier, with the idea that you know, want to see spaces that are just perfect for your kids to go into and other kids, obviously.
Adam: So we got to reimagine that education space and how they want to use it and how they're prepared. And I actually got to see that come to life through my own kids and got to make an impact on their education. So it was really neat. I mean, it was also really cool, honestly, sometimes you think about doing these projects and they're multi-year projects, and there's definitely growing pains when you're doing some of those things. You got to compress a little bit so they can do some of that renovation and then grow into it. Eventually it'll be better, a lot of times is how we kind of look at that.
But in the Spencer School project, we got a really great opportunity to team up with the contractor, and we actually did several different tour days with students, and brought them through the construction and got to show them how we're putting things together and problem solve with them a little bit. And so that was equally really cool. Because I could really show my kids of what I do. As an architect, your kids are like, "Oh, well, you build buildings." And it's like, well, I mean, kind of. I don't actually building anything.
Skyler: I'm not out there with a hammer and a nail.
Adam: I help plan it and I helped come up with an idea. And so it was really neat to be able to experience that with my kids and show them, okay, I had a hand in this, but I'm not actually putting it together. But you can see what I do in my role a little bit.
Skyler: Kind of like a really cool version of, they do that thing in schools where they have their parent come in and talk about what they do.
Adam: Yes, bring your parent to work day?
Skyler: You got to take them out of the classroom and be like, we're building your classroom.
Adam: Yes, yes, exactly.
Skyler: That's cool.
Adam: That's the ultimate version of that.
Skyler: Absolutely. Absolutely. You'll be in class in the next few years having parents come in, but I'm the parent now showing you the class before it exists.
Adam: Exactly.
Skyler: Very cool. Very cool.
Adam: Exactly.
Skyler: Awesome. Now, this one's kind of a broad question, I guess. I feel like there's a lot of different answers that people could come up with, and maybe there's not just one necessarily. I would assume there's probably not. But what do you see as one of the greatest keys to the architecture in the design of a building? What's something that you think is something that everyone should focus on?
Adam: Yeah. I mean, the very core of architecture, if you really boil it down, is to just keep water out of the space. Water is the vein of most detailers and suppliers and causes all kinds of issues from mold to freeze to whatever. So at the very core, it's create a really good shell that's going to last for a long time. But beyond that, I think the space impacts what you do in that so much more than that. When you get down to understanding, how does this space have an impact on how you learn, or how you heal, or how you grow, a lot of people think past that. And it does, it has a huge, profound impact on that. And so I think the key to the design, really, is, does it do what it's core function is really well?
Does it do it inherently without having to make it work? Like I said earlier, there's school buildings that are a hundred years old, and honestly, a lot of great students and a lot of great ideas are coming out of that, but they're doing it in spite of those buildings. And so I think the key is, every design decision, everything that you're doing along that process, if you can say, "Does this make the end goal of the project better?" I think that's the opportunity that you got to continually seek for and judge it against. Is this helping the students, whatever, learn under direct supervision? Is it helping them work better as teams? Is it helping foster a collaborative team environment that they'll then use those skills later in life? All of those things, I think, are really important. And so I try to judge those decisions and those design influences on, is it going to support those big picture goals?
Skyler: Right, got you. Okay. Okay. Getting that big picture. Making the space work.
Adam: Yeah.
Skyler: Like you said, innately. It doesn't need to be forced into. Which, yeah, that's obviously not going to ... What's the point?
Adam: Yeah. Right. Right. And there are so many cool spaces like that, that you go ... And there's a few in that elementary that I was talking about where, as teachers or even as adults, we look at some of those faces and go, "Oh, why would you do that? That's pointless. That doesn't make any sense." But then you let a group of kids just run into those spaces and they know what to do. They're finding the nooks and crannies, they're teaming up and gathering around the large table, and inherently it just makes sense to them. And that's so cool to see that.
Skyler: Absolutely.
Adam: You just let them free into the space, they know exactly what to do. And I couldn't ask for anything better.
Skyler: They're just drawn into it, it's so cool. That's awesome.
Adam: It is.
Skyler: Very cool. Very cool. All right, so this last question that I've got here, it's a little bit of a plug for CMBA, but what is your favorite aspect of CMBA Architects? The company as a whole or even just the people that you're working with here in Spencer or whatever the case. What's something that's just, every day you come to work and you're like, ah, you know what? I feel good. I feel good about things.
Adam: I really like working with our team. And our team across all the offices has been really good. I really enjoy, like we talked about, there's a lot of goals that we have for projects. There's a lot of things that we want to achieve. But I really like that I get a come together every day with a group of people that really want to achieve that same set of goals. Everybody's on the same page, working towards the same things. And it's a fun, exciting, collaborative atmosphere. Everybody really, truly cares about these projects and they want to see it come together. And I really enjoy that. I really like just being with these people and problem solving together. A lot of times, it's a really hard problem and you're stuck between a rock and a hard space, and it can get a little negative at times. And so you got to have that support group. You got to have a group of people that all are driving for the same things. And that makes any challenge easily overcomeable, because you all really have the same things in mind.
Skyler: Right. With all different experiences and ideas coming forward, which is really cool. We have one big project to solve and everybody's got ideas on how we can do it. And it's better to have ideas than to not have ideas.
Adam: It is. It is. You got to bring a bunch of ideas and throw them all up against the wall. And some of them will stick and some of them won't.
Skyler: That's right. That's right.
Adam: And we'll move on with the ones that are the best and we'll keep refining. And yeah, that's really fun.
Skyler: Awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much for being here. Again, this is Laying the Foundations. I'm here with Adam, he's our Behind the Blueprint guy for today. And thank you all for listening. You can, of course, find us on any of the podcast streaming sites that you can even think of; Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, and of course, be sure to check us out on social media. If you enjoy what we do and you want to see more of what we do, we got some amazing pictures of our projects, some of which Adam, you've worked on in the past. And so feel free to check those out, we're on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. And of course, you can check out our website at cmbaarchitects.com and see a lot of the cool project photos. And if you're interested in possibly joining the architecture, interior design, et cetera, team. Whether that be in an intern setting or a full career, we always love to hear from awesome designers out there. So be sure to check us out, and again, thank you so much for listening. This has been Behind the Blueprints, I'm Skyler.
Adam: And I'm Adam.
Skyler: Thank you so much for listening.
Adam: Thank you.
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March 20, 2023