My name is John Clappi and I just recently started Eponymous Architecture.
I always liked drawing had a huge love of Legos, Erector sets building things like remote
control cars where you get them and they're kits and you build them and then you start
learning the mechanics and electric side.
When I was younger probably maybe my early teens, my parents had put a small addition
on their house and it was the first time I've ever been exposed to an architect and I remember
my father actually brought me to the office of the architect and that was really interesting.
You know when you're younger you don't really see many work spaces, you know, it was probably
the father workday and you're gonna see that, but you know an architect’s office was so
much unlike anything else because you were drawing you weren't sitting there in front
of you know of course, this is like a lot of pre-computer, but you weren't sitting there
typing and doing lots of paperwork.
They were drawing.
To see that presentation and then to see it built was, I think, probably one of the most
memorable or important parts of that kind of grain that would lead me into architecture.
So it's a five year program in first year you're, just doing you actually don't even
really do much quote-unquote architecture as it is conceptual thinking and for me it
was a stretch.
I had never really done that before and so I was, I was struggling to understand the
ideas that they were trying to teach you.
Years later you understood, but it was at the moment you didn't understand you, like
what does this mean: proportion and rhythm and repetition and you know it was foreign
to me and I hadn't really ever spoken or kind of worked in that media, so it was a shock
it was a shock.
I felt like I was disappointed, I was like, what?
I thought we would be designing buildings.
Yeah, yeah for sure it's a good thing we weren't because actually the buildings would have
been terrible!
After the first year for me, I was debating whether or not it was the right field for
me.
I’m like, either I misunderstood or you know it was I just not getting it.
And so obviously I ended up sticking with it and that's a good thing and by my second
and third years it really started to turn around.
You know you started once you understood that there was this other side to architecture
that you know I didn't really see because I just saw drawings I saw construction and
you know through my being so naive, I didn't really think about the creative process.
And then you know you start understanding that there's this other side to it, which
for me, was untapped and then you know that led to a whole new discovery of the I think
both of beauty and frustrations of architecture I mean it there’s not only the technical
side but this is whole other side I can learn and be really creative by second year we were
starting to do a little bit of architecture so I think it started to make you feel more
grounded okay so all hope all hope is not lost we're actually gonna learn how to do
buildings here.
So maybe there's, a little bit of that realizing okay I am on the right path because this is
what I wanted to do.
Like you started actually creating real spaces and dealing with circulation, both horizontally
and vertically and you know you started to understand the relationships of inside and
outside and when you do something on the outside it affects the inside and vice versa.
So you’re really starting to learn about how the architecture is shaped both in drawing
in 2D drawing, but then you know you really started to get in to model making and exploring
things through volumes.
Immediately after graduating from architecture school, myself and two other friends decided
to go backpack Europe.
I think it's a fairly common thing to go travel and so after you come back then you go, alright
now I gotta find a job.
If architecture, school is kind of conceptual thinking and drawing and design, my first
job was about taking those skills and figure out how to make buildings.
For me anyway, there was never I haven't yet experienced a point in profession where I've
learned so much in such a brief period of time because everything was new and I mean
every single thing that you did on any given day, was new and it was just made you a better
architect.
Come out of grads - architecture school - and maybe you're a little bit cocky because you
think you're hot designer and then there's a humility that kind of just comes down upon
you in the practice of architecture.
And you know maybe that's a good thing.
I knew getting licensed for me was the kind of culmination of the education process and
so I wanted to do it and I think I do think it helped to do it soon after leaving academia
because you were still used to that studying habits and, and taking tests and I know for
people who wait longer it's more of a struggle and there's, obviously pragmatic things like
certain math skills to be able to apply to the structure exams is, is so far removed
I mean even for me doing it say three to four years out of architecture school there's some
rust, but you can kind of kick it off quicker when you're taking these exams straight out
of school.
But if you wait 10 years man, that math is pretty far removed and you really relearning
it and so that's why I think so many people fear those exams is because they've waited
so long and I guess this can also vary on everyone's experience at the first job, so
I was getting exposed to site meetings I was getting supposed to clients and budgets and
schedules, I was so I was obviously getting drafting time in the office I was doing figuring
out construction drawings, but I was also getting CA experience which is, I know difficult
for a lot of people sometimes particularly as an intern.
And so for me, I was hitting all the all the buttons you know, hitting all the topics that
we're the kind of dark areas in your experience and these were the areas you needed to not
only get experience for IDP but you needed that information to pass the exams because
the exam started talking about you know getting into contracts and taking projects through
construction.
So for me to start studying for the exams it was all one thing I mean you were learning
about it and then practicing it that day or the next day you know to start learning something
about the contract and then week later it actually becomes applicable in a site meeting
I mean that's just you know you couldn't get more fortunate.
Every office you leave there’s things that you want to take away and things you don't
and I think that's great because it helps you focus your energy so once you start, if
you keep adding things you want to do it's kind of difficult but if you also start removing
things that you don't wanna do, it starts getting focusing what you think is right.
Every firm there were things that you are learning to do differently so it could have
been, obviously design approach is a major thing, the type of projects they’re getting
is a major thing.
So that obviously was always different from every office.
But it was also yeah the way they approach the design process and the kind of I think
the type of people that worked at firms is also very different, depending on the type
of firm it was there were people that were more just kind of production and then certain
firms had kind of more creative people and the dedication levels also varied you know
and it kind of went hand for me I kind of noticed a direct relationship between the
kind of design caliber of the firm and the kind of commitment and also of course, the
time that got spent.
There’s firms that you can easily put in 40 hour weeks and it's fine and there’s
firms where you might put in 50 or 60 hour weeks and that may be because of demands of
the office or you know oddly enough it may be because you want to or you're just you
know an 8 hour day, becomes a 9 hour day without you realizing it or 10 hour day because you're
just doing something you enjoy.
The first office is the office you kind of I fell into through fortunate circumstances,
obviously getting the job your first job is never easy so I had a connection through a
friend and that got me in so that's, that firm I didn't intentionally seek out.
But in hindsight I look back at that time there with great admiration because I learned
so much and I think there's no way to know it at the time but it was an office that was
- I felt it was a good learning office.
After leaving there then I wanted to do the kind of ‘starchitect’ thing.
I wanted to okay now I've learned how to build, but now I wanna really re-embrace the roots
of high design.
So I decided to come to New York and I was fortunate to get a job at Richard Meier and
Partners.
So I landed there and and it was a you know, first thing is it's obviously and much more
structured office, but kind of people that work there are I think much more driven and
so you started learning a lot from your fellow employees.
Because they were coming you know, Richard Meier is an international firm there were
people you know from all over the world.
You know that office was it was a different dynamic I wouldn't necessarily say that was
a great learning office if you're a young intern it's great to get exposed to it, but
I don't think there was a lot of attention or time to be able to have someone teach you
something.
The rigor and the kind of attention to detail that I got there was great the drawing habits
I mean the type the quality of the drawings they would do there was amazing, higher end
level of representing architecture was something that was interesting there.
And being extremely disciplined, you know obviously, everyone knows the Richard Meier
grid and it's it's a funny way to design, but it also it gets you to think about the
precision that one can achieve and also how that then starts relating to construction.
It just happened to be that he was getting a lot of international work I unfortunately
am not fluent in foreign languages so there was a clear kind of ceiling for me there,
because it was hard for me to, though I was running smaller project it was hard to really
be the project architect because I couldn't go and travel and meet with these clients
and so forth and also even language barriers in terms of developing drawings, like I started
learning typical German words in written form to do details, but I couldn't speak German
and so for me, I knew there was kind of a cap there and it was also you know it's an
intense place to work and you know it would wear it down a little bit.
So I think I just started becoming, I don't know maybe I was just getting limited in what
I could learn there and just getting frustrated with the kind of repetition of doing that
work over and over.
So I decided I needed to move on.
I had a friend who knew someone that worked at this firm Allied Works again kind of very
high end design firm but working on a smaller scale than Richard Meier and mostly domestic
projects, so I said great now I can really get back into being the project architect
and that think that was my goal in moving.
I immediately got involved on a large private residential project it was a big estate they
were big art collectors so we were doing multiple buildings on this you know 300 acres of land
and so I immediately got to get into doing construction drawings again getting back out
to the site and getting my hands dirty, which ultimately I've kind of came to learn over
time, is where I enjoy the process the most is the built work and getting out to the site.
That's what I never got at Richard I never really was able to get to the construction
sites and so I think that was subconsciously pushing me out the door and so now here I
was back into the world that I think I wanted to be in.
And so I practiced at that firm for six years, and it actually for me, was the first firm
where it really started to connect again with how you practiced architecture in school hand
drawing, model making, and hand drawing in the sense that it's not technical, it was
there's no rulers involved, it was sketching using pastels, but concept models I mean even
at Richard’s they would make models, but they were formal presentation models of the
actual buildings and to make concept models again I was like wow this is really interesting!
And so, so you know now I'm at a point where I'm bringing back the early work from architecture
school and all the work and all the confidence and an information and experience I had gotten
from all the other firms and building and you know it started to come together.
Work just happened to get a little slow for them at the time and so for me again, it just
seem like a jumping off point.
One thing I always tell younger architects is that early in the profession it's easier
to jump around between jobs because the the commitment that an office has to make to you
is a little bit less.
And so for me now you know I'm asking for a good salary I'm also having 15 years of
experience so they're not just gonna ask me to draft right?
And so when you're younger, I think you can just get jobs, if a firm feels that they have
a lot of work they’ll just bring you in and you can get exposure.
So now I'm in a position which I realize after the fact that I now need to plug a very specific
spot, like they're not just gonna bring me in because they're busy there needs to be
a specific job a specific role available.
It doesn't mean that they're not there, it's just that process takes longer and I didn't
realize that because every time I fortunately before that it was either through connections
because you knew an opportunity was there or you know with Meier I just applied but
again I had only five years of experience I wasn't, it wasn't a major ask I was making
so they brought me in just because they were busy not because of any specific job.
A person I had overlapped with briefly at Richard Meier’s office, his name was Thomas
Juul Hanson and he had gone out on his own when I was still at Richard's the thing that
was unique about his office and accepting that offer is that he was doing developer
work, which I had never done before and admittedly, was a little bit nervous about getting into
because I didn't know if it was gonna be what I was into doing.
The funny thing is that, after accepting the offer from Thomas and starting there then
I started hearing back from the other firms and I realized you know too late that it's
at that point it's a really long process and I've actually even done it since when I was
at Thomas I had been talking to some other people where you it's actually you culminate
a relationship over months like you, first kind of get your foot in the door you introduce
yourself and then you know honestly if both parties like each other you kind of stay in
touch because they like they like they like to have people available to them that are
good that they know they can bring in when they need to but they may not need them at
that specific time and so I you know, I didn't know that, I mean maybe I should have, so
I mean in the end it wasn't a problem I got a job and I wasn't you know, looking for work
for a very long time, but it did it did force me to make a decision without having you know,
all the opportunities laid out.
Even if you're not necessarily looking at leaving a firm right away it's sometimes not
the worst thing to interview and I say that for a couple of reasons.
One is one because the process takes a while, two, you should think about an interview as
not only them interviewing you but you interviewing the firm.
You should see if that's a firm you're even interested in, right?
And then also it helps bring into focus what you are doing that you like and that you're
not doing that you like.
I've actually gone to interviews where I come back from the interview being confident that
where I am is where I wanna be.
And because you get to go to these interviews and you you talk about yourself and what you're
doing in a way that you don't ever really do.
Yeah you talk to friends about projects, but you never really talk about it in a very kind
of disciplined way and for me it was just a way to kind of refocus myself and say am
I happy where I am or not?
Roughly 20 years over four different firms I decided to create Eponymous.
It's funny because while you're working at a firm you know, I don't think people will
consider you for projects because of that but then the minute they realize that you're
not in a firm anymore, that you're on your own, you all of the sudden got an opportunity
that they may not have considered you for.