Ana Zapata

If I could make beautiful spaces for people to be their best selves, whether it is doing what they enjoy most, “work”, or simply a place where they may recharge, I would have found my calling in life.

Tell us a little bit about your journey in Architecture? What made you pursue it as a career?

I am certain that my journey in architecture started with my mother. She’s fierce, creative and very driven. I like to think of her as the female version of Indiana Jones!

The fact that she was an archeologist filled my life as a kid with adventure. She often let me tag along on weekend trips to discover what literally seemed to me like hidden treasure. It was on one of those trips that I started to realize the myriad of living arrangements of our past civilizations and how structures and then cities collectively could arguably become human kind’s most remarkable creation.

I was always enthralled by how humans lived in different spaces, temporary, permanent, big, small, zen or eclectic. I learned that the environments that we inhabit are an extension of our self-expression and I even considered design as a superpower. If I could make beautiful spaces for people to be their best selves, whether it is doing what they enjoy most, “work”, or simply a place where they may recharge, I would have found my calling in life.

After that, I had a singleness of purpose, and I wouldn’t let anything stand in my way. I was going to become an architect, no matter how long it would take.

What does your day to day look like in your current role?

I do my best to meditate every morning, to be grateful for all the people and all the opportunities in my life. Once, at work my day will often change depending on the stage of the project that we are working on. Usually we hold a team meeting on Mondays to have a general idea of the goals for the week, later, it might be a variation of coordinating with consultants, developing the project, or creating Dynamo scripts to automate repetitive tasks.

How do you approach each project you work on?

I come from the school of thought that every piece of architecture should connect with its context. Therefore, every time I get to work on schematic design for a project, I usually start by analyzing the site conditions and the design opportunities that we may have.

The context often informs my design decisions, whether it is some historical aspect or an unrelated modern piece of the project that comes to mind, site analysis, along with the program and other local constraints, will reveal some aspects of what the project really wants to be.

How do you ensure that you are constantly growing and learning in your position?

Architecture is a very fun and satisfying profession, but when you get to work on a project with 100 plus units, it can become very repetitive. This is why I invest time into learning how to code. Dynamo has been very useful in automating small tasks like creating sheets and annotating stairs, but there is a wide range of possibilities when you’re able to communicate with the Revit API at a deeper level.

I also enjoy participating in design competitions because it keeps me dreaming big, untethered to budgets or local constraints.

(Housing Typology, 2016)

What has been your favorite project so far?

I am currently working on several affordable housing projects, so far, this building typology is my favorite because I can see how I can see how to apply design solutions to the California housing crisis, and that makes me proud and delighted to have such an opportunity.

What is your advice for women entering the field?

My advice would be to strive to find a way to harmonize the brain with our own spirituality, in order to respond to the inevitable changes in life with less fear and more tranquillity and joy.

Architecture is a beautiful career, at times it will be challenging but it is a very rewarding profession. Keep working with exceptional levels of grit and dedication, and your career will be rewarded with fulfillment and endless opportunities for creativity.

Erica Weeks

Kara Meyer