You will find out out soon enough if you don't know me very well, that I have the wildest and most vivid dreams of anyone. Last night I dreamed of returning to Oklahoma State to obtain my Masters of Architecture. What a crazy thought! Really though.....I have had this dream several times before. I recall moving back into the old duplex dump after being gone for so many years. That is a a crazy thought too. This dream last night was a bit different. Most of the time I go through my dream trying to figure out where my desk is in the studio or wondering the halls of the library.....(by the way it never is really the "true" studio or "true" library. Somewhere else)......by the way I have a design in my head for a very cool library stair that winds its way up several layers of a university library if anyone is in the need!) I digress.....Sorry!
In this particular dream I was walking through the studios with Professor Bryant (RIP) as he was helping me find someone to escort me through the registration process and which classes I was going to need to take. My masters was going to be a bit different. As with all the previous dreams about this subject, I still had my business and somehow it still continued to operate. However this one had more specifics on what my master's thesis would be about. I had convinced the school to work with me to allow for a "custom" program where I could develop a building that was dedicated to an industry or trade or something that allowed for a state of the art building with the highest technological structure built right there on the OSU campus. Better yet....full funding for the project was paid for by T. Boone Pickens - the sugardaddy of Oklahoma State. So not only would I get my masters, but I would get to use a fantastical project - real project - to use as the thesis. The masters would include the facilitation of construction documents and of course contract administration during the building phase. The thesis would be based on the principles of taking a project (as a business) all the way from conceptual, fund raising, approvals, construction documents and construction. A sort of how-to-book for the future OSU students (add others) to use as a guide for real life application. Everything would be documented.
And another great perk......my office and other students at Oklahoma State would join me in the production documents. HA HA HA I didn't even have to draw it! Just manage the thing. Only bad part was it was a year away from home in Virginia Beach so I also had to fly back and forth every week to continue doings of the office. The home team is awesome though. They took care of everything, continued the work, managed the accounting, worked with all the clients, we set up video conferencing for the repeat clients and long term ones. Most of our clients were so pleased to work with us, they didn't mind the slight inconvenience of working around my schedule......now that sounded arrogant! Meetings were planned few days in advance and I had a small office in the architecture building to continue my office work as well. It worked pretty smooth.
Yep DREAM DREAM DREAM.........
Okay now for the inspirational part. First not sure that my school would be so kind to alter their program that much for one person; two, not sure I would get a lifetime project so far away from VB with T. Boone......pretty far fetched......and third, to keep my business running while I ran off for this fantasy......hey, just thought about eating at Eskimo Joe's everyday! SO back to reality. What did come out of the dream is the thought of writing a book for the small business development for a design firm. The practical application of how-to and what not-to-do. A design manual for the all of those individuals who just want their own thing. Or maybe a reminder to some of the architects that forgot what it was like to care about design and client personal service. The book would take a while. Not only gathering the thoughts but to orchestrate it into an organized thought process and step-by-step procedure. But just think.....what if it did happen and if say....someone like.....AIA published it. and say.....a portion of the sales went to OSU Architecture......and say......they gave me a honorary Master's anyway!
It could happen my friends!
Dreams.....they keep us going.
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