The roundtable on architects and engineers was conducted June 9 at the Courtyard by Marriott in Canfield, Ohio. Five panelists talked about what defines classic architecture, hiring challenges and the benefits of working in the Mahoning Valley. Participants were Mark Buchenic, vice president/regional director, MS Consultants; Chad Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick Architects; Annissa Neider, A. Neider Architecture; John Orsini, BSHM Architects; and Tracie Kaglic, president/architect, Olsavsky Jaminet Architects. Business Journal associate editor George Nelson led the questions.
Business Journal: What projects do you believe are shaping our region now and how are they shaping it?
Tracie Kaglic, president/architect, Olsavsky Jaminet Architects: I’m not sure that I can think of any specific projects. I guess for me it’s more of what zoning or commissioners are not permitting. They seem to be taking more of a stance of limiting what is allowed and permitted in areas. We had been hearing of some of the data centers and now it seems to be a nationwide approach of banning them or prohibiting or putting a time frame for limiting when they can be done. I think even with the solar farms, the county commissioners have put a ban on that also. But it never fails, you get a client who wants to have some solar panels on their project and then there’s that gray area of, do they consider it the farm, do they consider it a limited private use. So therefore it’s reviewed a little bit differently.
John Orsini, BSHM Architects: I think that working in downtown Youngstown, … that there are some key things going on in the downtown business proper that are affecting not only those of us that work in that area, but also the greater community as a whole. Things like the government center or some of the work that’s happening at YSU start to talk about how our community is growing and developing. Stambaugh has had a major restoration project going on that’s positive in regards to our overall sense of place, so with that you’re starting to see elements of our history – being Stambaugh, Powers – in some of those institutions, starting to affect what the Mahoning Valley is, along with people that are moving in, not only because of the architecture, because of the sense of place that we do have here, things like American Makes and YBI, what they’re doing to downtown.
Annissa Neider, A. Neider Architecture: Downtown, as a whole, all the infrastructure projects that happen downtown, but also in Boardman as a whole, Western Reserve being reconstructed, all of downtown being reconstructed, and now 680 under construction, we see a lot of infrastructure happening. I think with Western Reserve getting finished, we’re going to start seeing a lot of redevelopment from a retail aspect now that Covid is over. I think we’re going to start seeing Boardman start to expand and start seeing a different redevelopment start to move sort of south.
Chad Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick Architects: I don’t think the development is going to be the same thing you see currently. I think it’s going to be less strip mall expansion, maybe a lot more individual building expansion. I’ve noticed a lot recently being residential, a lot more development in more housing in general. I think that’s the other part that’s shaping us is we need more houses and people have been building more houses.
Mark Buchenic, vice president/regional director, MS Consultants: I think there’s a project going on that’s transformational, and that’s Kimberly-Clark in Trumbull County. That project is going to have a ripple effect on everything. It’s going to have a ripple effect on other businesses, other industries that are going to come here, the roads, the infrastructure needed for the access for now, the distribution center as well, that they’re going to build. And you’re seeing small industrial spec buildings popping up now. And there’s North Jackson, and they want to build one there in Youngstown as well. So I think they’re going to see more of that in the West Warren development, the old high school location.
Business Journal: What are some of the trends you’re seeing across your industries?
Buchenic, MS Consultants: It’s probably a little different from the architectural side of things, but from engineering they’re phasing and breaking projects up into smaller pieces. It’s because of the cost of doing business, like for instance the 680 project that was originally one huge project, the whole rehab of that, and they broke it up into a couple phases. They even broke up Western Reserve in a couple phases as well and they’re looking at alternative delivery methods, ways of doing construction to save costs and save on schedule and stuff like that.
Orsini, BSHM Architects: I also think the delivery of projects is changing a lot of projects. We’re seeing more and more CMRs – construction managers at risk – where a construction manager is hired, usually shortly after the architect, so that they’re involved in the development of the project, understanding documentation, understanding the direction of the design and how it’s being constructed.
Buchenic, MS Consultants: All of the dam projects that will be taken down along the Mahoning River, those are all CMR projects, construction management risk.
Business Journal: How much of your business is being affected, if at all, by the worker shortage? What skills are most in demand and are the most difficult to fill in your industries?
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: The Youngstown area is very tough for hiring because if you’re not keeping somebody here who wants to stay close to their family, it’s very hard to bring people to Youngstown. And relative to skills, as architecture has progressed from hand-drawn drawings, paper and pencil, we’re now in the computer age. My firm uses Revit and Revit is the biggest skill you need in order to be able to get a job out the door. AutoCAD is very rarely used anymore for us and that’s the problem that we’re seeing.
Tracie Kaglic
Kaglic, Olsavsky Jaminet: We get a lot of calls from students at Ohio State. The students do not do any drafting in AutoCAD or use Revit even. I think that’s one of the downfalls of a lot of the local kids who go to Ohio State. The programs that they’re teaching them, or what they’re using, is not relative to what we’re using in our offices, so therefore you’re short on workers. When you have someone that you could be interested in looking at their portfolio, you’re concerned about the timeframe of having to train and teach them everything. That for us is probably one of the bigger hurdles, is do we have someone who can pretty much sit with them and train them and then we’re down two staff members versus just looking for additional staff.
Neider, A. Neider Architecture: We all went to Kent, at least all of the architects sitting here. And recently Kent State has gone away from the education that we all received, which is a very hands-on constructability approach. They used to teach the software that we all used. They don’t teach the software anymore, even at Kent State. So, yes, that is a big hurdle because these are the kids that we could attract. They don’t have the education that we probably need, so that’s why our local AIA chapter is trying to reach out to these institutions to work with these educational institutions. But being a smaller firm, even trying to attract talent, I’m a firm of four or five people to attract against someone like an MS or a BSHM to try and get people to come and even intern. It’s very difficult.
Business Journal: Why are the schools not teaching what you folks are working with?
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: When we were in college they drove us to get out and get practicing and get our license as quick as possible. Because Kent State’s a local architecture school, they understood that people from Kent State are going to probably stay local. Ohio State and Cincinnati were known to be the big design colleges, and in order for Kent State to compete and make sure they get the students, I think they started to broaden their ways of teaching to try and make it more design-oriented. That way their students could leave and go to bigger cities and do work for bigger companies, and the starchitects that we like to call them. But that’s a hindrance to the people who just want to get their degree and get back to where they are from and do their job, so in our office we will teach as much as possible and try to get them running full speed ahead as quickly as possible.
Buchenic, MS Consultants: We’re struggling to find mid-level people, like from five to 15 years experience. We have no problem with new interns from YSU. We have a great intern program with them and new grads at YSU. I think we have 34 YSU grads, so we do well with YSU. But you have to train, they have to learn. It’s hard to find that person that can come in and start running a project right off the bat. Recruiting them to Youngstown is tough from other areas, is what I’m trying to say. So that mid-level person… very difficult.
Orsini, BSHM Architects: And then the other thing that’s happening is, at least in the architectural profession, we all know each other. There’s like two architects in town that I may not know, and because of that we don’t have the population or the size of our architectural community where if somebody wanted to look for another job, what do you do? And what happens is with some of the younger professionals, some of them would come here and as a beginning for their career, and then maybe end up leaving, so those are some of the challenges that the architectural community has in regards to BIM [Building Information Modeling] and BIM management building and building modeling Revit.
Business Journal: How much is artificial intelligence affecting engineering and architecture? In what ways do you use it? Is it more of a benefit or a concern for you and your business?
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: Without actually going into the details of our programs, we’ve unknowingly been using AI for probably a decade now. Revit has kind of that automated helper tool that we just never thought of as AI. We’ve been using it for quite some time and most recently my firm has tried to use it in more of the beginning stages of the design process. We’ll sit down with a client, we’ll get these ideas from the client, we’ll start to make some sketches and start to develop a design of some kind. But then we’ll sometimes use AI to help colorize it or show a little bit of context around it to help speed up that process. We try our hardest not to overuse it and let it do our job, but we’re seeing it more and more. But we’re also required to tell it what to do. It’s not telling us what to do at this point, so I can’t say that a mechanical engineer is going to be able to say, ‘Design me a duct layout that’s perfect,’ because it’s our knowledge that’s going to say no, that’s not going to work here. .. there’s still also that human interaction that we have to have. We’re the ones with the knowledge, not the computer, in this instance.
Kaglic, Olsavsky Jaminet: We have a project that we had created the renderings, and then the client took it – the building – and put it in Chat GPT and then came back and said, ‘well, here’s exactly what I want it to look like, so you need to change it to look like this.’ However, it wasn’t realistically able to be built as per what AI came up with and trying to explain that to the client that there’s a lot there that we’re wasting your money on. So a lot of times we find ourselves trying to go backwards from what the client comes in with – AI perspectives or renderings or something like that – just to explain: it’s a pretty picture, but it can’t structurally be built. Or it can be built, but it’s just going to cost you more than what you’re probably expecting.
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: And AI doesn’t always get it right. There’s been times where a client will bring in a rendering of a perspective and then a plan. You look at it and the plan doesn’t match the perspective, because AI doesn’t have the knowledge to be able to figure out [how] that floor plan can be extruded and modeled.
Buchenic, MS Consultants: AI – we use it a lot in the early stages on projects as well, preliminary stuff. But I don’t think it’s ever going to replace the architect or the engineer who has to stamp the drawings, make the final checks. At least not now. I don’t see it, but we see it as a benefit right now. You can’t overrely on it and I think that’s the key.
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: We’re not that automated, so we didn’t hire anybody in our office specifically for rendering like they used to do back when everything was pencil and paper. Somebody was sitting there putting color on those boards. We don’t hire people just for that task anymore, so if it could speed up our process in the beginning, it helps. That’s about it.
Neider, A. Neider Architecture: It’s a tool. It’s just another software. It’s like Microsoft Word was 20 years ago. It’s Excel. It’s just now AI.
Business Journal: Tying the AI discussion back to our discussion about talent, how does AI affect training new talent? Does it handle tasks that previously might have been assigned to new hires and interns, and if so, what tasks do you assign new young talent to learn the business?
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: I think the young talent is teaching us how AI can benefit us because they’re using it more often. I don’t think that we’ve had any issues hiring people because AI’s taking their job. I think it’s been more along the lines of that young people that we hire have a better knowledge of AI and how they can harness it to better us in our profession.
Neider, A. Neider Architecture: Some of the young kids rely on AI a lot. A lot of these interns coming out of school, they’ve grown up with AI now, and they’ve gone to college with Chat GPT. They can’t write an email without Chat GPT. They can’t construct a sentence. ..I think maybe Chat GPT is a little too much relied on.
Orsini, BSHM Architects: It’s a tool. You’ve got an interesting panel here. because Chad and Annissa went to school together and graduated together, and Tracie and I did at different times. And Chad and Annissa talked earlier about their education, understanding the programs. When Tracie and I went to school, we used what’s called a pencil, and we were able to see the development, not only of Revit, but of AutoCAD, and how it affected Revit, and how it affected the profession. And I think the same thing about AI. How is that going to affect the profession when the early professionals that are graduating today are sitting in either Annissa and Chad’s seats or Tracie’s and my seats?
Business Journal: Do you see the reliance on it affecting critical thinking skills and new talent?
Orsini, BSHM Architects: I’m in the very early stages of it, but I tend to use it for gathering information. It’s helping me in regards to code analysis and things like that, building safety.
Kaglic, Olsavsky Jaminet: And the younger generation, it’s not just Chat GPT. They don’t sit down and talk to people or make that phone call. It’s easier to send an email and ask someone that question than for me to pick up the phone and make a 10-second phone call to get an answer. I just think it’s how the younger generation is nowadays. That’s where sometimes we who have the experience working for firms for numerous years, we talked to our peers, we talked to the contractors. The younger kids are just, hey, the internet gave me this information, and I feel that maybe they could rely on AI a lot more than we would…
Buchenic, MS Consultants: I think it’s progressing younger professionals to real work faster, which is a good thing, because some of the tasks that we had to do preliminary are being done quicker, so they can get to the meaningful work better. But I think everybody hit it here. They still need to know how to think critically and ask good questions and communicate and maybe some of those skills are lacking.
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: When we were in school, we started with pencil on paper. That’s how they taught thick lines, thin lines, all those things. And then you go two years down the road, let’s start introducing the computer aided design programs, CAD. Then it got to the point where one of my professors said there’s this new thing called Revit. He said this is going to be the way of the profession. But they didn’t teach it in school. So I learned it from a book. I took the initiative, and that’s one thing that I see is that the younger generation, the cognitive thinking, the will to learn something without it being right there at your fingertips – that is a tough one.
Business Journal: What’s the difference between AutoCAD and Revit?
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: AutoCAD is digital pencil on paper. It’s more or less two dimensional. You can build in layers in a way, whereas Revit is building information modeling. It’s an actual three-dimensional model program that as you look at it, that’s the building. It’s how it’s going to look in the real world.
Orsini, BSHM Architects: One of the benefits to it is that we’re hosting a lot in a BIM model and we’re hosting a lot of them on a cloud, and our engineers that we work with also work in the same model. So you get a true documentation of what the building can be and it helps with coordination items and things like that in regards to the different disciplines of design.
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: Yeah, is that duct running through a piece of steel structure holding the building? Not to throw the engineers under the bus, of course, because as architects we still have to catch those as well, but Revit does help us start to see the three-dimensional aspect of it.
Business Journal: How much do sustainability and environmental considerations come into play in projects? Are clients requesting green buildings? Does that affect cost and how much demand in the region do you see for smart buildings?
Orsini, BSHM Architects: Any project you do, or most of the projects you do with the OFCC [Ohio Facilities Construction Commission], which is the state-run programs, especially with K-12 education, there is a requirement for LEED certification. So a lot of times sustainability is almost built into the program with things like that. Now, the amount of sustainability is a whole other discussion in regards to how you do that.
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: Those are buildings that are going to be around for many, many years. In the commercial aspect of things, buildings always get changed. Tenants will possibly close up shop and a new one’s going to come in. So, a lot of developers that are trying to build these buildings get them open quickly and get them making money. They don’t come to us saying, we want this building to be a green building, a sustainable building, because it does cost money. If you want that building to be sustainable and certified with LEED certification, it takes us so much more time and effort to find materials that are built locally, so they don’t have a big carbon footprint of traveling across the United States to bring those materials to us. So, in the commercial aspect of things, it’s not something locally that I see very often. I’ve never had somebody come in and say, I want a sustainable building, and it’s a bunch of tenant spaces that’s going to get ready to be fit out for restaurants or retail places, stuff like that.
Neider, A. Neider Architecture: There are periods in history when sustainability was more important than others. Back in 2010 sustainability was the epic buzzword. That’s when LEED was first coming out. That’s when green buildings were coming into play. That’s when OFCC first adopted the green building initiative for all the schools. That’s just when the big push came. That’s when USGBC [U.S. Green Building Council] first came out – that’s the LEED building council. Every college in the country was teaching it.
Business Journal: Beyond aesthetics, how can design improve quality of life?
Buchenic, MS Consultants: From an engineering standpoint, everything that we do through the quality of life, through safety, access, mobility and reliability, we try to build that into all of our linear type projects in engineering. Everything we do makes life easier and safer to navigate, more accessible, so that definitely affects quality of life.
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: Every person that comes into a building or a space that’s designed, we have to think of safety. Look at Covid, the fact that we had tried to open windows that aren’t openable because our codes have dictated that we need to be so energy efficient. We can’t open the windows, because it’s better for us to condition the air, so we do think about those things too. And the codes also dictate how much ventilation we need in buildings. Studies have found that lighting affects your body and different times of day have different types of light. And they found that in hospital settings, they can help patients heal quicker because of the way the light works with the body. In schools, they can change the lighting to help kids focus more. There’s a lot out there [besides] the way our building looks. It affects the people who are inside that space, so when we can use it, we try our hardest to use as much as we can.
Neider, A. Neider Architecture: I think there’s a level of comfort in aesthetics. I think if we’re comfortable in a space, if we find it aesthetically pleasing, we’re just overall comfortable.
Kaglic, Olsavsky Jaminet: It started in our firm for flexible spaces with 21st century learning and things like that, but the flexibility of making a space adaptable to different functions. Just because we’re working with this client today doesn’t mean 10 years from now that’s exactly what that business might be using that room for. Owners are taking a little more look at what goes into the rooms, not just the structure in the building that we’re creating for them. They’re adapting to the needs of the staff and the individuals using the spaces more so than just them as a business, and what they need.
Business Journal: How has your industry changed over the last 10 to 20 years? And what do you see on the horizon for the next 10 to 20 years?
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: Our industry has changed to be a much more diverse group of people. And as that grows, who knows how that’s going to affect it moving forward, other than the fact that these women here think completely different in their design from the way I might think.
Buchenic, MS Consultants: I think you’ve seen what happened with technology the last 10 to 20 years. I think that’s just going to progress, but I think that even means that the traditional way that people need to collaborate, we still need mentors, mentorships and stuff like that. I think that we’re going to see a need for that even more, because I think the hybrid work schedule is here to stay. People are not going to be in the office. Communication, collaboration is going to be more critical.
Business Journal: The architecture of Charles Owsley of more than a century ago is revered locally. What are some examples of newer builds, if any, here that you think will stand the test of time in the same way?
Orsini, BSHM Architects: I’d like to talk a little bit about a rethinking of buildings, because in our area, a lot of the larger projects, they’re renovations. I think that when you start to talk about new builds you’re also talking about how a building is reused, which goes back to your idea of sustainability. We’re very fortunate in our area to have the buildings that we have. I’m thankful for people like Owsley and other architects. When you look at some of his buildings that are being maintained – because a lot of times you go to some cities and they’re not being maintained – the symphony center and those kinds of things, the old post office in downtown Youngstown. You have many projects at YSU, at Mercy, our health systems. But you also have our institutions like the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, that is taking an urban renewal building and making it into something else. We’re rethinking things, and I think that is where you’re going to see some of these things stand the test of time.
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: The other thing you have to think of is when the Owsleys were here and working, the materials that they had to use are materials that stand the test of time. They’re relatively easily maintained, but they were expensive. They’re very expensive now. New buildings that are going to stand the test of time physically are a lot harder to think about because our materials are new, they’re innovative. How long do they last? As an architect, I’m going to tell you every single one of my buildings that I design is going to stand the test of time. Everybody’s going to love it, but it’s in the eye of the beholder. The Owsleys didn’t design those buildings thinking that this was going to be the best building. That it’s going to stand for almost a century. They said a client needed a building. We’re going to give them what they want. It’s the people that have said that’s a beautiful building. So, any of the stuff that we design now, we’re not going to know until future generations go, ‘Wow, do you remember that building?’
Neider, A. Neider Architecture: I think that’s why it’s fun working on historic preservation. I guess that’s why I do what I do, because I could work on the projects that have already stood the test of time, and do my due diligence to make sure that they continue to stand the test of time, because of the materials and everything that are in those buildings that are so timeless and so elegant to make sure that they’re maintained. And take the carpet off the marble, and make sure it’s polished and polish the hardwoods and stain them appropriately, and do all the things that I can do to make sure that Owsley and Albert Kahn and everybody get their relics polished and preserved the way that they should be. But we don’t know if the new buildings are going to be maintained.
Kaglic, Olsavsky Jaminet: There’s schools that we have and we have gone inside some of those buildings and it’s amazing how the staff and the custodial crew can keep those buildings maintained. We’ve been in other buildings that we did maybe 12 years ago, and you walk in and you’re like, wow, this looks 30 years old because it’s not being maintained at the same level. But usually when you’re doing a school, it’s the bricks. It’s the masonries. It’s the materials, the stuccos that require a lot of maintenance. And that’s what it comes down to. The courthouse is stone, St. Columba is stone, the Youngstown courts – it’s all stone materials. The buildings we’re doing nowadays, we don’t get the opportunity to use stone on anything. And if we do, it’s a very limited quantity, so any material that we’re putting on that building is going to have to have yearly maintenance, if not more frequently than that, just depending on the building location. Does it face west, is it south?… the orientation.
Business Journal: What does successful commercial development look like now?
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: From the design, is it user friendly? More freestanding buildings from malls. We see a lot of malls trying to change the way that they have their buildings, because the way people use them is different… but a good development is obviously a client who understands the community that they’re developing in. It’s the people who are going to be using that development…
Kaglic, Olsavsky Jaminet: It’s also the site development. If I’m going to go use that business, but I’m crossing traffic with all the semis making deliveries or something, I’m probably less likely to use it. So the client that wants to bring the whole design team of the civil engineers: the interiors for the mechanical, plumbing, electrical systems, but then also the architecture for design, incorporate that with the civil engineers and the systems, and everything works. Just as we do when we do schools, you don’t cross the bus traffic with the parent drop off and things like that. There’s a lot more to a building placement than just plopping it somewhere. I think you need to consider how the community is going to access it, because if they can access it and it’s easy, it’s going to be successful, versus those that are just plopped on 224 and have 700 curb cuts to get into 15 businesses…
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: Sometimes it’s not even the architects or the engineers that could make a poor impact on those businesses. Look at 224. They put up those dividers down the center because of traffic patterns. That’s ODOT that does that, right? Well, now you can’t make a left turn into Taco Bell, which is going to be tough on that development. So getting in with the civil engineers and understanding the site design of any development is a major thing. And on places like 224 it would make so much more sense to have one point of entry and exit, and then everything be developed off of that instead of making everybody have to cross five lanes of traffic to get to where they want to be.
Neider, A. Neider Architecture: I think working with landlords and right sizing after Covid – the restarauteurs and even the retail establishments, they don’t need the 3,000-4,000-square foot tenant spaces anymore. They’re wanting the 1,600 to 2000 square foot and a pickup window. The indoor dining is much smaller now. I think commercial development is starting to shrink. Everything is sort of right sizing. I think it’s going to be a little bit more walker friendly, traffic friendly, not so big development, not so big box anymore. I think we’re going to start seeing some of this smaller development. I think Western Reserve is maybe going to be the mini version of 224 because it’s going to be the right-sized version of 224 when it starts to become developed.
Business Journal: What is something you wish your clients knew about your industry?
Orsini, BSHM Architects: I wish that they knew of the thoughtfulness that we all take in regards to the designers, in regards to whatever discipline we are, in regards to the built environment. I think that understanding that not only is it a thoughtful process, but it’s a collaborative process, not only with the people at this table, but with the institutions, with the cities, with the boroughs, with the townships. I think it’s a group effort that people don’t necessarily realize.
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: It takes time. With some municipalities, you have to submit by a certain date to get on their docket for the next month. Then if you don’t get approved, you have to change everything as quickly as possible to get on the docket for the following month after you submit at the beginning of that month, so it takes time. It also takes time to design, it takes time to collaborate. If you want a building built in summer, come to us in the fall. Obviously not schools, schools and those institutions, civil stuff, those are years in the making. But commercial work, come to us months in advance, not weeks. I can’t tell you how often I get phone calls from clients, ‘I’m looking to do this.’ And I say, ‘When do you want to start construction?’ Because from that point I have to come back through 30 days, and that’s the minimum I have to submit for building permits. They have 30 days for plan review assuming that they have no comments. Then I have to backpedal from that and figure out how long is it going to take us to design, and more times than not, we’re three quarters of the way through that process. It takes time, expect it to take time…
Orsini, BSHM Architects: Some people will go, ‘What are you working on, John?’ And I’ll tell them and they’re like, ‘Well, didn’t you tell me that two years ago?’ They’re multiple year projects…
Kaglic, Olsavsky Jaminet: We’ve had a lot of people who want to do a building, but they’re hesitant to tell you what their budget number is, because they feel that if I tell you I want to spend $10 I’m going to use $11 to design that building. But what they don’t understand is it’s us working together with the civil engineer, the structural, the mechanical, all the systems for the building to give this client the best building we can for that $10. Nothing is worse than when you get a few bids on a project and they go, ‘but I only wanted to spend x and this is x plus y,’ and then everyone’s back at the drawing board. Time is of the essence because you’re already beyond that ridiculous time frame they had originally to do the project and now you’re having to redesign and go back to your consultants and your engineers. And had they just been honest and realized that part of our work is to make sure that we can give you a building for that dollar and whatever you need to operate the building, including the maintenance and everything else that comes along with it…
Orsini, BSHM Architects: I think I’d like the community to know that we have talent here. There is no reason at all to leave this valley to hire architects, engineers and contractors. There’s no reason at all. The buildings that we do here and the communities that we have here, we can support not only the work but the aesthetics that go into it and the understanding of the building type.
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: If we know a budget ahead of time, we know how to design it. We have the ability to design that way. I’ve had many times where I’ll ask for a budget and they’re like, ‘I’m not sure yet.’ And a budget’s never figured out, and we’re doing the best that we can to be cost conscious, and bids come in. I had a 14,000 square foot renovation project. I anticipated it was going to be about $4 million. The bids came back at $3 million and I was pleasantly surprised. And then the client went back and talked, and the organization said that’s too much money. And when I said, well, what’s too much money, even the main contact that I had said I don’t know, but I think it has to be under $3 million. ..There’s no way I can make that any less expensive, because we were trying to be cost conscious. So, the budget is a great one to remind clients of. Tell us up front.
Buchenic, MS Consultants: I wish more of our clients knew how much our industry is involved with the local communities and what we do for the local communities. A lot of the stuff we do – other than designing projects – you don’t hear about, and I think you should. We’re heavily involved with the STEM programs. We’re heavily involved with YSU bridge and canoe projects. We support local robotics at the high schools. There’s just so much work we do that goes unseen, and I wish they knew more about
that.
Business Journal: What infrastructure upgrades are most needed in the Mahoning Valley to spur economic development?
Buchenic, MS Consultants: There’s a lot of industry that would like to relocate here. I’m also involved with Lake to River. I’m on the advisory committee, and before you have development, you need readiness sites, and we’re struggling with that because of infrastructure. We need infrastructure: roads, water, sewer, broadband.
Business Journal: What advice would you give to a young person who is either early in their engineering or architectural career or considering that path?
Orsini, BSHM Architects: I think anybody in this profession or allied professions, you have to be very passionate about it, because there tends to be a lot of criticism. So if you’re passionate about what you do, I think that it helps in understanding the direction of our communities and the direction of your professional career.
Kaglic, Olsavsky Jaminet: I was very young when I knew that I wanted to be an architect, but most people aren’t. When these kids are in middle school or high school, it’s important if they have an interest that we as a group are there for them to come tour our office, see what we do on a daily basis. I think a lot of kids may not understand what an architect does, and what I like about it is I’m doing something different all day long. I’m not sitting at my desk for eight hours at a computer. I’m going to a meeting or a job site and I’m breaking my day up. But I think it’s important for them to come see what we do…
Neider, A. Neider Architecture: Here’s my pitch: Come to Youngstown, come to Warren, come to the community. We need people to come to our firms. I can say that we have exciting projects. We all do. We have everything from big firms to small firms to education to private to commercial to public. We’re seeing a very big cross section just of the five people that you see sitting here. The opportunity that I got from working with Tracie to working with Mark. Both of my previous employers are sitting at this table and were drastically different, and I could say that I learned dramatically different things, but both shaped my profession very differently, but for the best, and I could say that I stayed in Youngstown for these two people.
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: [When] we bring kids into our company to shadow us in high school, we don’t hold back with what we tell them. I am extremely honest in saying that when you go to Kent or you go to Ohio State for architecture, it is going to be stressful. You’re going to pull your hair out and there’s a lot of people that can’t make it. But once you get out, you learn how to manage those stresses, and then once you’re in the actual profession, it’s wonderful. But I will tell you, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t want to go back and just do it one more time, because the experience is great. But the other thing that I would tell anybody who’s new to the profession or coming into the profession is don’t stop learning.
Buchenic, MS Consultants: Architecture and engineering is not going away. I think they’re great career paths for younger people. I see a need for people to get into engineering, because we’re having a hard time finding engineers. Technical skills are good, but I think they also need to learn their communication skills and building relationships, because as your career grows, that’s even more important than your technical skills.
Business Journal: What do you see as the best way to try to reach some of these young people at the age that they need to be reached to encourage them or to expose them to this profession?
Kaglic, Olsavsky Jaminet: I think for us, we’re out there in the community. When we participate, we’re getting to meet other people in the community. In schools, you meet staff all the time. The [educational service center] has reached out to me on numerous occasions, because I’ve worked with them on many other projects, where they said, ‘Hey, we have a student interested in architecture at this school.’ They’ll give me a call, and I’m like, absolutely, give me some days when they’re available and we make the arrangements. The quicker that the staff sees it at the school district level, or a parent, that we may know, or something like that…And I feel if they come to see our firms, maybe they’re more likely to say, ‘Hey, I like doing this,’ because we all know you go to the bigger firm in Pittsburgh or Cleveland, you might be sitting there doing door schedules all day long, or window details, or something that’s not interesting. Whereas in our firms, more than likely people are working on many different aspects of a project, not just one limited scope.
Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick: You can reach out to the kids in middle school if you have people coming in and explaining what their jobs are. I was in sixth grade when I knew I wanted to be an architect. That’s because I saw all these new houses being built, and I’ve always been one to play with my Legos and try to figure out all the nooks and crannies of places and how things were designed. It just came to me, and I asked my mom, ‘Who builds those?’ and she goes, ‘Well, contractors,’ and I said, ‘No, no, no, who designs them?’ And she says, ‘An architect,’ and I said, ‘I want to be an architect.’ That was the moment I knew in sixth grade that I wanted to be an
architect.
Pictured at top: Roundtable panelists Mark Buchenic, vice president/regional director, MS Consultants; Annissa Neider, A. Neider Architecture; John Orsini, BSHM Architects; Chad Ramkey, Phillips Sekanick Architects; and Tracie Kaglic, president/architect, Olsavsky Jaminet Architects.
