Friday, September 28, 2012

Student Interview: Kevin Diamond!

Next up in our interview series is Kevin Diamond, a first year student hailing from Stewartsville, New Jersey.  Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Kevin!


QUESTION: What were you doing before you started school?
KEVIN: Working for an architecture and engineering firm in Hickory, North Carolina doing design for military bases.  I was in charge of detailing.  It was a cool job, but didn't really offer opportunity for creativity, since the client was the military.  

Q: If you could visit one piece of architecture, what would it be?
Kevin: Chicken point cabin, by Tom Kundig. I really like how he engages the site and his choice of materials.  I also like the scale of the project and how he connects you to nature using industrial materials.  Really interested in how he makes industrial materials very normal and warm, one with nature.



Q: What's your favorite tool in the shop? 
Kevin: Oh man, the band saw.  That’s really the only tool I know how to use and I’m freaking awesome at it. 

Q: What was the last thing you cut on the laser cutter?
Kevin: A piece of plexi for my painstaking Charleston city model…

Q: What's a class you’re excited about taking in the future? 
Kevin: Structures.  That was one of my favorite classes at App State, everything I was exposed to then really interested me.  The structural side of architecture, the engineering side of it really interests me.  I can’t wait to learn about it.

Q: What's your preferred method of procrastination?
Kevin: Ah.  It’s very involved. It’s a whole process.  I stare off a lot and think of very unrelated things, I’m a day dreamer.  I sometimes just leave to try and find inspiration to motivate me to get back to do things.  While I’m gone there’s really no telling.  Sometimes I go home and play some music, which gets me back into thinking about order and creativity. 

Q: Do you have any hidden talents?
Kevin: I’m not sure it's a hidden talent, but I am a pianist.  I play piano at a hotel in Chapel Hill three hours a week.  It’s the perfect studio job because it doesn’t require that many hours and I'm doing something that completely relaxes me.  Piano gets me away from work, lets me take a step back and think about creativity, as I'm creating things audibly instead of visually.

Q: Auto-cad, revit or illustrator for plans?
Kevin: Auto-cad. 

Q: What's your favorite non-architecture book?
Kevin: The Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell. 

Q: Favorite architecture book?
Kevin: Pamphlet Architecture 16, Elizabeth Martin.  When I'm sitting on my porch, want quick inspiration, it’s there.

Q: If you could work for one architect living or dead, who would it be?
Kevin: Santiago Calatrava + Bryan McKay Lyons 



Thanks so much, Kevin!  
-AGSA

ps. Do you have a suggestion for the next student interview?  Write it in the comments or email us at ncsu.agsa@gmail.com!




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