A Calling Fulfilled

by Jonathan McGaha | February 29, 2016 12:00 am

A love of history and architecture drives architect Kathryn Crockett’s work

 

Everyone takes a different career path to get to where they’re meant to be. While some people know from an early age what they want to do with their life and aim right for it, others take a more roundabout path to arrive in their chosen career. While it took awhile for Kathryn Crockett, AIA, LEED AP, vice president of Lamoureux Pagano Associates[1] in Worcester, Mass., to become an architect, she says she has always had an innate interest in architecture that has driven her life and career.

 

Early Inspiration

Growing up, Crockett moved around a lot with her family. Since her parents were always looking at house plans, she says she used to pick up books of house plans, and before long, started developing her own plans.

It was Crockett’s father, an engineer with General Electric, who recognized her interest in architecture early on, setting her up with a little drawing board and T-square. Her mother, on the other hand, instilled in her a love of history, taking her to tour historical houses.

Crockett attended college at Mount Holyoke in South Hadley, Mass., where she got a Liberal Arts degree in American Studies. While her interest was always in architecture, she says there really wasn’t an outlet for her at the time. She ended up channeling that interest towards preservation architecture, which led to a career working in cultural museums.

 

Changing Directions

After realizing she wasn’t feeling fulfilled in her career, Crockett decided to circle back to architecture and pursued a degree at the Boston Architectural Center (now called the Boston Architectural College[2]). The school’s work-study program allowed her to attend classes at night while working at Lamoureux Pagano Associates as an intern during the day.

The program was a great asset for Crockett, providing her a hands-on career. “I was learning about it in the classroom and practicing it in the workplace,” she says. “And the people that I worked with here were tremendously supportive and I was able to develop skills and leverage them into the position that I have now.”

Over the years, Crockett’s responsibilities grew at the firm, becoming a registered architect, principal and now vice president. While she’s taking on more management responsibilities, Crockett says she views them as having a design component. “I think it’s challenging to see various assets of management and think creatively about how to make these different issues evolve-financial, personnel, getting more work,” she explains. “That kind of goes to my own diverse background, and I enjoy that.”

 

Historical and Cultural Inspiration

Crockett brings her interest in history and preservation to the projects she works on. “I have a unique approach to architecture,” Crockett says. “I don’t have only a strictly architecture background so I bring a different dimension to projects because of my diverse education and set of interests.”

Projects with a historical component really resonate with Crockett. She enjoys digging deep into projects, looking at the site and the project and thinking about where it evolved from and where it is going. Over the years Crockett has developed a strong expertise in programming, which she attributes to her interest in the cultural aspect of architecture.

Additionally, Crockett says she’s very interested in the role of architecture within the cultural landscape. Specifically, how architecture affects people, and how we affect patterns of living, with the goal of hopefully improving things. For instance, she explains, how does architecture address the cultural aspects of our society and our communities?

 

Arch Connect What kind of music do you listen to? I love a wide variety of music. I have, of late, really become interested in classical music and find it to be really inspiring and relaxing, but I also love women musicians that have a really strong point of view, and almost an earthy way of singing, like Carole King or Bonnie Raitt. What do you do on weekends? I absolutely love gardening. Gardening is a huge hobby of mine, and I think it is a counterpoint to what I do day to day at work in that I do it sort of quietly by myself, I’m not working with a lot of people. It’s a small thing I can nurture and control, rather than a big item. So I really love gardening. My family really loves good food and food that is taken from the garden and cooked. We get great pleasure from that. What is your favorite book? I like just about any book; I love to read. What’s your favorite app on your phone or tablet? I don’t have one yet, since I just got a Microsoft Surface Pro. Where is your favorite place to vacation? I have one daughter, and my husband and I live in a rural area. My husband, who’s a blacksmith, built our house. We have a little acreage and we do a bit of farming. We love where we live and being a part of that community. And that’s really how I like to spend my free time, and even vacations. To me, going home is like a vacation.

Metal Inspiration

Crockett says the firm looks to metal for a variety of reasons, including it is a readily available product with contractors who can erect it well and work with it. “We especially like to use metal for a contemporary look for a building, to give it a less traditional look than you often find in New England, where we’re really a brick-and-mortar area,” she says.

“Metal is a tremendously flexible product for us,” Crockett says. She notes that the firm works in curves a lot, so there are opportunities with metal that aren’t always the case with other materials. “We like the finished opportunities for it,” she adds.

Additionally, the fact that metal often ends up being a relatively economical product for projects is a factor, she notes.

 

Community Involvement

A moderate-sized firm in the New England area, Lamoureux Pagano Associates has been around for 40 years and has 19 staff members. With a very diverse portfolio, the company prides itself on the number of repeat clients it has had over the years.

It encourages its staff members to be involved in the community. “Because we are rooted here, we want to give back to the community that’s given us work,” Crockett says. “We see that as a cycle that’s important, so we really encourage people to be involved, and I was encouraged at an early point to do that.”

Crockett is a past president of the Massachusetts AIA, and a former board member and president of the Central Massachusetts AIA. She was also president of the Mechanics Hall Association[3], and serves on the advisory board for the architectural technology program at Fitchburg State University[4].

When she became president at Mechanics Hall, Crockett says it gave her the opportunity to develop leadership skills outside of the office. “I believe that is something that I have transferred to my position here,” she says. “I learned a tremendous amount through that [experience].”

While her career took a bit of a turn before eventually settling into the role of architect, Crockett says she feels like she’s in the right place. “I have never questioned am I in the right career, which is a fabulous place to be,” she says. “And I don’t think about what else I could be doing because I’ve already done that and I wasn’t fulfilled. So I have that as a comparison. I think that’s actually a good life experience.”

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