This post is part of the ArchiTalks series where a group of us (architects who also blog) all post on the same day and promote each other’s blogs. The Topic ‘Leader’ for this post ‘My first interview’ is Eric Faulkner.

Well I’m getting on a bit now and I can’t honestly remember my very first interview but I have a couple of anecdotes that would fall into this category that may be of interest…:

• The topic for my post-grad thesis was ‘Teaching Computer Aided Design (CAD) to Architects’ and as part of this I had to undertake search into the architects that were using the same software that I was teaching on (GABLE) nb You can read more about GABLE HERE. One of these architects was the world renowned practice Ian Ritchie Architects who designed the Spire in Dublin.

By User:Vmenkov – Self-photographed, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3035872

I guess this would have been around 1988 or so and the questions I posed were answered by one of the staff (Ian Ritchie funnily enough turned up to the office on roller-blades as I remember).

During my interview I was asked whether I know how to create geodesic structures using GABLE; the software ironically found it hard to do gable walls and I had no idea of the complexity of creating the geodesic geometries.

Looking at Ian Ritchie website now, I wonder if the geodesics were to be used on the Louvre Sculpture Courts, who knows?

• So here’s a great bit of advice for students. Don’t go to an interview where your body of portfolio work is absolutely nothing like the work the practice is doing.

This happened to me when I was interviewed by another world famous name in architecture: Hopkins Architects.

I was practically minded as a student and erred on the boring side of practical. Something that I wish I’d had the courage to challenge as a student and it’s my goal now whilst lecturing to encourage students to push their boundaries and imaginations. The work that Hopkins Architects were undertaking at the time (in the early 90’s) were the exact opposite and included projects such as The Mound Stand at Lords Cricket Ground

What I might do is post a little later on my last interview – which surprisingly, wasn’t that long ago…

Below are links for how other ‘Architalkers’ have interpreted this theme:

Eric T. Faulkner – Rock Talk (@wishingrockhome)
Interview — Nervous Energy

Jim Mehaffey – Yeoman Architect (@jamesmehaffey)
My First Job Interview

Michele Grace Hottel – Michele Grace Hottel, Architect (@mghottel)
“my first interview”

Brian Paletz – The Emerging Architect (@bpaletz)
My First Interview – Again

Larry Lucas – Lucas Sustainable, PLLC (@LarryLucasArch)
My First Interview That Reconnected Me to the Past

Anne Lebo – The Treehouse (@anneaganlebo)
My First Interview

Ben Norkin – Hyperfine Architecture (-)
My First Interview – Your Next Interview