Building Dialogue

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18 / BUILDING DIALOGUE / JUNE 2015
A fter graduating from architecture school
during the depths of the recession, I
embarked on a job tour analogous with
that of an aspiring musician. With my demo
in hand (i.e., portfolio) and a list of venues (i.e.,
firms) from which I hoped to draw an audience,
I set off to explore dynamic venues that might
serve as the launching point for my architectural
career.
Along my magical mystery tour, I found myself
escaping New York’s corporate malaise on a day-
trip to Princeton, New Jersey. Pulling up to the first
in a series of quaint rowhouses on an idyllic street, I
met my friend Paul, a fellow Syracuse Architecture
alum and current young architect working for Mi-
chael Graves Architecture & Design.
Over the course of several hours, Paul walked me
through the firm’s urban planning, architecture,
and product design studios. People were friendly.
The wood floors creaked in a familiar way when
you walked from room to room, studio to studio.
Despite the firm’s international brand power and
clients including Target, Disney and Alessi, the resi-
dential feel of the office, complete with pets, patios,
and Graves’ sig-
nature post-mod-
ern flourishes
(a column here,
a square window
there) felt as if I’d
walked into anoth-
er world, created
by and for Michael
Graves, in which all
aspects of life might
be viewed through a
lens of pastels and ge-
ometries, both sooth-
ing and rational in
their treatment and ex-
pression.
At the culmination of our tour, I met Graves,
painting while seated in his wheelchair in the prod-
uct design studio. Rather than preside in a corner
office, Graves had settled at an informal space in
an open room, facing a wall covered by other pas-
tel paintings he had created. These paintings would
later be reproduced and featured in the lobbies and
Beth R.
Mosenthal
Assoc. AIA,
LEED AP
BD+C,
Associate,
Gensler
Creative Content
Michael Graves
Photos courtesy Michael Graves Architecture & Design 2015
Michael Graves and Sara