Colorado Real Estate Journal - March 2, 2016
Homebuilder and Seventeen magazines: Not exactly the typical teenage combination of reading materials on family vacations. Yet it perfectly suited an adolescent Angela M.T. Van Do. “I kind of just knew what I always wanted to do,” said Van Do, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, senior associate at Boulder Associates, who remembers a sixth-grade industrial art class – with concepts that were challenging for her classmates to comprehend but came naturally to her – forming the foundation of her desire to be a part of the design world. Van Do’s natural aptitude for design prompted the New Jersey native to turn her eye to architecture. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in design from Clemson University and earned her Master of Architecture from the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Between degrees, Van Do worked for firms in both New Jersey and in South Carolina that specialized in health care and school design, a niche she found rewarding. But it was hockey that clinched Colorado for her. “My boyfriend, now husband, and I rolled out the map knowing we wanted to go someplace different, someplace out West,” Van Do recalled of their decision to move to Colorado in 2001. At the time, she was finishing graduate school in Knoxville, and he was in South Carolina. “We didn’t want to move to Seattle or Portland – everyone was going there. My husband also is an architect, so we knew we couldn’t go somewhere too small for two architects in the family. It was between Colorado and Arizona. And my requirements were four seasons and a hockey team, so we ended up here. “Unfortunately, I started working at Parkhill Ivins Sept. 4, 2001, and a week later the world changed,” said Van Do, noting that after 9/11 most of the firm’s work – primarily related to entertainment – went on hold. “No one knew if it was ever going to be normal.” One month later, the firm let four employees go, including Van Do. “But I can’t say enough nice things about how they laid me off. It wasn’t a bad separation.” In fact, her time at the firm reinforced her love of and desire to return to health care design. Enter Boulder Associates, which has exclusively specialized in health care and senior living design since its founding in 1983. Van Do joined the firm in December 2001 and has never looked back. “I really enjoy the patient side of health and healing,” said Van Do. “I find designing for health care much more interesting, more complex than non-health care projects. “I like being a part of finding a way to make a space where people go when they are sick better,” she continued. “I like being able to make it a place where people don’t mind going, who are then more likely to get well checks, to stay healthy. I love the whole wellness factor. I enjoy being a part of it, a small kind of way to give back.” Van Do also thrills at the challenge presented by designing for health care projects. “My favorite part is coming back from meetings and synthesizing all the moving parts, putting answers together to make a successful project,” said Van Do. “I’ve learned, probably the hard way several times, to listen to the client, to really hear what they are saying. Not what you want them to say or what you think they are saying but what they are really saying and work to make it a reality. “It is challenging when you have to tell clients that what they want isn’t the right fit for this building or this site because you always want to make clients happy,” she added. “I think the key to my success and Boulder Associates’ success is listening to and acting on behalf our clients, them knowing that I’m on their side.” Van Do also admits her achievements in the industry come from her “slowly” coming to terms with what she is good and not good at. “I would love to say I’m a great designer but that is not my strength,” laughed Van Do. “But it’s about a collaborative team effort, where all our players put a piece in.” The team at Boulder Associates has completed a multitude of projects during Van Do’s years there, including favorites of hers such as HealthSouth Littleton Rehabilitation Hospital and the radiology oncology suite at Littleton Adventist Hospital. Van Do also is very active with American Institute of Architects Colorado, serving in nearly every position, including currently in her second straight year as president. “It’s a little of everything, from events to member outreach,” Van Do said of her work with AIA Colorado. “As president, it’s where the rubber meets the road: in charge of the stewardship of the organization and showing members the value of being part of it.” Van Do also manages to find time to work with Wildlands Restoration, a volunteer-centered organization that arranges ecological restoration projects on Colorado public lands each year, as well as spending time or, as the case may be, going on adventures thought up by her 4-year-old daughter and her husband. And as for one of the reasons Van Do came to Colorado in the first place, she still finds time to catch the puck drop at a hockey game or two. She just happens to be a New Jersey Devils fan