We were lucky to catch up with Allyson McCarthy recently and have shared our conversation below.

Allyson, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

Answering a question about my legacy is scary. Throughout my education and career as an architect, design acumen is sought after and drilled into the mind hive as the ultimate sign of success. Our college professors celebrated great design by looking at the works of individuals before us, some were even called “Master Builders”. These design greats were heralded to have inspired architectural movements in the 19th and 20th century similar to artists whose work sit on display in museums. The “Master Builders” constructed the museums holding the art.

In short, there is a history of messaging that to leave a legacy in the architecture profession, one has to be published, won design awards and hired by the most affluent and visible clients.

However, as time has passed, what I register as design success is when my client says, “Thank you for helping me to love my home again”.

When a person, couple or family allows me to enter their most private space, the home, and trusts me to guide them through the stressful process of a home renovation, a happy end user is a sign of success. The accumulation of those success stories build my legacy every day. Having a referral network by word of mouth and personal connections without active marketing, that is a legacy. I am someone clients valued enough to tell friends, family and neighbors to consider me for their own projects.

I am humbled to call that my legacy one day.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?

Since a young age, I’ve enjoyed the arts and sciences. I was also fortunate to travel and experience metropolitan cities such as New York, Boston, Toronto, San Francisco, Paris and Rome. It clicked in high school that being an architect combined those experiences I so enjoyed and led to my decision to study architecture design in college. Four years after graduation, I took the state architecture exam to become licensed and have practiced ever since.

My first 17 years were spent in corporate architecture working on hotels, convention centers, mixed use projects and small commercial projects. One project experience I value is the expansion and renovation of a hotel in Dallas, Texas that is iconic to the city skyline. The firm designed a new hotel tower wing, new lobby, convention hall and exhibition spaces wing.

In 2009, I opened my own practice and 13 years later, I continue to help clients build new or renovate single family residences and small commercial buildings.

What sets me apart from others is that I am a solo architect; my clients only work with me. I don’t hand the work off to an intern so their project receives 30 years of experience from day one of design until the permit to construct is issued. I listen closely to what my clients vision is and provide multiple design concepts based on their end use goals.

While new designs can be exciting to envision, there is something challenging with taking an existing structure and bringing new life to it or restoring it to it’s historic past. I believe my mix of experience between corporate work, residential design and completing new projects as well as renovation projects opens my mind to multiple possibilities of design options and a flexibility that design isn’t a one note solution.

Each client is special and has a unique style that should be understood and embraced by me, the architect entrusted to provide those design services.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

When I graduated from college in 1992, there was a hiring freeze for architects due to a slow economic market. The job I’d been promised was retracted as the company could no longer guarantee work. They were laying off current employees and felt a new hire would be irresponsible. While I did find a job as an architect intern, it paid so little that that I took a second job as a sales clerk working evenings and weekends.

After a year, I decided to head south to find other opportunities. I packed my car, my cat and drove from Connecticut to Atlanta, Georgia with no guaranteed job. I’d heard that the 1996 Olympics had brought more opportunity for architects and took a chance that something would work out for me.

It was not easy, I had to find a place to live with roommates and immediately took another sales job while exploring opportunities in the architecture field. The determination to change my situation led me on a path for future success and taught me to trust my instincts and abilities.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

There are several factors about my practice that are unique and contribute to market reputation. Though, I prefer to say referral network versus market reputation.

First, I’ve thirty years of experience in the industry, half in corporate architecture. My portfolio includes a vast range of project types from single family residence to small commercial to hotel additions with a convention center. I’ve designed for new construction, renovation and historic properties.

As a single employee company, my clients have that knowledge and experience from day one until project completion. I handle all the work from design to construction documents.

Second, as more women have become business leaders, developers and investors, many reach out to work with a female architect. Of course, the client and I have to be the right fit for one another, regardless of gender, but doing a home or business renovation can be a stressful process and clients want to work with the architect who makes them the most comfortable. I’m sensitive to how much my clients share of their personal life and space to create new design concepts. It is important to build and gain trust in such a close working relationship.

Last, I am responsive. Being the only employee and company decision maker, I am reachable and in control of my schedule more than the owner of a larger company. The combination of my experience, size and project portfolio makes me a great fit for smaller projects requiring a licensed architect that larger firms won’t accept or are fee excessive.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.turcomccarthy.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/turcomccarthy
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allyson-mccarthy-aia-leed-ap-79b07a17/