SBCC Design Club Panel: "How I Made It" featuring Architect Mark Wienke

The second design professional I am profiling is Architect Mark Wienke.  Wienke is a licensed architect who has worked for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill architectural firm in Chicago and Washington D.C. In 1986 he started his own Design/Build firm with his brother and father in Illinois, where they designed and built custom homes and renovations. In 1988 he relocated to Santa Barbara where he worked for two architectural firms, including Barry Berkus who spoke to the SBCC Design Club last month. In 1998 he started his own architectural practice. His work has appeared on HGTV, and has been published in Home Building Magazine. Mr. Wienke has been a Professor in the UCSB Extension program for Environmental Design, is a past president of the American Institute of Architects, Santa Barbara Chapter, and is a director of the Architectural Foundation in Santa Barbara.

Mark had 7 main points for us students to remember as we pursue design careers that were both comical and important:

1. Keep a portfolio of your work from the beginning and update/edit it as you go.
2. Call and meet architects and designers thereby creating a friend for advice.
3. Consider working part-time for free initially. Work hard but don't talk about how hard you work.
4. Do 3-D computer projects for the experience and for your portfolio. Start small, with a birdhouse for example.
5. Do hand sketching, it’s an important skill.
6. Remember what the BIG IDEA is behind any project, convey it and come back to it through the process.
7. Use English correctly, simplify communication and don’t ramble.

Check out his work below: