[MUSIC] Hi! I had an opportunity not too long ago to guide my students through a design exercise. As an interior design professor it's always good to be presenting new challenges and presenting new restrictions and giving them the opportunity to flourish in that environment. I had an opportunity to present a new project to them that included some industry partners and really brought out the best from them. And in that process, I learned a lot about what I was looking for, from them and kind of nurturing that, created inspiration within them. The sequence of thoughts that went into my creative process, I'm always hesitant to say that it started with a spark. That it was that moment, because there's all those moments that lead up to that moment. But I had been aware of this interest in the community, in this sort of finely grained historic region. And also sort of, it was a coming together of a couple of different interests, a couple of different things that has been sort of on my radar peripherally. And, I had the opportunity. I was actually just driving downtown one time and I sort of looked at these buildings and I said what if we put things, buildings, on top of them and it sparked a memory of an article that I had read a while ago about the way this is being done in Europe. And that these types, where the buildings have a rich historic character, but they're also trying to generate more square footage that can generate more leaseable space. And that, anyway. So that was sort of the genesis of it, and then the rubber met the road, and it was how do we actually implement something like this, and who do we partner with, and how do I find those people. So it was really, calling the, going through the contact list and trying to find who it was that I could draw from that would have some connection with the neighborhood, and some connection with the topic. And there was also a little bit of a requirement that the students had for accessibility within the space. So they had to be able to accommodate somebody that was had mobility impairment. So it was how many of these layers of restrictions can I pile on the students before they break kind of thing too. So there was a little bit of that. But yeah, I mean it was great, so when I finally had the opportunity to meet with our industry partner. They were very, very warm, very receptive to the whole idea of doing the project and they actually came in and helped out with the studio desk crits, the desk reviews the students were doing and they were very engaged, very excited about the whole thing. And it was, it ended up just being great opportunity, and from my point of view, I got to watch it and saying well. This all started from just a couple of things that had been floating around in my radar that I brought together, and so that was really rewarding part of it. So I consider it a creative outcome, because there was new coming from it, there was a sense of new, you're looking at the history and you're taking these various other factors and you're grafting it all together, and you're making something that has a new life, a new energy around it. I would describe my creative mindset in much the same way as I try to hopefully foster it with my students. And that is to really leave no stone unturned to take every opportunity to maybe link things that are, like I said, that aren't otherwise linked so that you bring together these various other pieces, bring together various other people that each have their own energy and their own interests and their own passions. So it made me proud. Well, there's a variety of factors of why it made me proud. I'm a new faculty, and so it was, this is my fledgling opportunity to really craft a project for these students and to give them the opportunity to explore what their passions are and what they're interested in so in a way it was my first taste of giving back, of that opportunity. But I'm also really proud of it because of Because of the fact that it was something that allowed the opportunity to take a new look at something that people had passed by for so long. So, it isn't until, as designers, it isn't until you really stop and look and explore a problem and an opportunity, which are the same most of the time, that you really are paying attention. That you're really open to what opportunities are there and what solutions may then be generated from that. [MUSIC]