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Profile: Margaret Minor Wood AIA

by BSA staff / August 22, 2011

Name: Margaret Minor Wood AIA
Job title and company: Project director, Pinck & Co. (owner’s project managers)
Degree(s): MArch, Harvard Graduate School of Design; BS in Architecture, University of Virginia

What are you working on now?

A public-school renovation and [an] addition, a private-school dorm, helping several nonprofit clients with a range of capital improvements, trying to figure out how to structure our office for continued growth.

How do you explain to your mom what you do for a living?

I help owners do what they would do if they knew what they were supposed to do. (It’s also a tongue twister.)

What inspired you today?

The weather (a perfect summer day), my children (who helped each other with math this morning while I made lunches) and looking forward to participating in the Lantern Festival at Forest Hills cemetery this evening (which always reminds me of the inspiration I’ve drawn from departed family and friends).

What architectural buzzword would you kill?

Any and all concepts that have become acronyms.

When you’re working, do you discuss or exchange ideas with your colleagues?

Constantly. But because I work in an office with people from a wide range of professional backgrounds, we stay away from politics.

What are you reading?

Best American Essays 2010.

Do you sketch by hand or digitally?

By hand. I’m hoping my kids will teach me how to sketch digitally.

Has your career taken you anywhere you didn’t expect?

“Yes” would be an understatement. I wasn’t even aware the role of owner’s representative or owner’s project manager existed 15 years ago.

Where is the field of architecture headed?

I think architects who are multifaceted and good listeners are going to continue to thrive, but the rest I worry about.

Can design save the world?

Probably, but first we have to teach others to value the unique talents and thinking that architects bring to every task. Architects are their own worst enemies in playing to their strengths.

What do you hope to contribute from your work?

I would like to think I am modeling professional behavior for every client and consultant with whom I work, and that by modeling professional behavior, I am teaching people that true collaboration always creates a better outcome.

Who or what deserves credit for your success?

My husband, who inspires me every day with his intelligence, integrity and high expectations for design and for life.

Your least favorite college class?

Computer programming:  This was back when you printed out your program on cards and ran it on a mainframe. (I realize I’m dating myself.) The interface was absurd.

If you could give the you-of-10-years-ago advice, what would it be?

Your children will survive (and thrive) with two working parents.

Your favorite Boston-area structure?

The Media Lab at MIT. I worked on it for five years at Leers Weinzapfel [Associates] before coming to work for Pinck & Co., and I still think it has the most innovative section of any building around.

Who would you like the BSA to interview next?

Margaret Wigglesworth.

If you were on a late-night TV show, what would your 30-second plug be?

Same way I explain it to my mom but with (unrehearsed) comments from clients added (Candid Camera–style).

If you could sum up your outlook on life in a bumper sticker, what would it say?

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give (with thanks to Winston Churchill).