Let’s face it Gang, 2006 was a psycho year. It was a year of shock therapy for all of us, including me. We had great blessings and climbed insurmountable peaks, from losing all our key people to gaining some of them back. We went from the dissolution of an established partnership to the growing pains of a much better one. We got projects approved which the nay-sayers said “it ain’t gone to happen” in Palm Springs. We struggled among ourselves to find our own voice, while finding new soulmates. We recruited some great clients and outstanding tribal members such as Juju and Dicle, but along the way, we had to kiss a few frogs “good bye” and redefined the notion of a “family”. That is the nature of Esc Arc, always in a state of “flux”, always questioning, holding a mirror to people’s faces and forcing them to conquer their own inadequacies.
Yes, at Esc Arc, we are unique and proud to practice architecture full of passion, song and dance. We are big on dreams and we set about to fulfill them like “it ain’t no big thing”. Proof of that we are the “small train that could” we were just interviewed by Architectural Record for an article to be featured in March. We were just quoted on Met Home Magazine, and to be featured on Dwell, Palm Springs Life (this is getting old), Shelter Magazine and “Modernist Desert Homes” book.
On-going projects vary in scope, from the $60 million “biggest project in Palm Springs since the building of the Airport” to a humble restoration in Coachella, which only pays for our gas and reproduction. We have developed a great roster of clients, many of them “frequent fliers” like Brian Linnekens, College of the Desert, San Bernardino Diocese. We have The Palm Canyon, The Alejo Mixed Use, The new St. Theresa Library, College of the Desert Aquatic Center Conversion, The Balthazoar Steel Home, etc. etc. the list never ends… even a Resort Hotel Tower and Condo Complex in El Salvador's Pacific Coast for the biggest developer in Latin America, Roble and Associates (I know Marco will love this one). We have our first meeting in March. Along the way, we met people who are at the frontier of their own fields and that makes our “architectural journey” more meaningful and worth pursuing.
And of course, Esc Arc’s baby, the AROH School in Uganda East Africa… No need for words. Great client, great cause and most importantly, it is the sum of experiences and desires, it is what architecture should be about. Improving people’s lives by improving the built environment, and having a great time while doing it.
Hey Slackers, there are a lot of greater things to come, so hold on tight to your seats
Ana