Date Posted: 08.31.2018
Student interns are an important part of the culture at Mithun. In fact, five of our current partners started their careers as interns at the firm! While they’re here, students gain a first-hand perspective of the field while working as part of our interdisciplinary design teams on projects spanning housing, education, cultural and workplace typologies. Weekly activities include design explorations, renderings, marketing, research, shadowing, site visits and client meetings, as well as office enrichment like the Mithun Open golf tournament, Mithuniversity continuing education and afternoon Creative Series.
This year, we’ve been fortunate to work with Rosemarie Gregoire, David Morgan and Molly Spetalnick (left to right in photo) in our office on Pier 56. We recently sat down to talk about their inspirations and dream projects. Here’s what they had to say:
ROSEMARIE GREGOIRE
Hometown: Rochester, MN
Academic Pursuit: Working toward a Master of Architecture at the University of Washington
How do you take your coffee? “Latte”
Rosemarie grew up in the hometown of the Mayo Clinic and her whole family is in the medical field, so “improving the quality of living for other people has always been important.” She became interested in how design can improve everyday life at different scales, “from microbes to buildings,” and was set on architecture after her first semester of design courses. While at Mithun, Rosemarie has enjoyed exploring technology (particularly the 3D printer) and the various steps of the design process, including charrettes, design dialogue and the general collaboration that is so ingrained in our culture.
Her dream project would be to design a community center in her hometown. She’s drawn to the exciting challenge of carefully thinking about the different kinds of people that create the Rochester community and what would be impactful to them in their diverse lifestyles.
The highlight of the summer for Rosemarie was adopting a cat named Olive from a Bellevue shelter. Olive is an everyday highlight, and Rosemarie can now add cat photography to her resume.
DAVID MORGAN
Hometown: Seattle, WA, by way of Houston and Atlanta
Academic Pursuits: Working toward a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture at the University of Washington
How do you take your coffee? “I simply prefer a tall glass of iced water.”
David was inspired to pursue architecture due to his love of art, design expression and mathematics. While in high school, he participated in the ACE Mentor Program, leading him to an internship with Mithun. He’s now finishing his third summer at Pier 56! David is passionate about architecture’s role in problem solving for a variety of world and community issues, including homelessness, agriculture and energy.
His dream is to design a center for clean energy production that would “help reverse some of the negative impacts humans have on our planet” and also serve as a gathering place for the community. The highlight of David’s summer was a site visit to the Liberty Bank Building construction site with Doug Leigh. Having worked on the project in the office, then experiencing what he had been working on first hand was “an eye-opening learning experience.” Putting design aside, David is passionate about the outdoors, loves thrill-seeking activities and lives for music.
MOLLY SPETALNICK
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
Academic Pursuits: Working toward a Master of Architecture at University of Texas at Austin
How do you take your coffee? “Ideally on top of a mountain”
Molly’s experience with theatrical design sparked her love of designing and building spaces. “Once I had the taste for the emergence of an idea into physical reality, I was hooked.” Notably, Molly’s design journey spans disciplines, from interior design to landscape design and currently architecture. Her interest in finding opportunities to improve the urban condition at the intersection of architecture and landscape architecture led her to Mithun’s interdisciplinary practice.
Her dream project is something that “addresses community needs, and uses the building and its connections as an educational opportunity to expose environmental stewardship.” As a long-time sport climber, the highlight of Molly’s summer was leading her first “trad” climb (short for traditional climbing, when you place your own protection as you climb rather than using bolts that have already been placed) in Index, WA. Molly loves to be outside, and it’s evident in her commitment to design that positively impacts our environment.
the next phase
We’re excited to see the trajectories of Rosemarie, David and Molly as they continue their studies and begin their careers. If we’re fortunate, they may land back in our Seattle or San Francisco offices, as many of our past student interns have. In the meantime, we hope we’ve added a few tools to their belts along the way!
