Personal account from Glen Berry on how his career in architecture and lab design began:

 

"In the summer of 1986, I found myself in a vicious circle.  I had just finished my second year of graduate architecture school, and I wanted to get my first job working in an Architect's office.  But I could not get a job, because I did not have experience, and I could not get experience, because I did not have a job.  I made a list of what I considered to be the top 5 architecture firms in Salt Lake City, Utah.  These included FFKR Architects, Edwards & Daniels, MHT Architects, and two others I don't remember.  I prepared a cover letter and my brief one page resume.  All that I had to show for experience was working for one year in an architectural model shop in Provo, Utah, for Kinateder & Associates, a firm that provided architectural renderings and architectural scale models to Architect & Owner clients.  At the bottom of my resume I listed my birthplace (Burley, Idaho) and my hobby interests.  

 

One of those 5 letters ended up on the desk of Ken Louder, AIA, Principal at FFKR Architects.  Ken happens to be from Twin Falls, Idaho, about 30 miles from Burley, Idaho.  Ken thought "I'll give this fellow Idaho kid a break, and offer him a job."  FFKR had recently received the commission to design the new $25 million Eccles Human Genetics/Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Research Center at the University of Utah.  Part of the scope of work was to build a full scale lab mock-up of a 600 square foot cellular & molecular biology research lab, so that the Principal Investigators could come in and experience the space.  This is the 1986 version of virtual reality.  Ken said "I'll hire you for 3 weeks to build this full scale lab mock-up, $7.50 an hour, no benefits."  "Sold", I said.  And thus started my architectural career and my focus in lab design.  

I started building the lab mock-up out of 2"x4" lumber, and cladding the lumber in white foam core.  The mock-up was inside a rented warehouse.  I built the lab casework, the sink, the chemical fume hood, all at full scale and out of white foam core.  4 weeks later the HHMI investigators stopped by to "kick the tires", along with HHMI corporate Architect, Bob McGhee, from Houston, Texas.  After they made their comments on the design, Ken said to me "OK- now I need you to spend another 3 weeks to make these changes, and they will come back for final review."  I spent another ~3 weeks making the changes to the model.  After that, Ken said "We would like you to come into the office to start working on the project as a design intern."  "OK," I replied.  I started working with a group of 4 licensed Architects (Frank Ferguson, FAIA; Ken Louder, AIA; Mark Wilson, AIA;  and Jim Lewis, AIA), all working on various aspects of the building design.  After about one week of doing free-hand design sketches to present to HHMI in the weekly project meetings, Ken stopped by my desk and said "You are going to be the lab guy on this project.  We want you to focus on the interior design of the lab."  "OK, happy to do that", I said.

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During the summer of 1986 I worked full time on the Eccles/HHMI project.  Most of my work was preparing free hand interior design sketches of the lab for the University to review in the project meetings.  About an hour before the first project meeting, Ken said to me "I would like you to take notes, and prepare the meeting minutes."  "Sure, you bet", I said.  The experience I was getting on that project was priceless.  $7.50 an hour and no benefits, but who cares?  It wasn't about the money, it was about the experience.  In September it was time to go back to the UofU to finish my last year of Architecture School.  I was faced with a dilemma.  Do I go back, and lose out on this amazing experience, or do I postpone my grad school for one year, so that I can continue with this project?  Against the advise of my faculty at the university, I decided to stay at FFKR and work on the Eccles/HHMI project full time, and postpone my school for one year.  "You'll never finish your degree if you wait a year" one of my professors said.  I was a little surprised at their lack of support.  I could see the tremendous opportunity in front of me, and I did not want to let it go.

 

Later that year, due to the major recession we were in, all salaries were cut at FFKR.  My salary went from $7.50 and hour to $7.00 an hour.  But again, it wasn't about the money.  It was about the experience.  I finished the construction documents phase the following summer of 1987, having prepared all of the hard line pencil on paper construction drawings for the interior design of the research labs.  I then went back to school and finished my last year of the Master of Architecture program, graduating in 1988.  I now had a $25 million biomedical research center on my resume, for which I had worked from the beginning of schematic design through the construction documents phase, focusing on the interior design of the research labs.  When I graduated in 1988, Research Facilities Design (RFD) in San Diego, who had provided lab design oversight on the project, was willing to hire a recent architecture grad with a year and a half of experience on a major science building project.  In June of 1988, I loaded all of my personal property into a small U-haul van, and with my young family, moved to San Diego to start working at RFD.  I owe my career to my mentors- Ken Louder, AIA, and Frank Ferguson, FAIA, at FFKR Architects in Salt Lake City;  and Malcolm Barksdale, AIA, and Rick Heinz, FAIA, at RFD in San Diego."

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Since my first job, post-graduation, at RFD in 1988, my architectural lab planning career has been marked by many mentors, some of whom are previous employers, and most of whom are Architect clients that hired me as a lab planning consultant.  Marlene Imirzian, FAIA, in Phoenix, Arizona, has been a long time friend, professional colleague, client, and sponsor for my FAIA application.  And there are many others- Ron Stichler, AIA; Josh Meyer, AIA; Steve Rosenstein, AIA; Kit Ratliff, FAIA; Chuck Davis, FAIA; Scott Shell, FAIA; Mitch Fine, AIA; Bill Leddy, FAIA;  David Neuman, FAIA;  and Boone Hellmann, FAIA. To these, and many others, I express heartfelt thanks and appreciation.”