Meet Facilitec’s talented chief architect, David Collins, and learn about his commercial interiors design career, view on workspace design trends and secrets to project success.
Born in Harrogate, Tennessee, David grew up on the campus of Lincoln Memorial University, where his father was the Business Manager. He received his architectural degree from the University of Tennessee and spent the next ten years in New York City, where he worked for several architectural firms, including an extended stint at HOK, and directed large-scale interior relocations for numerous clients. In 1994, he moved to Atlanta. Currently, with more than 30 years of experience designing a wide variety of corporate spaces, he leads Facilitec’s architectural team and manages the quality control of each project to maintain Facilitec’s highest standards of excellence and ensure client satisfaction.
A: I was influenced in architectural design because it combined my interests in both art and science. I was drawn to commercial interiors over buildings because when I first started out in architecture, I worked on a large commercial interiors project for AT&T. I realized this involved much more close contact with the client and the actual people using the space than doing the shell architecture. This was a path where I could really affect people’s lives in an intimate way and make a difference in their total workplace experience.
A: My first job during college was with the University of Tennessee Agricultural Engineering Department where I designed “waste-management” facilities and swine research structures. I always say, when you start off designing for pigs, there’s nowhere to go but up.
Important client considerations:
1. How do you perform your work? What tasks do you perform?
2. How and how often to you meet?
3. How do you work – in teams or individually?
and why?
A: Personal workplaces are getting smaller with the need for less storage of paper and reference materials. However, the space gained from reducing personal workspace is now being redistributed to common areas where employees can meet and collaborate or get away from their desk to work in a different environment.
A: We recently completed a project for the State of Georgia Vital Records headquarters. Here, we moved the employees to smaller workspaces while providing common areas for small groups to meet or have private conversations. This space also made extensive use of glass to provide not only an open environment but also to allow light to flood all areas of the workplace.
A: I did have a project once that had to accommodate two full-size taxidermy deer in the lobby.