4 minute read
YOU SHOULD KNOW
YOU SHOULD KNOW
Lauren Siler
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ESa architect shares views regarding Nashville’s community of young designers
LAUREN SILER was lucky to have achieved one of two childhood goals.
Siler, a design manager and architect with Nashville-based Earl Swensson Associates, considered as a second grader a college career focused both on playing basketball for the late and legendary Pat Summitt and studying architecture at the University of Tennessee. As a young adult, she was not afforded a shot at the former, so she focused on the latter, eventually graduating from UT in 2012 with a degree in architecture.
“While my dreams of playing for [the Lady Vols] were short lived, I did stick to my second choice,” says Siler, now 33 and a project designer at ESa. “I have always been interested in how things are put together and how space — both built and in nature — affects how we feel and interact with others.”
On the UT note, Siler is married to a fellow Tennessee graduate, Jake Siler, who also holds a degree in architecture from UT and now works as a contractor. She says the overall vibe — in terms of camaraderie, familiarity, etc. — between the community of the city’s younger architects is strong.
“The architecture and design community is pretty connected and often a small world of knowing or knowing of many people in the profession,” explains Siler, who has been with ESa since 2017. “Many of the 39-and-under architects in town went to school together, have worked with one another at some point at the many different firms, are friends of friends or are dating/ married. Our schooling often results in some great friendships from long hours in the architecture building working on projects and a smaller class size throughout the time we are in school.”
On this theme, many Nashville architects, and particularly the younger ones, attended either Tennessee or Auburn University.
“A lot of that has to do with the fact not all universities or colleges offer a National Architectural Accrediting Board-accredited professional degree in architecture,” Siler says. “[The state of] Tennessee currently has two programs, one at UT-Knoxville and one at the University of Memphis. Belmont is currently adding the degree to its
lineup and will be the first in Middle Tennessee. Most of the surrounding states have only one or two accredited schools of architecture. This heavily limits how many architects you can know from di erent schools.”
And since many of the local young architects (and older ones, too) know each other well, they have a feel for the thoughts, styles and approaches of their peers.
“The growth Nashville is seeing is a big factor that draws a large number of younger architects to our city,” Siler says. “Where there is growth, there is opportunity for design. There are lots of unique and challenging jobs and some great firms to be a part of. The 20plus cranes that could be seen from my o ce desk this past winter are always a great sight in our minds. But as architects and designers, we need to be good stewards of the many projects we are seeing. Growth is great, but planned and well-executed projects that will withstand the test of time are key to a healthy and vibrant city.”
Siler specializes in designing of health care buildings, having worked on six major such projects for ESa. She says designers of health 'The 20-plus cranes that could be seen from my o ce desk this past winter are always a great sight in our minds. But as architects and designers, we need to be good stewards of the many projects we are seeing.'
care facilities have a responsibility to make those places and spaces as inviting and comfortable for users as possible.
“We design spaces where families wait during long surgeries, where patients spend many days and nights recovering, where oncology patients go for treatment, where babies are born, where doctors perform lifesaving procedures and where many people get sometimes great and sometimes devastating news,” notes Siler, who lists the Music City Center and Thompson Nashville hotel among her favorite recently designed local buildings for which ESa was not involved. “These buildings, while often intimidating, can be designed to welcome everyone and provide a little bit of peace and order during an often hectic life experience. As a health care architect, we get to help shape those experiences.”
Siler contends Nashville’s younger architects have lots to learn from the local design sector’s old guard.
“Nashville is seeing a lot of great, wellknown names of some key design firms in the city pass the torch to the next generation of leaders,” she says. “I believe it is very important that we keep their legacy alive, both in design and business. They have established the great architecture community that we have here and laid the groundwork for the Nashville design community to continue to thrive.” > WILLIAM WILLIAMS
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