Why "WAKE"

I will try to keep this short, though it is anything but that. 85-90% of my graduate thesis was, arguably, a failure but the 10-15% that was not drastically exceeded my expectations and taught me more about life, design, and architecture than I could have ever imaged. I stubbornly proposed a hypothesis which argued literary ordering principles could influence architectural design and dove head first into various pieces of writing, dissecting and exploring each until arriving at Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce where I spent a little over six months trying to make sense of the text. My final presentation was a combination of architectural theory and design, wrought with questions, tangent conversations, and about four hours of juror interrogation which picked apart both the areas of success and failure in my approach. 

“WAKE” is both a tribute and reminder of that endeavor. A tribute to the exploration undertaken, the novel itself, and lessons learned during that period of time which continue to influence me today. “WAKE” also stands as a reminder to myself and our employees to strive for better as design professional and not fear the unknown, it also represents a promise to our clients that we will forever focus on the “what” in addition to the “how” while demanding active-participation from our work and its inhabitants. Both points I hope to elaborate on in a future post since they stem heavily from James Joyce's work. 

It is for these reasons, as tribute and reminder, and many more that the company is named after Finnegan’s Wake, a book I will happily discuss with all who wish to broach the topic.