places into happy spaces and yet no not just me i have a guest but before we get started you know we're going to do on the dr joyce show we're going to take it down with the breaths are you ready in ha inhale exhale of transforming your space into a better place i have a guy for you welcome to the dr joy show reginald thomas may i call you ready pleased ok so let me just talk a little bit about you from my view is his work spans new york new jersey and regine no thomas has garnered over twenty years experience working with a diverse group of this thing wished architectural design firms in new york city he is all over i'll just say that so we're going to jump right into it so when i why did you come decide to become an architect i think i know that answer because you are and enjoy living show but i want my viewers to know well over was when to be an architect my first designs were done i was in sixth grade and don't leave references i had were television shows of the time like the brady bunch or some other wanted me to get to live in the four it was too late well that's cool they are really not happening in your case because you are doing quite well for yourself thank you so continue on with the a story wh architecture mean to you oh architecture is life it is the it is the three d manifestation of everything that a human being has been able to believe and a ccomplished in the last twenty five hundred years it is our personal expression of who we are and what we think and what we believe for a short answer that's ok so this is been your dreams this sixth grade right absolutely and i know we're going to get into some before and afters but we're going to make the viewers wait not a prior so but let's talk about some of the challenges to how many architects are there i mean there's there's a plethora of them out there but well the process to get there is pretty hard right absolutely let's say you want to share it's five years undergrad now and two years grad in order to earn a architect during my day it was besides all of those prerequisites it was so twelve section exam one of which takes twelve hours to do yeah the last most important part which is designing a building as a sure you see my face yes i see so you had twelve sections you had debts it was it was it was nine sections really but i had twelve hours to do one section  want to broach into this arena so what is some of you have any advice for them or absolutely you know the advantage that i had was were were to falls one if you know you are want to be an architect you can start early there are you've already started you're already ahead of the game so you know what you want to do because it takes an incredible amount of dedication there are several books that if you you know afterwards i would recommend that as a young architect you read these books and you'll be even further ahead of the game and then internships very important how hard are they to to get they're always challenging there's but there are a lot of big firms now the economy's doing well and so while they may be challenging they should be a more readily available and look you're working for the summer if you're able to get a paid or unpaid internship just get the experience you know value in school and it will help you have the experience in your resume so we'll come out and be able to get a job very quickly so now let's talk about some challenges that you had to try to achieve your dream or wow there  and i have the you know the good fortune during college to have two mentors i went to a historically black college i had one was richard late max bond who had a firm in new york called bonnie james i had the fortune of working with him for many years during the exact thing internships which helped me in college and during my instruction and helped me have two words with jobs also help me over the christmas break oh there you were christmas break to i worked as often as i could so architecture art construction all go hand in hand absolutely there was a time when they were one in the same an architect otherwise known as a master builder did all the things that have now been separated into design for energy design construction  model of my firm on that old mentality basically as an architect you should be able to do all of those things the better you are able to do those things including last before protector the better your spaces will be tied to urban fabric tied to the human being one of my favorite books is called the pattern language and it takes it from a regional perspective down to the tiles on your table i did amazing watched that building from my terrace and we actually visit their town would go and so it was sort of in those ironic that i would become an architect and end up working on one of the that project as didn't new addition yeah that's an iconic building and all i'm ready to say this is what i'm talking about you guys i did say that he was world famous now you know all right so wow that's pretty impressive yes but now can we take it down from those iconic spaces to a person's home absolutely ok dares him mean for me there is no i mean people will say this is there's no difference you begin to really understand who your client is where they come from what their background is so you ask questions of how do you enjoy your space how do you worship what is your detailed out visually here able to as as you know few questions possible but also for me to absolutely have answers for them so you have to go through an assessment process to find out really what your clients all about they're like this like absolutely that's right i even trust ok i'll usually come to but they'll see what i'm going to get sell even if they don't come with me i have i do all the specifications with catalogue cuts with a cork i will cut and basically you see every piece of furniture every you get a sample of every piece of tile that goes into your house for you or for your approval wow wow so what matters most to you in design that my clients are happy idea that ten years from now this is not a space that you want i want you to actually look at this what the space time designing and i want to grow on you as the years go so that even after ten years you're going this is a beautiful working on the floor boards in a particular space and as you can see it was very rough very intricate work only one god working at a time why is there because the place is very small  and this is the after that looks like a teeny tiny space there well you see where these cabinets are yeah right behind this gentleman right so who is your favorite architect wow i have a few one of them is paul williams obviously a magician before frank lloyd wright despite many controversial issues is still one of my favorites love these these types of design and you peter marino and you take from the from these folks and incorporate them into your design learn from the masters you learn from the masses i want to read a fact here according to what merriam webster architects work in the construction industry designing new buildings restoring and conserving old buildings and developing new ways of using existing buildings  done that yes they are involved in construction projects from their earliest stages right through to completion preparing and presenting design proposals to clients so how do do specifically reginald l thomas a transform spaces into happy places what is your process and that's part one and then p what i'm doing ok as you know i'm also a developer so there are i take all places in historic spaces and basically take their old bones and reinvent them so that they appeal to the modern buyer that's using now that's one area where i'm the actual client i know what it's supposed to look like i replace you know  old and part of program all fixtures and breathing apparatuses which we call plumbing and electrical and then make it modern so that we when i'm dealing with a client i did extensive programming process where i ask a lot of questions i take them a lot of places so that we come down to what is supposed to be and then like i said there's no small projects i use plants to and three dimensional drawing part of all those decisions that i would tell you trust me i would expect you to also prove despite my mind of central so this is why three d modeling is great because now allows you to actually sense you get to hold on to your building soon looks like and it doesn't take that long for you to understand what it is i'm trying to explain or draw so you as an architect to do you have a lot of patience i take it of course oh yes oh corner of the room actually meet the ceiling appropriately is that wall street the contractor and myself being a licensed contractor as well does that meet the standards of what i would want to do  also being safe for my client other going to be happy in the end because you're still with the when you say save you also have to contend with the building codes in the in specs in absolutely because those folks the they're there as a double check for me although you know you want to make sure that you're listening you've done all homework by then right and by doing that and understanding that there's a job you make it less prickly it's a team you want to make it all make it all teamwork make it all value as teamwork and i've usually had no problem with even even the toughest of inspectors and i've had some tough ones real prickly real  too is that when a contractor is hired yes to do a project yes and they tell you that it's going to take x number of weeks months or whatever and they start you know and then they go away  then they come back and then they go away and they combat does your firm do that no we don't just ok that's good because because that is so annoying that you know i have my steps ripped up and you said you were coming back on wednesday and now it's saturday and you're not back what i just want my stuff done so i'm sure everybody can resonate with that yes we don't know so you you give a real timeline you someone you stick to wit building one home this was an apartment in new york and all of that this is before the before basically this is before entrance into the living room at the end of this  looks like a pretty decent but i had the privilege of seeing what the after looks like and i'll show it to the viewers now ok now that's not the same space oh yes oh wow brave to scare you sometimes is that you know scale is very important you don't want to space to be too big or too small you want to be perfect and the only way your client knows that use an architect is when you walk in and you feel comfortable all my goodness oh my so what are these doors here reg what is that well these are actually this is the there were in this particular case they were french polish mahogany doors where i actually built them from scratch there they the reason the the great thing about these doors is that one pattern you see on the front is different on the back so the proportions for this door fit the living room and if you are in a pocket it doors as around our holidays we want items done by christmas and thanksgiving and those things well that's ok since you brought that up if if a client wants something done by christmas when should they contact you to ensure that is construction time in the building permits ok and since this is inside we don't have to deal with weather conditions outside so what do you hope to achieve over the next two years or five years two years and then five years i know i that ok so but then what would you have the choice though to say no true but i don't think there's anything else i would wear that i hear because this is your passion yes and there's a lovely thing so now where can my view is reach you dot com and will get back to you possible if not right away is so you have clients in new york in new jersey currently just what i need i need some work done so can you can you kind of the hook me up a yeah ok well you'll see you'll see everything takes care time and attention and that's what we do ok well thank you for being a guest on the dr joy show and talking about transforming spaces into happy places thank you for and i wish you much success in your future thank you very much ok so you want to transform your space into a happy place you contact my guest that was here today and till next time be blessed stay healthy