Bob Clark Beyond: Inspiration

latest inspiration posts

January's Featured Architect: Mario Botta

Two architects that altered the way I think about design and buildings are Eero Saarinen and Mario Botta. Both have a striking shift in the paradigm of what buildings can do to change the very way we think about our everyday surroundings. Botta was born in Switzerland in 1943 and attended a high school for the arts in Milan before going to study architecture at the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia in Venice, graduating in 1969. While he was living in Venice, he had the opportunity to work for Louis Kahn Carlo Scarpa, and Le Corbusier, who influenced his work greatly. Shortly after finishing his studies, Botta founded his own practice in Mendrisio, Switzerland.

A Promised Land by Barack Obama

There has been a lot of press following the release of Barack Obama’s presidential memoirs. Many of the reviews point out how much our former President reveals his humanity in A Promised Land — the hefty volume that is only part one of two. The book is regarded as a beautifully-written, intimate and in-depth look into his youth and career in the years leading up to the presidency, followed by his first 2.5 years in office. It has been said to inspire us Americans to believe in ourselves and our democracy again and to encourage young people that they can make a difference where it is needed most. This is all true, yet this book is so much more than that. Obama was a leader who inspired me and others to see ourselves as a change agent for a more promising and more perfect union.

Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella

I recently reacquainted myself with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s book Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone. It is required reading for my senior team. Nadella sums up the book perfectly when he writes: “This is a book about transformation.” It is about the transformation that Microsoft is undergoing with Nadella at the helm, but it is also about how Nadella himself has been transformed in the process, and his philosophy that one of the most important human qualities is empathy. Empathy, Nadella insists, is at the heart of how companies, society, and individuals must transform. The book is written in three main sections: his early life and journey to Microsoft, the story of Microsoft’s transformation-in-progress, and his views on technology and the future. One thing I appreciate is that Nadella wanted to write the book now, while everything is happening, so that the reader can share in the story alongside him, rather than looking back in retrospect. He wants it to be a picture of the mess, not the final product. This is the reality of having a significant leadership role in a company — it is always a work in progress with many obstacles to overcome and things to improve. Nadella shows this magnificently. It’s also written in a way that is really simple to digest and tames the complexity of subjects like the cloud and artificial intelligence for the average person.

December's Featured Architect: Jeanne Gang

Architect Jeanne Gang, who was named Time Magazine’s most influential architect in 2019, deserves recognition for both her incredible designs and her work in raising awareness about ecological issues in the industry. Gang hails from Belvedere, Illinois, and went on to study architecture at the University of Illinois followed by studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Like some of the most talented architects in the world, she worked with Rem Koolhaas at OMA in Rotterdam and then founded her own firm in Chicago—Studio Gang—in 1997. Gang has been designing award-winning cultural centers, public projects, and other buildings since she founded her firm. Some of her most unique works are Aqua Tower in Chicago, the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Mira in San Francisco, and The Writer’s Theater in Glencoe, Illinois. She is also designing the prestigious Global Terminal at Chicago O’Hare International Airport that Clayco, in partnership with AECOM, is helping to build; it is truly a thing to behold. It is important to Gang to design places that connect people with their environment and she is inspired by ecological systems, both in her design as well as her building techniques. She is also active in research and exhibitions that raise public awareness about ecologically-friendly practices and closing the gender wage gap in architecture and design. Gang believes that cities and buildings can coexist with nature in sustainable and sensitive ways. Her activism, as it relates to architecture, stems from her belief that architecture is not just a “wondrous object,” but a “catalyst for change.” She calls this “actionable idealism.”

The Bottom Line: Appreciation

When it comes to weathering challenging circumstances, the bottom line is appreciation. The most important thing a leader can do is demonstrate a genuine appreciation for the people that show up, day after day, to do their job despite the difficulties at hand. The Job Is The Boss Tour was never just about checking up on job site progress, it was about being physically present with my teams so that I could thank them for everything they are doing for our clients and communities across America. It was phenomenal to see what has been happening on behalf of Clayco, for both our clients and the economy.

November's Featured Architect: Bjarke Ingels

November’s featured architect is my friend, the young and charismatic Bjarke Ingels, who is a Danish architect and the founder of Bjarke Ingels Group—better known as BIG. He was born in Copenhagen in 1974 and demonstrated an interest in drawing from a very young age. Ingels dreamed of being a cartoonist and was encouraged by his parents to study architecture so that he could learn more about drawing and increase his career possibilities. He began studying architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts before going to study in Barcelona at the Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura. Ingels’ first job was with Rem Koolhaas at OMA in Rotterdam. Ingels achieved success and international acclaim very young in life, when his first architecture firm that he formed with OMA colleague Julien de Smedt—PLOT—was awarded a Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2004. PLOT continued to receive attention and awards for their projects like the VM Houses in Ørestad, Copenhagen, but disbanded at the end of 2005. Ingels went on to form BIG, which achieved near-immediate fame with his Mountain Dwellings residential complex.

Inspiration

I have always had an insatiable curiosity

What causes me to get out of bed every morning is driven by inspiration. Ever since I was a little boy, I was inspired by my insatiable curiosity, which caused me to be a reader, a thinker, and a dreamer.

I can remember being inspired by seeing Bobby Kennedy on TV and watching videotapes of Martin Luther King Jr., and being deeply saddened by their assassination even though I was only 10 years old when I experienced all of this.

As a little boy, rocket flight was a big thing. I remember being fascinated by the moon and the stars and the astronauts exploring them.As humans we are achieving remarkable things that only a handful of years before were just in the imagination.