STEAM: Meet an architect
In this week's STEAM profile, she creates the spaces that help us live, work and travel in. KCAL News Meteorologist Olga Ospina introduces us to an architect who focuses on science, engineering, art and math.
Manipulating. Configuring. Collaborating. All steps that lead to the creation of a building. Meet Adaeze Cadet of the Los Angeles office H.O.K.
"I am design principal," said Cadet.
And she's one of the firm's top architects.
"We create spaces that people get to live, experience, play in," said Cadet.
Cadet and her team solve tough problems, like how to make Anaheim's transportation hub become a destination itself -- from the steel joints at the base to the glass arch overhead.
"Making sure that all the contractors, the different consultants are working together and that the building can actually function. While also making it very beautiful, fun, exciting," said Cadet.
Architects rely most on science, engineering art and math.
"Design is very 'squishy' and formulas are very solid, and I like the balance of the two," said Cadet.
Adaeze Cadet started early.
"When I was in kindergarten I played with blocks," said Cadet.
By age 10 she was building towers, and perfecting them into her teens.
"Like the big ball factory I made out of K'nex," said Cadet.
These days she oversees the design of hospitals, universities and commercial interiors. All are as unique as she is.
"There's not a lot of architects out there that look like me," said Cadet.
So she hopes to blaze a trail.
"To have architects be more diverse, and actually represent the communities that we're serving, I think makes a better-informed design," said Cadet. "So getting women exposed to it, young girls exposed to it is the right way to go."
Her advice to aspiring architects: visit malls, museums, even open houses.
"Seeing like just what buildings you like, what excites you about design, and then just really sticking with it, because it is, you know, there's a lot of school behind it," said Cadet.
And lots of frustration between the idea and the finished building.
"When it does happen and you get there, it's like, that feeling, 'Yes, we did it!' It's great," said Cadet.
For more on STEAM careers, visit the KCAL News STEAM page here.
