Hey y’all! My name is Becky Rosen, and I’m a rising sophomore interested in pursuing a degree in architecture with certificates in Teacher Prep and French. I am from a small town in eastern Tennessee and I’ll give anyone $10 if they’ve heard of it before – Greeneville – and it’s where I have called home my whole life. This past summer I was lucky enough to stay in my hometown with everyone that I had missed during the school year while simultaneously working with a good friend of mine, Greeneville’s beloved architect Dave Wright. He has been a supporter and mentor to me for years, and this past summer I had the opportunity to intern with him to support and give back to our beautiful community. (The picture featured is our downtown; his office is the brick building to the left of the Capitol Theatre)
Ever since I’ve known Dave, he has always told me, “No two days are the same in architecture.” For this reason, it’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly what a day-in-the-life with him is like, as there have been days full of uneventful meetings and also days running from location to location, but the experience as a whole has been incredibly informative and exciting. I get to go to sites and see the progress firsthand, sit in and take notes on meetings that can determine the entire course of a project, offer sketch advice – as well as sketch on my own – and, unfortunately, deal with stressed out or nervous clients, including my high school ACT tutor.
Right now, one of Dave’s favorite projects is the new beer garden downtown. The nightlife in Greeneville is disappointingly lacking, so Dave and his team (and I!) are all really excited to bring something new to the scene. Below is a rendering that allows the project to come to life – read all about it here.
Working on this project has been a lot of fun for Dave and me, but also kind of stressful which allowed me to see what often comes into play with Dave’s architecture work: small-town politics. The ownership of the little strip of sidewalk to the left of the beer garden has been debated back and forth for weeks now. The current result seems to be that no one wants to develop it, leaving Dave in the middle of the conversation, trying to talk to all parties involved and eventually settling on a solution himself, reflected in the image, that he only hopes will be the actual result once it’s built.
Another project we’ve been working on is the new building for our local Humane Society. This has been a favorite project of mine because of its ability to make an even larger impact on our community. The current location of the Humane Society is near the edge of our county and on the top of a hill on a small plot of land. By moving it, the Humane Society will be able to expand their building and therefore expand their services to provide to more animals and, hopefully, more families. As this project is newer, there are no current renderings, but I will keep y’all updated as it continues.
I am really grateful to Dave for this opportunity, as is the rest of our community for all he does for them, and I look forward to continuing to work with him for the remainder of my summer – along with enjoying these gorgeous east TN views.
