Today we’d like to introduce you to Juan Contin.
Juan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I moved to Florida from Hong Kong in 2001. It was a natural place for me to come to live because my extended family was living there. I was changing gears because I was working for large corporations as an architect and traveled a great deal and dealt with massive projects in three or four countries at a time. It was exciting but as time went on, you got a feeling that you have been in the fast lane forever and need to jump off for a break or a to change the medium that you had been using. Leaving Hong Kong and Asia Pacific as a whole was tough as I spent over 10 years there, but it was time to go.
I came to Florida and it was a fresh new start. Everything in Florida was different. The clients, to contracts, the construction, the contractors and the payments. Things moved faster than New York in Hong Kong. There was more work and less administration in Hong Kong compared to Florida or the USA for that matter. So I stuck at it and worked along with what was in front of me. There were great opportunities open as there was a lot of new buildings and lots of people moving to Florida which made things easier for an architecture practice as there was movement. We opened our firm and I began teaching at Florida International University which also opened up many more outlets professionally and personally. This was twenty years ago and today we have an ongoing architectural staff with over twenty architectural awards and hundreds of commissions that range from small to large.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No matter what you do in life, there are always obstacles that come up. Our philosophy is that obstacles were invented to cross and resolve them one way or another. We do feel that we have been lucky in the work we have done and try to handle these situations professionally with the utmost care to the client.
Our struggles have been few but there have been a few notable ones. One would be dealing with the COVID crisis where we stayed open in full crisis mode but made it through without much change to our operations and the way we did business. It was clear that being in Florida was helpful as the state government was clear about remining open and having work go on. Other notable issues have been the dealing with the increased amount of requirements due to flooding and hurricane activity in Florida which has created a huge increase in architectural and engineering requirements which translates to increased costs to the client overall.
Day by day these items get resolved and we have had a philosophy to tackle them head on.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Contin Architecture and design?
Our firm has steadily grown in the last 20 years while in Florida. We have ten staff who have varied tasks. We run an architecture firm as well as a construction firm. We do this because we build many of the projects that we design. This came about at the request of many clients who liked the idea. I also worked on every continent except Africa and I found it strange, at first, that every architect is usually is a builder as well. As time went on, I started wondering why American architects removed themselves from the building process. To us, the building end of it is crucial.
The fact that we build our own designs makes us stand out. It gives our clients a one stop solution. It also builds a great deal of teamwork at our office that are very proud of what they do. In the future, I think architects in the USA are going to integrate the building services as the business of architecture is becoming ever more competitive. It has worked out well for us.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
What matters most is to keep our design principles for our work. Too many architects take on whatever project comes their way, At our firm, we feel that this is the worst way to follow your career. We stand by our design and the research that goes behind it. Unfortunately, we can’t take every project, but we find that it’s important to have the same fit especially for a job that can usually last 2 or more years from start to finish.
Pricing:
- Pricing varies project to project.
- Pricing is driven mostly by clients needs
Contact Info:
- Website: https://continstudio.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/continstudio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/continstudio/
Image Credits
Image Credits belong to Contin Architecture and Design & Ramses Terrero.
