Scott Starks is a senior project specialist who is currently working on the Oshkosh School District projects, Whitefish Bay School District Library projects, and Wrightstown Elementary School.
His day-to-day responsibilities include working with the project team to develop a design vision, preparing client presentations, making construction documents, and managing the construction process.
Over his 25-year career, Scott has worked on several types of projects at different scales. He especially enjoys working on educational projects because they often come with constraints that make the project challenging – in a good way.
“The constraints push the way we think about a project,” he says. “We need to make sure the design is solving the problem for the client, but it should also be inspiring. We always aim to strike that balance, regardless of the project’s size and budget.”
One of the things Scott enjoys most about his long career is being able to look back to see how he’s evolved through it. “Because I’m able to see the evolution – and there has been one – I know I’ll continue to grow as I move forward,” he says. “Being able to watch that progress has been really encouraging. I haven’t stopped learning and evolving.”
Scott didn’t always know that he wanted to work in architecture, but he has a few childhood memories that shed some light on how he chose his career path.
“In the yard of the house where I grew up, there was a long retaining wall made of rocks,” he says. “I remember playing with my toys in the nooks and crannies of the wall. I think that kind of play pointed me in the direction of creating environments.”
Scott’s passion for design doesn’t stop at 5 p.m. each day – he brings it home, too. His latest design projects outside of the office include complete porch and kitchen renovations to his 100-year-old-plus house. Just like he would for a project at work, Scott has modeled his vision for the new kitchen.
“The kitchen is being demolished right now, but seeing the model keeps me excited about the project,” he says. “It’s motivation to keep working on it.”
