Team Spotlight: Doan Pham
JMA Designer Doan Pham worked as an IT professional and avid amateur photographer for many years. He eventually put his creative and technical skills to use in a different direction and earned his Master of Architecture degree from Kansas State University in 2017. He has since designed many multi-family, commercial, and industrial facilities out of JMA’s Kansas City office.
When he’s not finding innovative solutions for clients, Doan still enjoys photography and playing around with his 3D printer. He also volunteers for Habitat for Humanity and currently serves as president of his HOA. We decided to ask Doan some questions about working at JMA, his community involvement, and how technology and photography relate to the world of architecture.
Did your work in technology prepare you for being a designer in any way?
Technology increased the number of tools I can use daily in architecture.
Giving back through technology
Last year, at the beginning of the pandemic, Doan used his personal 3D printer to help nurses and doctors on the frontline. Click here to read more.
Do you think photography fosters your creativity as an architectural designer? And vice versa?
I think photography has played a big part in my architecture career thus far. I have many friends in the music and fashion industries in the Los Angeles area where I grew up. I first learned digital photography from my model friend’s photographer and my first DSLR camera was a Nikon D70, it was only 6 mp! Photography is pretty much painting with light. I regularly use Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom for photo editing which helps me understand how colors work in physical spaces (warm/cool and light/shade). Rendering programs have also become more realistic in the last couple years as they use physics engines to behave very similarly to digital sensors on cameras.
I had a project where I only had a picture of a metal grate platform that had a large gap in the opening for equipment that was unacceptable for the client’s standards and OSHA requirements. Understanding perspective drawing as well as photography and Photoshop, I used the Vanishing Point and Lens Correction tool to “flatten” the image. Then I traced the picture in CAD and used a known object in the picture for scale. Our Principal Darren Orender printed a full-scale drawing of the metal plate to be put in, had it cut out, test fitted, and it came out pretty close!
To make higher resolution satellite images for master plans, I use Google Earth Pro and export the highest resolution image possible. I also use the “Photomerge” tool in Photoshop to create a higher resolution image that’s more appropriate for printing at 300 dpi. This skill is from the days of making landscape panoramas from digital cameras with lower megapixel resolutions.
As for photography, architecture has taught me the significance of structural importance and the various vernacular elements that both frame a composition and create an attractive building or space.
Why is community service and involvement so important to you?
Architecture school taught me to be more involved in the community as it makes a big impact to many people you might not even know. I’m also a big believer in Habitat for Humanity. There are a lot of good materials that end up wasted in landfills.
My parents were separated when I was about two or three years old, so my mom had to take care of me and my five older siblings. We lived in a lot of bad homes because we couldn’t afford much. I was too young to remember but we lived in a house that had a waste tank sewage system that didn’t work well. Then the next rental house, built in 1959, didn’t have a working gas furnace nor insulation in the attic. There was also poor backyard grading that often flooded the patio and a wood burning fireplace chimney which once caught an evergreen tree on fire. That house would qualify for a spot on the Holmes on Homes show. There were a lot of architectural problems that could’ve have been resolved.
Doan recently helped sort and cut wood trim into piles for a new Habitat for Humanity ReStore. He also helped construct new shelves for the store. ReStores sell donated merchandise to the public at a fraction of the retail price, diverting reusable household items and building materials from area landfills. Eighty-five percent of the proceeds go to the construction of a new home.
Owning a home is like owning a car, and there’s necessary maintenance items that need attention. Obviously, a car has a written maintenance manual as well as an odometer for tracking mileage, whereas most homes do not. For this year’s annual HOA meeting this past August, I decided to educate homeowners and property investors on regular maintenance items with a checklist to go through. As architects, it’s our duty to pursue the best health, safety, and welfare for people.
What do you enjoy most about working at JMA?
I enjoy being weird with my coworkers and eating good snacks. A cold Coca-Cola always makes my day better regardless of the workload. My coworkers like eating the experimental stuff that I make and bring into the office time to time, and nobody has had food poisoning so far. As for work, I like designing stuff that isn’t typically available and meets our clients’ specific needs.