Name: Lucia M Aguirre
Firm: LGA Partners LP
Family: Husband (Kevin), son (Indalecio), and 2 kittens (Nicodemus & Gracie)
Years in practice: 24 years
Education: Carnegie Mellon University
Your first job: Does babysitting count? If Architecture, summer internship at Hanson & Associates here in Pittsburgh.
Project you’re proudest of: DEP Moshannon District Office as my earliest one. More recent, a range of retail projects that went into the new Kansas City International Airport (it was a rollout with 11 unique locations where collaboration was key among all team members). 
What have you always wanted to tell your clients? That their projects are like my “children”, and that I always wonder how they are doing after they are completed.
What’s the most annoying thing architects do? Take ourselves too seriously or think we are above others. While it is true that our training gives us a wide range of knowledge, we should never forget to always be learning from others and be humble.
Favorite tool (can be digital, drafting, physical,…): Measuring tape!
Favorite building: So many! But the first one that came to mind is Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. Last time I was there I wept with all the feelings it evoked in me.
Favorite outdoor space: The Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal Towpath.
Architect you’d like to have coffee with: Gian Lorenzo Bernini. He was an architect, but also a master sculptor and playwright. For years I’ve been working on a script about a period in his life so would love to ask him lots of questions.
What do you like to do when you’re not working? Spending time with my family and going to museums. Writing when not falling in a vortex of Netflix binge watching!
Best gift to give an architect: An all-expenses paid vacation around the world to see all the places!
If you hadn’t become an architect, what would you have been? When younger, I wanted to become a writer and an actress.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where? Hard to pick! I love Pittsburgh
What’s on your iPod/Pandora/Spotify? Currently Family Stereo and some old Wye Oak. And always some Depeche Mode and The Raveonettes.
The secret to my success: Persistence. Always learning, adapting, and evolving.
Advice to young architects: Travel, volunteer for causes meaningful to you and create connections, and try to work on different project types before finding a niche to specialize in.
Architectural quote to practice by: “To create one must first question everything” -Eileen Gray