Luke Havrilla, AIA, LEED AP

Name: Luke A. Havrilla, AIA, LEED AP
Firm: Stantec (formally Burt Hill)
Family: Parents Tom and Lynn in Northern Cambria, PA, and brother, sister-in-law, and niece in Johnstown, PA
Years in practice: 5
Education: The Pennsylvania State University
Your first job: Lifeguard at the local community pool, but architecturally, a summer intern at Weber Murphy Fox in State College, PA.
Project you’re proudest of: My 5th year thesis.
What’s the best part of your job? Working with people I love.
What would you change about your job? Reduce the commute.
What have you always wanted to tell your clients? You can have it cheap, reliable, or pretty, but you can only pick two.
What’s the most annoying thing architects do? Stereotypically wear thick glasses and hipster clothing.
Advice to young architects: Lose the ego.
The one thing you wish they’d teach you in school: Lose the ego…
Favorite building: Yad Vashem by Moshe Safdie
Favorite outdoor space: My parents’ porch
Favorite city: Venice, Italy
Favorite architecture book: The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard
Architect you’d like to have a drink with: Thomas Jefferson
Favorite Pgh neighborhood: The Strip
Wish list for downtown Pgh: Paint the Wyndham Grand Hotel something other than yellow.
If you hadn’t become an architect, what would you have been? A teacher or college professor.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where? Interlaken, Switzerland
Where you live in Pittsburgh and why you think it’s great? I live in Greentree, because it’s affordable while still being close to the city.
Someday I’d like to: Be a grandfather.
People would be surprised to know that: My birthday is on Christmas.
The secret to my success: Don’t procrastinate. Get it done and out of the way.
What’s on your iPod/Pandora/Spotify? Everything under the sun, but most commonly The Black Keys, Cage the Elephant, Beck, and The White Stripes.