What is your name, current location, and current occupation?
My name is Alexander Lamis - I go by Alex. I’ve lived on the West Side of Manhattan since 1980 and am here now. Since March 2020 when COVID struck I have spent the majority of my time in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, a shore town about an hour and a half south of the city, in a house purchased a few years ago. I am a practicing architect.
What was your affiliation with MIT?
I attended MIT as an undergraduate, receiving my degree in Course 4 in 1980, before going on to graduate school at Columbia.
What was your thesis title, if you completed one?
Theses were not done by undergraduates to my knowledge when I was at MIT. I did do an extended research paper after a summer UROP project during my junior year in 1979. The title was Some Ideas About Energy-Efficient Housing Design’. It modelled energy use in a multi-story apartment building and led to an internship building energy models for the AIA Research Corporation in Washington DC.
What are you doing today?
After Columbia, I went to work for one of my professors, Robert A.M Stern. When I started in 1983, the office was still quite small, about 12 people. Over the years the office grew a lot and had around 250-300 people over the past decade with work both around the US and internationally. I became a Partner in 1999 and led a studio focusing of libraries, museums, and higher education. I also managed the firm’s interior design department and started an independent licensed products business.
Last year I left the partnership to pursue my own personal work – time away from the office caused me to desire more control over my work and schedule. I am building a consulting practice, currently working on public library master plans but with the hope of doing some other project types as well.
How did your time at MIT affect your career path?
Coming from a small town in Indiana to MIT was a real eye-opener. I probably learned more from my friends in other fields than in my classes. MIT gave me the confidence to listen to my own inner voice and the feeling that I could handle most any challenge that was thrown at me in the architectural field. I still feel that way and am excited to be creating new work in my own practice.
The early interest in environmental design and sustainability that MIT promoted as far back as the 1970s has been a constant interest and theme in my work, as has the desire to use architecture in a socially responsible way –which was very central at MIT at that time and perhaps guided me toward a specialty in library design.
What are you excited about in your career field today?
The production and making of buildings has evolved a lot over the course of my career, as IT has in many ways simplified the design process. In my view it is a bit of a double-edged sword, as architects can be too driven by efficiency and don’t take the time to really work out their designs to make them the best they can be. There is also a lot of progress as well as potential in sustainability as related to materials and chains of custody so that we can truly understand the impacts of the materials we specify.
What advice would you give to a new alum coming out of MIT?
Make a plan about where you want to go and how will you get there but be willing to modify that plan as new opportunities arise. For example, my goal was to come to NYC and work for a leading office doing interesting work –although I did not know specifically what that would entail.
What are you trying to learn right now?
InDesign.
How can fellow alums reach you if they want to speak further?
I can always be reached by email at alex@lamis.com. I recently set up a landing page in LinkedIn for Lamis Architect and am working on a website for the venture www.lamis.com. Stay tuned!