Architect Michael Caton thrives on challenge. Over the course of his career he\u2019s worked on projects as diverse as UNHCR refugee settlements; a sprawling hotel built on a racetrack in Abu Dahbi; and an office-tower fa\u00e7ade in Bangalore.
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\u201cGnarly, challenging things excite me,\u201d said the 33-year-old native Brooklynite, who is about to celebrate his first WeWork anniversary as the architecture discipline lead for Powered by We (he\u2019s also a professor at Pratt, his alma mater). \u201cI\u2019m willing to tackle any design project, and that includes organizational problems.\u201d
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There is one thing he wants to make clear, though: He and his team are not a design firm. <\/em> \u201cEssentially, our big group of architects, designers, and engineers uses what we developed ourselves at WeWork as a platform and bring that to other enterprises and large companies,\u201d he explains. \u201cCompanies are recognizing the value of mobility, collaboration, and environments that are conducive to those [things]. There\u2019s recognition that there needs to be some adaptation to [both] spaces and employee policy to really maximize the efficacy of employees.\u201d Caton\u2019s team breaks down any project into three components: discovery, strategy, and solution\u2014with the first one being the most crucial. \u201cThe discovery phase is really about engaging with the client and stakeholders to make sure that we\u2019re framing the correct problem,\u201d says Caton. \u201cBecause there\u2019s nothing more tragic than finding the right answer to the wrong question.\u201d In his role, he helps companies re-create the vibrant communities that the WeWork original spaces helped foster without the worry of office layouts and space distribution. \u201cThe decisions that we make on the design have very direct community implications,\u201d Caton says. He and his team create around concepts such as mobility, connectivity, and \u201chide and seek\u201d: \u201cHow can you hide as effectively as you need to, but also, how can you seek and find someone as quickly as you need to, to collaborate and do something together?\u201d Caton points to the giant blue couch flanked by two narrow sets of stairs on the mezzanine level of WeWork\u2019s Chelsea HQ as a good example of this philosophy. \u201cThis is a place to meet and gather,\u201d he explains. \u201cOur stairs are designed to be as narrow as they can be by New York City building code [so that] you can\u2019t absentmindedly walk by other people\u2014you have to engage with them, acknowledge their presence.\u201d If Caton sounds sure of himself and his work, he is first to admit he\u2019s seen his share of failures. His entry into Pratt\u2019s architecture program was, in his words, a rude awakening to the reality of adult life: In trying to balance his passion for basketball, classes, and homework, he failed out. With perseverance, he got back in the following semester. \u201cIt was incredibly valuable to have such an epic failure happening at the very beginning of my education,\u201d he says. \u201cI knew what the bottom looked like.\u201d It\u2019s a story he shares with his first-year students at Pratt. \u201cInvariably, in the semester, you reach a point where students hit that wall, and when they do, then I tell them my whole story,\u201d he says. \u201cI find that relating my story is really effective and inspiring.\u201d Caton used his setback as a constant springboard for improvement\u2014a philosophy he still sticks to. At WeWork, he says, \u201cI\u2019m going to tell my manager in a cheeky way that I am here for the growing pains.\u201d Architecture discipline lead Michael Caton knows that sometimes, you just need a little privacy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1700,"featured_media":3000004803,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43903,43912],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3000004802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-stories","category-employee-spotlight"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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