Erin Corcoran

Location
Los Angeles, California to Boston, Massachusetts

Education
University of Waterloo; Master of Architecture, Honours Bachelor of Architectural Studies — Cooperative Education

Introduction
Erin Corcoran is an architect currently expanding her horizon of client understanding through consulting. She loves all aspects of architecture; from the chase of landing the job to the heady days of early blue-sky design, and from the in-depth understanding that consulting can bring, through the sometimes painful coordination of systems and materials to finally bringing the design through the growing pains of construction on its way towards opening day. Design is a profession of infinite paths, intriguing personalities, endlessly creative frustrations and indescribable rewards. Erin takes joy in seeking out solutions to the unique questions the industry offers.

Describe some highlights of your time in the DSD Program.
The Design Strategist Development program is an amazing amalgamation of bright, friendly, and unique people who love taking innovative approaches to interacting with our clients, presenting what we learn, and sharing what we can do. The biggest highlight for me was meeting, working, and having fun with the other people participating in and facilitating the program, and I leverage this fantastic network all the time as I build my post-DSD role within Gensler.

I will miss attending the forum’s in the fall as they are a great chance to step out of the day-to-day to develop our skills and explore different places (while also meeting face-to-face which is huge!). And though I am enjoying my work here in Boston, the LA team is awesome and I hope our paths cross (often) in the future.

What has been one of the most valuable lessons learned during the program?
Most valuable lesson: the importance of emotional intelligence for everything we do — from how our work effects people, to how we work with others, even to how you reflect on your own reactions to moving to a brand new city (in my case twice – LA and now Boston) without knowing anything about it. Within the DSD, we are always thinking about how we do things even as we are doing them, and I think this is awesome.

Briefly describe what you are doing post-DSD.
During the final months of my 2nd year of the DSD program, I relocated to Gensler’s Boston office. I had prior experience as an architect, so I joined an architectural studio, where I’m excited to bring what I have learned during the DSD Program to educational, healthcare, and potentially lab research projects, using in-depth user interactions to discover solutions to their space needs and bridging consulting insights with the design process. I also love living on the ocean, and have spent a lot of my first summer here racing sailboats on the Atlantic, while thinking about Design Strategy of course!