Rose Zurawski has been president of JSA Architects since October.
WHAT DOES JSA
STAND FOR?
The firm was named after the founder, who is now retired, so the initials no longer represent anything.
WHY DID JSA SPLIT FROM TED PAPPAS?
“He [Ted Pappas] started a new firm. JSA is pursuing the health care, senior living and university work and Mr. Pappas is pursuing church work and renovations. It was natural and agreeable that the two firms explore their own interests. It just started happening that way. Once we recognized we were doing two different things, we decided to make it formal so we could both do what we like to do.”
WHAT DOES SHE DO AS PRESIDENT?
“I am responsible for our business development, operations and mentoring.”
TALK MORE ABOUT THE MENTORING PROGRAM
“In the architecture profession we have a lot of interns that come out of school who learn a lot about the vocabulary of architecture, philosophy and theory. What happens is they come into the profession and work under an architect to learn the technical, construction and management skills. During a three-year period, they have to follow certain requirements so they have can receive experience in all these different areas. Then they can sit for the exam so they can get a license. That’s typical in the profession.”
YOUR CLIENT BASE?
”The health care industry, senior living facilities, universities and colleges and military housing in a large scale, community design.”
WHY FOCUS ON INSTITUTIONAL CUSTOMERS?
“Our architects have gathered expertise in that field throughout their careers. This is an expertise-based studio. For example, I’ve had a lot of campus architecture experience. Other architects have done health care for years. Those kind of things lead to the expertise of the firm — when you have several architects that have the same experiences.”
HOW DOES SHE INJECT CREATIVITY INTO THESE PROJECTS?
“Creativity comes from listening, as a starting point, to the needs of the people who will be using the building and responding to that. We approach every design as unique in that aspect. We don’t come in with the idea that it’s going to look like this and force you to fit inside it. It’s a process of listening, finding out what their needs are and problem-solving from there.”
WHERE DID SHE LEARN THE TRADE?
Ball State University in Indiana.
WHAT PUT HER ON
THAT PATH?
“I knew I wanted to be an architect at 13-years-old and I’ve been driven ever since. There was an exhibit that I saw. All of the architects in Indianapolis had things on display. It was very intriguing and drew me to find out more. Then, a teacher in high school really encouraged me and I kept going from there.”
WHAT MAKES A GREAT ARCHITECT?
“Architects are all unique; everybody brings different talents to the table. Some are more project management oriented, some are more design oriented. A great architect is able to communicate to a lot of different people. A building just doesn’t happen. Building takes contractors, people who will live or work in the building, people who are funding the building. The architect must bring all of them together to achieve the end result. The other aspect of that is design. The most important thing an architect brings to the table is the design and being able to visualize something and being able to communicate that to others.”
WHAT IS HER GOAL
AS PRESIDENT?
“I definitely want to grow the office and continue to work in the health care and university settings with larger projects and more architects.”
HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO REACH HER GOALS?
“I’d say a three- to five-year time frame.”
WHERE DID YOU WORK BEFORE?
“After graduating, I moved to Atlanta to do health care architecture. I worked for the University of Georgia as a campus architect for a number of years. I was responsible for $30 million worth of construction projects at any given time. Then, Marriott International recruited me and I moved to Maryland, working with their senior living division. They recently sold it. There, I learned to work with attorneys, developers, estimators, accountants. That’s how I met JSA. JSA was one of the architects that we hired. Then JSA recruited me and here I am.”
WHAT DOES SHE FIND MOST REWARDING?
“Always learning about something new, learning about our client’s work and their research, learning about their profession. That’s very interesting to me. And, of course, learning more about the architecture profession constantly.”
WHAT’S MOST CHALLENGING?
“Keeping up with auto-CAD [computer aided design] changes. Technology changes very quickly.”
FAMILY
Zurawski and her husband Bill have a daughter, Lauren. They routinely visit the beach, looking for seashells or building sandcastles.
HOBBIES
Zurawski is currently learning to play the piano. She also enjoys reading John Grisham novels, murder mysteries on A&E and tuning into the classic musical, “The Sound of Music.” Pizza is her food of choice.
— by Monica Chamness