Talent Spotlight: Carolyn Andrews

International Women's Day 2023

February 23, 2023

Name: Carolyn Andrews

Role: Architect

Studio: Toronto

What’s a design trend you’d like to end? It’s not strictly design, as much as a structural solution that architects need to push back on – but the corner column in residential units. With the continuing trend of smaller and smaller residential units, more care needs to be taken with maximizing the livability of small spaces. This includes utilizing party walls as structural elements rather than introducing extra columns that merely take up valuable space. Additionally, long and circuitous entrance hallways that eat up half the square footage, make these already tiny units unusable.

What’s a design trend you’d like to start? Caring about the end users, and the layouts of residential units. I saw a talk by Edge Architects who are designing various levels of affordable housing in the Waterloo Region. They brought up the fact that in supportive and transitional housing, it’s required to provide each bedroom with a real door as people need the sense of safety and privacy that a door provides. Noticeably, this is not a consideration for developers building “market” units – yet why shouldn’t it be? Everyone deserves safety and privacy in their own home.

How would you describe your approach to design? I like to approach every building I work on with two questions “would I want to live, work, or visit here,” and “If I lived across the street, would I like to look at this building every day?” One question delves into the functionality of the space, one into the presence within a community.

What might people be surprised to know about you outside of work? I love playing soccer, dragon boating, and walking ridiculously far to avoid transferring on the TTC. But mostly, I love to sing – from karaoke, to choir, to lead vocals in our office band (The Deficiencies – come see us perform at EcoJam 2023 in April!)

What piece of advice would you give young women who have a passion for the architecture industry? I believe that the single most important skill you can learn is time management. I pride myself on never having pulled an all-nighter in my six years of architecture school, because the creative process needs time off for ideas to percolate, and sleep is too important to skimp on. Work expands to fill the time available, and if you consider yourself available 24 hours a day, the work will easily take 24 hours a day.

The piece of advice that always stuck with me since first year university was a saying that was etched on the wall of our studio – “Hard work beats talent (unless talent works hard)” – as someone who was not an artistic prodigy, this resonated with me, as I felt I needed to work a lot harder than some of the more gifted students to achieve the same results. But my consistent effort (and regimented sleep schedule) paid off big time, and by the end of my schooling career, I was consistently in the top of my class. So, the best advice I can give would be; Work Hard, Sleep Hard.