When photographing this one, a week before the construction finished, a man with a hard hat and safety vest walks up to me, asking what I was doing. I could sense that he had an accent, similar to mine, so I replied, "hablas Español?" Smiling, he said, "pues claro!" I read the name tag on his vest, and for the sake of this story, I'll have the delicacy to camouflage his last name, as Jorge Drexler with "pongamos que hablo de Martinez"
And just like that, we switched to Spanish and started talking, as if we were brothers from a different life. "So, what are you doing with that big camera?" he asked. I was one of the architects that designed this building, I said. He looks at me up and down, and sees a regular guy wearing shorts and a T-shirt, "YOU, are the architect of THIS building?" he asked. And laughing, understanding the tone I explained to him that this was an effort of a lot of people, complex buildings as this one are impossible to tackle by one person, but that yes, I was part of the Perkins+Will team, a while back.
So it was just fair to ask what his role was. "I'm the janitor," he replied with a firm and robust voice. "I was on this site from day one, taking care that the job-site is always clean and pristine. I didn't miss a single day of the 18 months of construction, and I'm happy to report we didn't have a single accident." "I was also the janitor on the building next door that we finished two years ago. Were you the architect of that one too?" And chuckling, I replied, no, only this one. When knowing that, I realized that for an unfinished building, it was unusually clean; not a single piece of paper or debris was lying on the ground. I commented that, and proudly he answered, "gracias, muchas gracias" At that moment, I realized that since I worked on this project, this was the first time I came back to the site after the groundbreaking. I didn't have the chance to visit, and due to the nature of the Bio containment program, I probably would never have the opportunity to walk inside. Coincidentally he asked, "have you seen the interiors; it's almost finished." The ear-to-ear grin on my face anticipated his next words. "Do you want to come inside?" Martinez said.
Martinez opens the doors, we walked inside, and my reaction was just silence. It was Saturday, October 12 of last year, and people that are close to me know what I was going through those days. I made the trip to College Station by myself, I needed some time to think, and two hours of driving and visiting this building seemed like good therapy. I've seen photos of this space, and of course, I knew it well since I drew the first sketches on a blank piece of paper. But experiencing this space finished, was deeply emotional. I had the fortune of working with Matt Richardson and Sanja Zilic on this project; this was the first project we did together and quickly developed a strong friendship. The three of us were in charge of designing, modeling, documenting, and detailing what you see in these images. Matt and Sanja are immensely talented young designers and are as strong as rocks fighting to keep the design intent unaltered. All these memories flashed back when Martinez showed me the building. "Do you know that in this building, researchers are going to find the cure to diseases like Zika, Dengue, Anthrax, Ebola?" and he continued "and that there are only two buildings in the country like this, where students can work with researches side by side?".
Martinez continues to give me the tour, while I was touching every surface, looking with my hands. He knew the building intimately; he shared stories of the construction process articulating with his hands while he talked. His callous hands, rough and coarse, revealed his hard-working past. He was talking fast, excited, moving through spaces swiftly, "this is the reception, the training room, and the break room." At one moment, he stops his pace abruptly and says, "Luis, I worked on many buildings these past twenty-five years, and let me tell you, this is a good one."
An hour before we were strangers, and now his generous words hit me profoundly. I thanked him at the moment, but it took me a while to appreciate his gift. Since I lack the talent that Drexler has with words, I'd borrow his again and reply to Martinez "Creo que sabes que el regalo que me hiciste, me alegró la vida entera"
I walked out of that building with everything that I learned while designing it, these images on my camera, two friends that I'll cherish for life, and the words of the best critic an architect can aspire: Martinez.
