Second in a series.
Re: “A Candidate Who Does Not Think Small”
Thomas Small’s profession is fascinating, and it could have passed unremarked upon if he had not decided to run for City Council in the April election.
An architecture writer is one of the less likely types to be encountered on life’s path.
Mr. Small, whose run for office officially opens on Sunday afternoon (See “A Small Opening on Sunday”), explained his latest assignment, a massive design built project. “I worked with a team with two sets of architects, an executive architect and a design architect, and a contractor already in place,” Mr. Small said.
“What I wrote held the team together. It means that I write the story of the project that binds all of the designers together.
“I will describe the project. Then the architects and the engineers – I write about what they are doing, why they are doing it and how they are doing it so they all know they are on the same page.
“We do it this way,” Mr. Small said, “to help promote the project to the jury…or to the developer…or to the community. I am writing for all of those entities.”
Mr. Small, who studied in Paris, lives and works with a fragrant international flavor.
“I recall working on one project a few years ago for the city of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan,” he said, helpfully adding, “in Central Asia. Baku was the original oil city. Oil was discovered there about the 15th century, just bubbling out of the ground.
“Oil fields still are functioning there, but most of them have been moved from the center of the city to the shores of the Caspian Sea.
“Therefore, a whole section of Baku became available for redevelopment, something like what I imagine could happen to us here someday with Baldwin Hills.
“The firm I was working with was engaged to envision creating a central downtown for that district,” Mr. Small said. “It is adjacent to the historic core of Baku, a huge, huge area.”
(To be continued)
