An Interview With Ben Ari
Make it as comfortable as a home: natural light, noble materials, comfortable furniture, high ceilings, not too crowded, informal, welcoming, user friendly and practical.
As a part of our series called “How To Design Office Spaces That People Love To Work In”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Martha Franco.
Martha Franco, originally from South American heritage, followed a journey that led her to the vibrant city of Montreal, Quebec. Prior to her relocation, she enjoyed a thriving career as an Architect in her hometown of Bogota. Martha is a devoted mother of two and a passionate individual, deeply committed to her craft, with a keen eye for detail. Her firm, Martha Franco Architecture & Design, provides global luxury residential and commercial custom-design plans, creating timeless architecture, interior, landscape and furniture designs that bring dreams to life and create memorable projects around the world.
Thank you so much for joining us in this series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I was born and raised in Colombia in an artistic family, and from a very early age, I felt passionate about architecture and design. I would say that I was born for it! My dream came true when I graduated in architecture in Bogota and opened my own firm. I then moved to Montréal and in the early 2000’s, I opened my firm, Martha Franco Architecture & Design that I’ve been running for more than 20 years now. It’s been an exciting run!
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?
I started with small projects and things really took off with one phone call. I was in New York and at the end of the day I received my first call for a large residential project. I remember every detail of that call to this day, where I was, what we talked about, and the excitement! This call launched my firm into the luxury architectural and interior design market.
It has been said that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake you made when you were first starting and a lesson you learned from that?
We had an instance once when a client’s contractor was unprofessional and “cutting corners”. And as the architect and designer, even though I do partial supervision of the construction work, I allowed myself to get caught in mediating between the client and the contractor, which cause a lot of extra stress, a mistake I have learned to never make again! It takes expertise and team work to build anything of quality, and when this isn’t present, things can be made more difficult than they need to be. Nowadays I am cautious about who I collaborate with.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
‘If you can dream it, you can do it’. This applies to me, I couldn’t be happier about how things turned out for me, and most importantly for my clients, being able to fulfil their dream of a space they will fall in love with. A dream meets dream!
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Yes, this is an easy one. Alberto Perez-Gomez is one of the most revered scholars in architecture and I had the incredible chance to be part of his unique Masters program in the History and Theory of Architecture with a small cohort of select students from around the world at McGill University in 1991–1993. I sat through one semester of his classes as an observer to increase my chances of being accepted, and I was. In turn, better understanding the role architecture plays in society, its relevance and meaning, which adds a deeper layer to the practice!
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
I am working on hospitality projects as well as high-end residential projects at the moment, including heritage homes.
The general approach to them is to consider them as a destination creating spaces that provide a sense of belonging. This helps people to feel at ease, relax, be more present and enjoy their spaces.
Thank you for that. Here is the main question of our discussion. What are your “Five Things You Should Do To Design Office Spaces That People Love To Work In” and why.
With remote work taking hold in a post-covid world, the challenge is to make people want to go to the office. We’re in a new world where offices need to provide much more than just desks.
1 . Understand the culture. The project must reflect the employer’s brand and create an universe that expresses it.
2 . Make it as comfortable as a home: natural light, noble materials, comfortable furniture, high ceilings, not too crowded, informal, welcoming, user friendly and practical.
3 . Stimulate collaboration: social spaces, brainstorming spaces, quiet places, private areas.
4 . Make it fun with bar areas, color, art, provoke encounters, make the spaces flow.
5 . Make it timeless: you don’t want to redo it every 3 years; it’s not about trends or style, it’s about character and about the particularities of every company, its uniqueness.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Stop “ugliness”! Good architecture and design don’t need to be complex or expensive. Develop a manifest to be endorsed by promoters, employers and trade associations, whereby they commit to quality design and architecture as a common good.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this, especially if we tag them 🙂
Phyllis Lambert. She represents all I strive for: drive, commitment, entrepreneurship, vision, and some stubbornness to drive change and protect heritage. She has saved Montreal’s Greystone buildings. She has built the Canadian Center for Architecture. She is herself a monument and even if I know her already, I would love to spend more time with her!
How can our readers further follow your work online?
https://www.instagram.com/marthafrancoarchitecture/
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational!
Martha Franco On How To Design Office Spaces That People Love To Work In was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.