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RYAN ROBINETT says his curiosity about architecture didn't come about from any pivotal poignant moment that he knowingly remembers. He just always sensed that architecture combined all his interests and passions and was the only thing he ever considered doing professionally.

Immediately drawn to K-State after a visit to the campus, Ryan found the tranquility of the campus and Manhattan the perfect place to be consumed by creative exploration. His major influences at K-State were amazing professors and many, many outstanding peers. He's certain his introspection of design comes from the voice, pace and attentiveness of Professor Vladimir Krstic's questioning. And in a subtle way, Professor James Jones made Ryan much, much more unafraid than he had been. But it was the dedication and obsessiveness of his classmates that taught Ryan how to stay inspired.

Ryan was part of the first group of K-State architecture students to study abroad in the Czech Republic. From a small town in Missouri, Ryan had rarely left the state except for an occasional visit to Kansas or Arkansas. The flight to Prague was his first time on an airplane. Being out of his element was a great learning experience. The immersion in a different culture was a huge boost to his creativity and self-confidence as a designer.

During his fifth year of architecture studies, Ryan was the co-winner of the prestigious Skidmore Owings Merrill (SOM) Fellowship which he used to travel to France, Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic. He spent the majority of his journey studying the work of the Wiener Werkstatte and the drawings of Egon Schiele, both of which are a big inspiration.

After college, Ryan headed straight for Seattle--he knew he wanted to try living on the west coast but swore he would never live in California. He met his wife, Megan Histand, a few weeks after moving to Seattle. They were married in 2002 and have a two-year old son, Cole.

From 1999 through 2004, Ryan was employed at LMN Architects, starting as a model maker. In fact, he had never used a computer drafting program, so making models was about the only way he could be productive at first. With his background of model making at K-State, he quickly became a model specialist and produced dozens of models with all sorts of materials for competitions, design studies and client fund-raising efforts. Over his years at LMN, Ryan dabbled with multiple project types including convention centers, performing arts, research laboratories and museums, but most of his experience was obtained working on higher education projects.

As a counterpoint to those large-scale buildings, Ryan began to crave smaller, more intimate projects. His wife was a theater stage manager at the time, so he did set design for several low-budget live theaters. The experience of solving design problems with no resources and no time gave Ryan confidence dealing with design issues during construction. He also helped a friend who was a professional wood worker to build his own shop. They spent every weekend one summer, designing, permitting and building a workshop. They built everything themselves, from the excavation to custom wood windows. Ryan didn't get paid for this work, but he learned a massive amount about how difficult construction is and how to think about constructability creatively.

Eventually the pace of being singularly focused in his paid work on a single large public building for multiple years made him feel uninspired. Ryan wanted a faster pace and greater project diversity. He also became interested in design-build firms and wanted more involvement in the execution of the designs he was working on. Those emotions mixed with five years of Seattle weather led to relocation.

Despite his earlier proclamation of never living in California, Ryan moved to Santa Monica in 2004 after a resume send-out to every modern design/build architectural firm across the US got him a job offer from MarmolRadziner and Associates. While there, he was the project architect for the Vienna Way residence. This was the personal residence of an MRA partner, the first project in the firm to use BIM, and later a selection by Architectural Record as a "Record House 2009." After the Vienna Way project was complete, he transferred to MRA's prefab team where he was a designer and factory job captain during the production of a large private residence in Las Vegas. Working directly with all the construction trades simultaneously as the prefab modules were being built, shipped and craned into place was an incredible hands-on learning experience.

From July of 2007 through May of 2009, Ryan was employed by Rafael Vinoly Architects (RVA) as part of the new Los Angeles affiliate office. He designed and built the office furniture including workstations, conference tables and materials library. While there, he worked on a research facility in San Antonio, Texas, and a new classroom/student center at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California. RVA was hit extremely hard by the economic downturn when many of their projects across the globe were put on hold. The Los Angeles affiliate office was closed earlier this year as a result.

Ryan was lucky to quickly find a position with WWCOT. He was hired as a designer who could mentor junior team members in BIM as the firm transitions all new projects to Revit by 2010. In the brief time he has been at the firm, he has designed two projects and is looking forward to construction beginning on both next year.