Pride And The Next Five Years
Hello! My name is Andrew Grant Houston—also known as Ace the Architect—and I am proud to announce that at the end of May, House Cosmopolitan celebrated its fifth anniversary. I steep myself in optimism for what’s to come and as an entrepreneur I also recognize that success comes from counting the numbers and using those to design a path to success. So with that said, let’s look at some numbers.
It is said, that:
most small businesses are not profitable until year two or three
about half of businesses fail within the first five years
most businesses become successful within seven to ten years
So if it is that difficult to start your own business, why did I choose to begin House Cosmopolitan at all?
The “why” of why I started House Cosmopolitan is very easy:
I had been laid off from two different jobs in architecture within the span of a year.
The first was in traditional practice—there was a blip in the local market here in Seattle and as someone who had recently gotten my license (with a significant pay raise) and with the projects I worked on completing construction, it made the most sense for the business. The second was the next opportunity I took working for a tech startup in San Francisco: an overly ambitious CEO with a drive to pursue growth for the sake of growth meant that when we did not receive the funding we were counting on in order to continue said growth, it was time to cut people.
Though you would think that the second lay off would be easier after the first, it was actually significantly harder. I had spent so much of my time and energy dedicated to the business and the mission that I was now six months into living in a city where I knew almost no one and had spent little time building a community outside of work. I had spent all this time and energy achieving what (at the time) was my dream:
To work on interesting projects
To be able to travel as part of my work
To be able to bring my full and authentic self in my work
that I faced the problem of what came after that was all gone.
So I did what many ambitious architects do for any problem facing them:
figured out the question I was being asked:
how do I continue to practice architecture when I know there’s work to be done but
both traditional and non-traditional practice seem to be working?
created a response to that question:
I must start my own architecture practice
and crafted the solution:
House Cosmopolitan
The “why” of why I continue to practice? Now that’s the harder question, but not without its own response—because no one is doing the work that I am doing.
I have spent most of my life being made extremely aware by external forces as to who I am: someone who is mixed raced, and so does not belong to any specific ethnic group, and someone who grew up queer, that is someone who (in addition to the color of my skin) has spent most of my life being extremely conscious of who I am and how I occupy any space.
I have spent most of my life being made extremely aware that there is nowhere I belong.
And yet, because of this, the opposite is also true:
because I belong nowhere, I belong everywhere.
The motto of House Cosmopolitan is “places where people belong.” Through my unique and intersectional perspective and using elements from my own background as well as pop culture, my architecture shifts the paradigm and raises the bar of what it means to be referential, what it means to be representative, and what it means to be resilient. In my now tens years of practice I’ve used this perspective and my continued education in the field to work on projects that run the gamut from housing (my specialty) to hospitality and education to environmental sustainability.
Now, through my five years (and counting) of House Cosmopolitan I work with clients of all backgrounds to provide custom solutions that recognizes their needs and goals and in essence makes their dreams a reality. I aim to be a vanguard – particularly in the United States – of what it means to create architecture and urban design that does not simply stop at providing adequate space for things to happen, but architecture and urban design that truly celebrates the culture of individuals and the everyday. Architecture that does not take itself too seriously, that does not exclude but includes individuals in its expression. And that is what House Cosmopolitan aims to do: to create places where people belong. To make space for anyone to arrive somewhere—be it their local coffee shop or their brand new apartment—and think:
“ah, I am home.”
It’s taken five years to get here: through physical isolation as a high-risk individual in my apartment for 14 months; through social isolation as a political candidate; and arguably through continued economic isolation as a solopreneur balancing my own work with contract gigs focused on larger projects for larger firms. Still, both in starting my practice and now having reached the five-year mark, I have recognized that even in my isolation that I have never been alone—it’s been through the support of friends and family that I’ve been able to continue to practice in this manner, in a way that is authentically me. All of the steps I have taken, though not without error, have been done with the support of my community and have been the steps necessary to reach this moment. In many ways this is what practicing architecture is all about—not perfection, but the pursuit of it in collaboration with others and with the knowledge that in order to get there you must make mistakes. That is the honest truth.
And that honesty in how I practice is something that resonates with people. In recent months I’ve been recognized both in the media and by my clients as someone who is extremely proud of both myself and the work I do. As we return to a sense of “business as usual” post-isolation and with the continuance of inquiries for HC’s assistance in making more dreams a reality, I can say with certainty that there are at least another five years of work for House Cosmopolitan, if not more.
Still, the past five years have truly felt like one very (very) long year in which I took a very (very) circuitous route to arrive back at the start. However, in this “restart” I find my skills, my network, and my passion even higher and stronger than it has ever been. After five years, I can say with certainty that I am excited for the next five.
I’m excited for the next projects that highlight HC’s expertise in multifamily work
I’m excited for the next projects that see HC practicing across the United States
I’m excited for the next projects that see HC as both architect and developer
I’m excited for the next projects that see HC innovating in what it means to collaborate
within the AEC industry
I’m excited for the future recognition and the continued inspiration of future architects to
do this work, because this work is necessary and can be done in a way that not only looks
good but pays well!
If this was the hardest part, then I am excited for what’s possible now that it gets easier from here.
They say it takes ten years to become an overnight celebrity, so there are five more to go.
Let’s begin.
