June 8, 2006
We hopped through the interminable traffic, out the freeway to the cover child of the May issue of Record (and maybe my favorite cover ever), Lorcan O'Herlihy’s office. It could have been the office of any number of architects in the city, a small building with a garage door at the rear, open to the elements. Lorcan met us as we walked in, pointed out his artwork (he’s a painter, who lived in New York at one point), and then quickly began to point out his work. I particularly wanted to see him in person: he had done a credible job on an incredible site adjacent to the Schindler house, and we had begun to feature his creative houses regularly. He didn’t disappoint.
One by one he showed how his projects were increasing in scale and complexity, inching their way up from single-family to multifamily confabulations, like Rubik’s Cubes with open spaces for outdoor living. Lorcan talked enthusiastically about his work, which seemed to be headed for construction, then mentioned he wanted more for the pipeline. He’s at that tenuous moment, stretching from a small shop to a larger group (just over 30 people now). My heart ached at the memories of those days, the hard days, when you decide whether to stay small or grow. After all, somebody has to pay the bills, and you realize one day that, guess what, it’s you!
Robert Ivy, FAIA
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