Meet the Interns: Carolyne Ottawa & Michael Hickey

The soul of our practice resides in its people, and we are always looking for ways to cultivate emerging talent and professionals. We really enjoy our active internship program that brings multiple interns to join our team throughout the year for typically a semester at time. Today, we wanted to introduce our two current interns working alongside us – Carolyne Ottawa, an intern from University of Waterloo studying Architecture and our IT intern Michael Hickey from Wentworth Institute of Technology who is studying Computer Engineering.   

Hi! My name is Carolyn Ottawa. I am currently working at Payette as a co-op intern from January to August. After my internship I’ll be heading to Rome for the first term of my 4th year at the University of Waterloo. I’m really excited to be a part of the Payette team!

What lead you to study architecture?
I’ve always liked putting things together – puzzles, little models, that sort of thing. I see architecture as part of that.

What inspires you?
I’m really interested in psychology and human behavior, and how that impacts architecture. A lot of the time we look at drawings in terms of plan, elevation, etc. but that’s quite distancing compared to the reality of how we experience architecture. Architecture is so much closer to us than drawings can show; atmosphere is hard to capture without entering the physical space and feeling it for yourself. The attempt to capture the effect of a space on an individual is what inspires me.

What has been one of your favorite projects to work on in school or here at Payette?
Last term at school, we were told to look at a 30 second video of a natural phenomenon, and eventually capture the sensation of the phenomenon through architecture. I chose a video of a wave crashing – it had three stages: the wave rising creating a sense of overwhelm, then passed over you, sheltering you, and finally it enveloped you. I translated these stages into the human experience of dying. I designed a hospice that acted as an offer of embrace, where the architecture helped people come to terms with the reality of dying.

What’s on your playlist?
Honestly, I like to listen to podcasts about murder, specifically about criminals and the stories that surround crime. In terms of music, I like listen to anything, as long as I can memorize the lyrics.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned so far?
Something important I’ve learned at work is that while it’s important to figure things out yourself, don’t be afraid to just ask if you’re stuck.

The sky is the limit: if you could design or redesign anything, what would it be?
If I could design anything, I think I would design the first off-planet city, or a laptop that’s always fully charged (with no power cable).

Where is your favorite building in Boston?
I haven’t seen all of Boston yet, but so far my favorite building is the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The courtyard is beautiful and so is the art.
 

My name is Michael Hickey but everyone calls me Mike I enjoy sailing, golfing, working on cars and craft brewing. I am an aspiring Computer Engineer, currently attending Wentworth Institute of Technology. I would rather solve a problem and prevent it, rather than discovering a work around.

What lead you to work at an architecture firm?
This firm has a healthy environment and is what I gravitated towards the most. I feel that the people here are very nice and approachable.

What inspires you?
I have an intrinsic motivation to learn. I try to better myself every day. My family and friends have helped me tremendously along the way.

What has been one of your favorite projects to work on in school or here at Payette?
At school I have worked on tons of projects. One semester, our professor said we could do anything for our final project as long as it pertained to the class. My group and I designed and wrote an entire video game from scratch. We coded every aspect of the game, and it turned out great. I learned a lot about scheduling, critical thinking, future planning and leading an entire team.

What’s on your playlist?
I enjoy listening to the Beatles, Guns N’ Roses, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Queen. I also like to listen to Nirvana, Foo Fighters, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sublime, and Blink-182. Sometimes I get around to listening to Kendrick Lamar, Eminem and Jay Z.

I’ll make up a list on the spot:
Back in the U.S.S.R
Come As You Are
Paradise City
The Pretender
m.A.A.d City
Paint It, Black
Under The Bridge
Ramble On
Santeria
Berzerk
We Will Rock You
All The Small things
99 Problems
Kangaroo Court
My Type

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned so far?
The most important thing I have learned so far is to say please and thank you.

What is your favorite building in Boston?
My favorite building in Boston would have to be the Skyscraper at 111 Huntington Ave.