Meet Gregory Walker | Architect, Designer, Educator, Father

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gregory Walker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gregory, have you ever found yourself in a spot where you had to decide whether to give up or keep going? How did you make the choice?
For those of us who grew up on the newspaper comic Calvin and Hobbes, there’s probably the most appropriate answer to this question: when asked what he prays for, Calvin’s reply is ‘the strength to change what I can, the inability to accept what I can’t and the incapacity to tell the difference.” Humorous to a fault, for anyone who’s defined a challenge that looks to large to master, I think one has to follow this mantra to a certain degree. Because you probably don’t know where that edge is: is it time to give up when the toll on personal relationships or one’s health reaches a ‘critical’ point? Or when the inevitable despair about how far away the goal feels kicks in? Giving up probably isn’t the right phrasing. Perhaps it’s better stated how do we know when to pause on the journey or when to continue?

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I design experiences. Space, objects, ephemera. Professionally, I’m a founding partner in Houser Walker Architecture and a recovering co-founder of Kokili Projects, a product design company. Looking back, I don’t think there was ever a moment I wasn’t using some medium to create – music (which I played professionally in another life), art, architecture, products, furniture. In that vein, one of the biggest questions was probably which medium would be the most ‘dominant’ one to make a living in. Music, my first love, became challenging to find a sustainable pathway through and I was lucky enough to ‘discover’ architecture as a potential career option around this same time. After my first semester, I knew I was home, intellectually and creatively. Sustaining a career in architecture has certainly been a struggle at times, as it often is for anyone who aspires to create work that is meaningful. Our architecture studio has adopted the phrase ‘architecture is essential’ to describe our pursuit of work that isn’t the bare minimum but essential to creating meaningful experiences and connections to our communities and cultural life.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If you’re visiting Atlanta for the first time, architecturally you need to visit the High Museum of Art.

Since I’m not a huge fan of sitting in traffic for too long, I’d try to make out an itinerary keeping us in a more self contained section of the city each day. With that in mind, one of those days could look like…

Start the day off with a granola bowl at The Betty, take a trip out to the Chattahoochee Nature Center to walk it off along their new riverside boardwalk, and come back to visit the High. There’s tons of food options across the street in Colony Square when you’re done.

After lunch, walk down to the Museum of Design Atlanta, stop by the Goat Farm artist colony, and drop in Switch Modern to upgrade your WFH setup. Cap off the day with omakase at Hayakawa (but book that reservation well in advance!) and a nightcap at Northside Tavern. It’s a short walk between the last three and there’s plenty of other shops in that section of Westside.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shoutouts have to go to my parents for providing space to grow into myself and my kids for allowing the pursuit of a fantastical dream.

Website: www.houserwalker.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gregory.walker.design/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorywalker/

Image Credits
Jonathan Hillyer Liam Strain