Meet Jared Cole RA, HLZA Project Manager

A Project Associate at HLZAE for two years and newly promoted to Project Manager, Jared Cole has worked on multiple projects in the office including a green vegetative roof  at NYU Langone Medical Center and an innovative recreational roof deck in the Meatpacking district.

Jared, did you always know you wanted to be an architect?

Actually, I originally pursued and earned a teaching degree.  I taught English and trained educators in South Korea for three years.  I then returned to school in the US and got a Masters in Architecture.

Has your teaching experience impacted your work in architecture at all?

Both professions require a lot of organization and a lot of patience. Both require a certain amount of flexibility in dealing with people and being able to adapt to changes on the fly.

You were Project Manager on the 875 Washington Street recreational roof deck. What was your thought process there?

We were limited by the roof’s structural capacity and the code regarding how large a deck the tenants could use as an amenity. The size of the roof deck was a bit small, so we wanted to give it a special character to allow it to be a unique “destination”.  There’s a real utilitarian feel to the roof top in fitting in with the Meatpacking District in general, the historic character of the district and a raw underlying aspect due to its history as a once gritty area of the city.

We tried to highlight the utilitarian aspects of the existing roof and make them focal points for the users:  The water tank and metal clad mechanical bulkhead, for example.

We designed uplighting under the water tank so it would be illuminated at night. And it changes colors. It’s visible from nearby and far away. Being that there’s a history of street art in the district, we wanted to mimic this so we installed an art mural on the metal mechanical bulkhead. While street art often arose in neglected areas of the city and was associated with blight, it has become popular in some ways as an intriguing way to engage with social issues and our built environment on a local scale. We’re keeping the theme going. Now the Whitney Museum is nearby and there’s a tradition of street art, and institutional or commissioned public art, so we wanted to extend this up to the rooftop for the users.  A small roof deck with a vividly colored  art mural backdrop is a great conversation piece.

What makes this project unique for HLZAE?

It really speaks to the diversity of services we offer.  Richard (Moses) and I tackled it from the architectural perspective; Ilya (Shtulberg) and Bryan (Chester) assessed the roof’s capacity and engineered the whole system; our MEP department designed the electrical and lighting package for lighting up the water tower and the bulkhead.