Interview: Blostein/Overly Architects (Summer 2010)

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COMPETITIONS: What led both of you to architecture? Was it something that occurred early on, or was it more of an evolutionary process?

 

BETH BLOSTEIN: Our answers will be very different. My interest was pretty sudden. I randomly decided to take an architecture class at Ohio State, and once I got into it, it seemed to be such a natural fit—for a way of thinking and making things. Even though it wasn’t something I had considered before, it seemed pretty natural.

 

Beth Blostein and Bart Overly

 

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Franklinton Arts District, Live/Make Artist’s Housing, Columbus, OH
COMPETITIONS: In these times it’s pretty unusual to be able to come in as a general studies student and take a studio course in architecture.
BETH BLOSTEIN: In those days, you took a studio course and then applied. I applied for the program after I had taken an introductory class, not really sure if I would get in. After I did get accepted to the program, it did turn out to seem like a natural fit/
BART OVERLY: I can very distinctly remember when I was in third grade, we got a Crate and Barrel catalogue at the house. Everything was crisp and clean and white and black and red. I just loved the stuff. I grew up in a house with two parents with very traditional tastes, and I asked my mom, ‘Who buys this stuff?’ And she said, ‘I think architects probably buy this stuff.’ I was always very interested in the arts as a young kid, and I liked how the profession merged with so many other disciplines to effect cultural change and all those kinds of issues. That’s why I think architects are still needed in our culture today.
COMPETITIONS: You both were students at about the same time at Ohio State. Was it clear early on that a professional partnership was a possibility in the future?

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