This year we’re celebrating a big milestone: 15 years with Ryan Roepke, Associate and Job Captain in our Portland Infrastructure Studio! Ryan is currently the longest-tenured member of the Infrastructure Studio and carries so much institutional knowledge about MWA.
When Ryan joined, the Portland office had around 17 to 20 people. Read on to hear about the projects that have shaped his time here, what’s changed at MWA over 15 years, and what keeps him grounded outside of work.
“Ryan is a great team member—he always comes up with out-of-the-box ideas, brings practical knowledge to the table, and can somehow suggest the exact screw type for literally any of my problems. We’d honestly be lost without him—mostly because he is the only one who knows where the files are actually hidden (just kidding)! Cheers to 15 awesome years!”
What project(s) are you working on right now?
Right now, I’m working on the Bull Run Filtration Project, and recently McMinnville Water and Light, as well as a few smaller water and pump station projects including NE 33rd and Force Avenue. On Bull Run, I’ve been a team member from the beginning in preliminary design and into construction documents. Now, we are in the midst of construction administration.
What’s been your favorite project?
A few immediately come to mind. Lake Oswego Water Treatment Plant, Washington Park Reservoir, Oak Harbor Clean Water Facility, and Bull Run. Lake Oswego was my second full project at MWA. I did design and construction administration on this one, and it was also my first project with Revit! I worked through design and construction administration on Oak Harbor, with its wastewater campus and public park component, as well.
If I had to pick two, I’d say Oak Harbor and Washington Park are the two I have the most fondness for, which is kind of an interesting thing to say about Washington Park, because of the extended duration of this project. I was on it early, through design, during the first construction phase, and came back to it after the two to three year hold for the final phase of construction. Start to finish has been 12 years! I’m glad to see that it’s finally now open for the public to enjoy and learn where our water comes from.
What elements mark a successful project for you?
I think it comes down to a couple of things: a design that’s contextual, and one that helps our clients be good stewards to their clientele and/or the public. Beyond that, it’s about being designed well in a way that’s lasting and has some permanence to it; not chasing the next architectural trend or product, just making a quality building that’s well detailed. Something that makes sense when you look at it.
How have the responsibilities and expectations of your job changed over the years?
My job has gone from almost strictly drafting and modeling to drafting, modeling, construction administration, design development, proposals and contract review assistance, and IT support along the way. I’ve moved from being purely a production person to doing less production and more support for the Infrastructure Studio. That said, I don’t think that shift has been total. There’s always been some part of me still doing detailing or helping other people on the consultant team understand how something works or how a piece fits together.
What’s your favorite thing about working at MWA?
The people, as well as the range of project types we get to work on. I get to work on buildings that are basically machines and buildings that house machines. That’s pretty cool!
How do you maintain work/life balance?
I enjoy mountain biking, bike commuting, woodworking, working on cars, and motorcycling. I strive to walk away from the office at the end of the day and come back fresh the next one, though I’ll admit some weeks I’m more successful at this than others. If something’s a mess at 4pm on a Friday, it’s not getting fixed that day. It’ll still be there on Monday. It’s not going anywhere and it’s better to get it done right than just reacting and getting it wrong.
What do you hope to do more of in the next few years?
I want to keep learning things that relate to our workflow refinement. I’d like to continue collaborating as we develop a more systematized workflow so we can be more responsive and less reactive as designers, and be able to focus on more of the fun stuff in our work.
What is your next career goal you’d like to tackle?
For starters, completing my ARE’s and finally earning that championship belt. I also want to keep growing in the technical leadership side of the work. There’s still plenty to learn and I’m not done yet.
What lasting impact do you hope to have at MWA?
I want to continue mentoring and helping others learn about water and infrastructure. I like helping explain things in a way that wasn’t shared with me when I was an emerging designer. I think I’ve been a kind of bridge between the folks who learned by hand drafting and those who came up on high-speed 3D modeling, since my first couple of jobs were hand-drawing. Sharing and passing along some of the old tools and techniques for doing things—even the ones we don’t use anymore—feels like it matters.
When you started your career, why did you want to go into architecture?
I’ve always liked to draw, and I like understanding how things go together. Drawing is a way for me to think through something, understand it, and explain it to someone else.
Is there a particular architect/designer/artist’s work that inspires you?
This has evolved for me over the years, but I keep coming back to Carlo Scarpa. The way his work investigates the details and materials to become the architecture. The breakdown of scale where people interact with buildings. In his work, decoration isn’t separate from function, it becomes the function. You can’t pull it apart from the design. That’s a much harder thing to pull off than it sounds, and I think that’s part of why it holds up.
Two of my favorites, Museo di Castelvecchio in Verona and Casa Veritti in Udine, combine concrete, wood, metal, and light. His detailing repeats in a satisfying way, like the vaulted ceilings, and especially in the smaller elements such as the light switches, door hardware, and handrails that turn into something else entirely. These details where people actually interact with the building really resonate with me.
