Gavin Ruedisueli

What is your career story? How did you get where you are today?

I graduated from MIT with an undergraduate degree in architecture (BSAD ‘08). When I got to MIT I was deciding between an engineering track and an architecture track, at least significantly informed by the fact that my father, Kevin Ruedisueli, is an architect who went through the same program (BSAD ‘72, M.Arch ‘75). After taking a studio course with Bill Hubbard l I was immediately in love with the act of design and it seemed like a natural fit to pursue a degree in architecture. Similarly I was very influenced by the humanist architecture of Jan Wampler, who was both an inspiration and a role model for me when I was in school. He also was my thesis advisor.  Looking back at this point in my life, I think it is clear to me that a more traditional architecture track was not what I really was aiming for but rather a more experimental, multidisciplinary kind of design heavily informed by computation. My undergrad thesis was more of a multimedia experience than a traditional building, and it is interesting looking back on this from where I am today, and even if there are many things I would change about that thesis project, it really hewed close to my passions of working closely with both technology and design and favoring systems over specific perfected objects of art/design.

After graduating MIT, I worked at Behnisch Architekten in their Boston office, where I spent five years building up my skills. This experience allowed me to see a whole project through from start to finish, which was incredibly valuable. The project, a new building for the University of Baltimore’s Law School was a spatially dynamic space, with programmed spaces organized around a canyon-like atrium that also functioned as part of the building’s energy design. After 5 years of work in the firm and having worked on a couple projects, I realized it was time to go back to school. I knew I wanted to get an accredited degree for architectural licensure and was also interested in more research-oriented, interdisciplinary work

I decided to pursue my M.Arch at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) (M.Arch ‘17). During this time I gravitated towards the design of logical systems and tools that could be used to create myriad variations. While the core curriculum did dictate a great deal of my coursework the first two years, after getting into electives I focused most of my energy on multidisciplinary, technology-heavy courses and studios. Among them were options studios with Achim Menges, Kiel Moe and Jane Hutton, and my thesis, which was advised by Andrew Witt. Several major themes influenced my thesis: the parametric methodology and material experimentation of Menges’ work, the radical simplicity and inherent complexity of Moe’s minimalist structures, and the natural variation of materials found in the world, namely wood among others. I also self-taught myself coding during this time. Because my thesis advisor, Andrew Witt, had done a large amount of work with scanning material waste, it was a natural fit for me to extend these ideas to the 3d scanning of naturally-occurring wood logs and weaving these together using flip milling on the school’s CNC router. This project was completed in January 2017 and I graduated in May of that year.

Transitioning to my current career path was a natural fit. I worked as a research assistant for Andrew Witt after graduating and slowly transitioned into working in his office, Certain Measures. I continue to work as a Research Associate at the GSD part-time and Certain Measures the rest of the time. Certain Measures’ work bridges many domains, from industrial-focused projects to future visioning and museum exhibitions and installations. I also took the effort to get my architecture license and continue to maintain it even if my day-to-day work is not about buildings.

Because of my prior experience with parametric design as well as my skills in computer languages, it was a natural fit for me to lead the software team for a tool that allows for mass-customized 3d printed mouthpiece/water flosser with 60 water jets custom targeted to clean between your teeth. The startup currently known as Proclaim Health hired Certain Measures in 2019 for the role of both rationalizing the 3D geometry and design process for these mouthpieces as well as developing the software used by technicians to design the mouthpieces. My role is as a software architect and I must merge concerns about mouthpiece aesthetics, hydraulic performance, fit in the mouth, as well as software considerations like reliability, performance, and user-experience. I am listed as a co-inventor on a couple patents related to this tool and I continue to provide Proclaim Health with my design and computational expertise as the project evolves.

Looking back on my time at MIT, I think that my current career path reflects the inventiveness and curiosity that MIT instilled in me and I would not change any of it. I feel that it took a long time to get where I am but ultimately where I am is a better fit than I would find in a more traditional office environment. My career path has been a slow and steady evolution and similar to a wander through the woods or your neighborhood, you’re never really sure where you’ll end up. There’s a joy in this possibility and unknown.

My career story would be incomplete without some acknowledgements of others: My parents, Kevin and Crickett, who both encourage and always show great interest in my work, as well as my sister Greta, who studied Landscape Architecture at the GSD at the same time and was an invaluable resource during my time at school and who continues to be an inspiration for me. Last, but not least, my dear friend and Harvard FAS alum Lady Lawrence Carty has and continues to provide unwavering support and encouragement as I navigate the complexities of following a non-traditional career path.

What skills do you use on a day-to-day basis?

Regardless of the type of design project, the skillsets of complex problem solving, open-mindedness, and collaboration are centrally critical to my work, as is the case with any architect. My work is more tech-focused now, so I use coding skills and computer languages regularly. I must constantly “tool-up” as new workflows emerge, such as the recent explosion in AI technologies, especially working in an office that prides itself on being at the cutting edge of technological development.

What were the biggest skills/mindsets/approaches you took away from your architecture education?

Architecture education taught me problem-solving and how to wrap my head around complex problems. It involves bringing together many different constraints and knowing a little bit about everything. You have to keep your mind open and be welcoming to criticism. I think more specific to my experience was learning a deep respect for tradespeople, who are the craftspeople who know their materials better than many architects.

What do you wish you had learned in your architecture education?

I actually don’t like to dwell on regrets about what I could have learned. There are always things anyone could have learned but didn’t, but I’m not going to say I “wish” I had learned “X”. Be careful what you wish for, as they say.

Knowing what you know now, would you do undergrad/grad differently?

I think the most productive thing I could have done would have been to take myself a little less seriously and laugh a bit more about my own work. I also think I have exercised more compassion towards my own career choices and compared my own choices to those of others less. Just be yourself and follow your passions, that’s what I would tell others. Don’t worry about what people are saying to you about what you “should” or “should not” do. You are your own expert in yourself.

If I were to go back to school now, I would probably choose a school that is both tech-heavy in its approaches like ETH Zurich or University of Michigan or SciArc, and also has extensive fabrication facilities. I think I made the right choices based on what I knew at the times I applied to school.

How would you compare your undergraduate and Master’s programs?

Both MIT and the Harvard GSD are very playful, fun environments full of wonderful people who are trying to solve real-world problems and who are supportive of each other's work. MIT is by nature more tech-focused, and the GSD is known for having a strong architectural theory program. This being said, I basically made my own program of study at both MIT and GSD that fit me rather than some specific pedagogy.

What advice do you have for students starting out in design?

My general advice for people starting out in any profession is to push the boundaries of what your field allows. Don't feel a need to fit into the mold. Can you step outside the silo of what you're learning and see things from different perspectives? Architecture is not just about buildings. The skillset can be applied across different domains, including software architecture. Our culture tends to silo people into specializations. While there is great value in becoming an expert in your domain, don’t forget that the problems in one domain that might seem completely unique are not necessarily that different from those in another. I think there is also a tendency for architecture students to think of themselves as being separate from other disciplines, and this attitude, while useful for some discussions, can also be very constraining in one’s thinking. Also, nurture a sense of humbleness and respect towards the other people you encounter in the world, including the tradespeople who are working with materials on a day-to-day basis. Your education does not make you better than them, and in many ways your knowledge will pale compared to others, it’s just your own special unique way of seeing the world. Everyone’s an expert in something.

Don’t forget to laugh with yourself; it will make the work that much better.