We're officially a We!

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve hired my first staff member, Aaron Cole. Which means Workshop has grown by 100%. 

Aaron and I met at an architecture conference in Las Vegas in 2014. At the time, he was working in Rome, Georgia, but looking to move to Chattanooga. He interviewed at the firm I was previously part of, and we hired him then. When Workshop reached the point where it needed additional hands, I was able to bring him on.

Since then Aaron has been doing great work keeping our projects on schedule and keeping the quality of the work as high as it can be. He's constantly looking for ways to improve the look and feel of our drawings or speed up our work flow.

Aaron attended architecture school at Kennesaw State, where he met his wife, Theresa. (They now are proud parents of Elm and Og.) He started his career in Atlanta in 2003, and when the Great Recession caused many firms to shed staff, he pursued his second passion, organic farming. He worked at that for several years in West Point, Tennessee. Although he found he was successful and self-sustaining at farming, he and his family found the lifestyle too isolated for them. He moved back to Rome, Ga., farmed some family land there, and found work at a local architecture firm. In 2015, he and the family moved to Chattanooga and he fully committed himself to an architecture career.

He’s currently in the midst of registration exams to obtain his license. His interests outside architecture are organic farming, addressing food deserts, and creating obtainable and equitable housing for communities. To quote him speaking about a pro bono project he was engaged in, “I like working for people who need it, not just people who just want it.”

Aaron is an old punk who is fond of quoting Joe Strummer from the Clash, and you’re far more likely to encounter him wearing a Ramones or Minuteman T-shirt than a button down and khakis.

He’s also a committed bicycle commuter, and very active in Bike/Walk Chattanooga, which fits neatly with his passion for healthy lifestyles and community networks. On Sundays, you can find him selling Velo Coffee cold brews from the Velo pedal-powered kiosk at the Chattanooga Market.