{"id":7571,"date":"2022-03-09T14:47:33","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T19:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/?p=7571"},"modified":"2022-03-09T14:47:33","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T19:47:33","slug":"get-to-know-suchi-reddy-91-making-waves-with-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/2022\/03\/09\/get-to-know-suchi-reddy-91-making-waves-with-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Get to know: Suchi Reddy ’91, making waves with design"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo
Photo by Alyssa Schukar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The pandemic did little to slow down Suchi Reddy.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 1991 graduate from the School of Architecture & Community Development is receiving wide acclaim for two very different high-profile design projects \u2013 both developed during the pandemic \u2013 that have earned her praise and showcase in the New York Times for the innovative way they blend art, design and technology.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first of those projects by\u00a0<\/span>Reddy and her company, Reddymade Architecture and Design,\u00a0<\/span>was\u00a0<\/span>the first flagship store for Google in New York City, which opened during the summer of 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n

She followed\u00a0<\/span>that\u00a0<\/span>by designing a sculptural piece, \u201cme + you\u201d that was featured in the famous rotunda of the Smithsonian Arts and Industries building in Washington D.C., as part of the Smithsonian Institution\u2019s 175th anniversary celebration, called \u201cFutures.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the pandemic broke out, we worked through the pandemic on two very important projects, both to do with technology, but in rather different ways,\u201d Reddy said. \u201cGoogle has never had a store before and we were the first to image what that might look like and we designed it almost as the anecdote to a tech experience where it\u2019s meant to be warm, welcoming and full of wonder.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Reddy\u2019s \u201cme + you\u201d design was inspired by many different passions, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, vibration, light, sound and neuroscience. The design shone brightly in the same spot that once featured Charles Lindbergh\u2019s plane, Thomas Edison\u2019s lightbulb and where the historic first moonwalk was shown.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Funky
Photo by by Paul Warchol<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMostly I was inspired by the idea of technology giving people a voice and I wanted to think about this idea of how to give people a voice and express it in light,\u201d she said. \u201cI came up with the idea of taking a vibration of sound and turning it into a vibration of light and asking people to express their visions of the future into the sculpture. So that it could learn, adapt and reinterpret their vision back to them and also show them how their individual vision was affecting the collective vision.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Reddy credits her fondness for architecture and design all the way back to a young age in her native India. She cultivated her passion by way of her parents, most notably her mother, who helped design a unique home they lived in,\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>which was highly influenced by Japanese architecture.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had this sort of epiphany that my house was making me a different person than my friends,\u201d Reddy said. \u201cNot better, not worse, just different. I knew that it affected me and in essence architecture has always been a protagonist in the story of my life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt has shaped me. And from that sort of early epiphany, I was really driven to become an architect. When I look back on it, I had a fairly unusual and rich introduction to architecture, which then made me want to be an architect.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While Reddy\u2019s architecture dream was born in India, it was pursued and honed in the United States and at University of Detroit Mercy, following her immigration to the country and ultimately, Detroit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reddy, looking to further her architectural education, soon found herself calling Detroit Mercy and the School of Architecture home.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of the most amazing things about Detroit is that it is such a unique city in all of America,\u201d Reddy said. \u201cIt has this incredible sense of history, it\u2019s the seat of essentially a revolution in how we saw our world. I really reacted extremely positively, I was incredibly inspired by Detroit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The University, the city and the School of Architecture left a lasting impression on Reddy as she prepared for her career in architecture.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in a school of architecture, I think one of the things I found very beautiful about it was kind of this sense of collaboration that I found there, both with my fellow students and the introduction to studying among various disciplines because my philosophy classes, for instance, made a huge impression on me as did my history of art class and this was slightly a different way of being educated versus what I was used to,\u201d she said. \u201cI really had a beautiful introduction to a country and sort of see my time in Detroit as really understanding what an ethos of a place might be and how architecture could actually contribute to shaping that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Following her education at Detroit Mercy, she moved around the country working for various firms from Florida to Oregon to Wisconsin, before eventually landing in New York City.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once there, she established her own firm<\/span>. She grew Reddymade Architecture and Design from a one-person firm\u00a0<\/span>in 2002\u00a0<\/span>to employing nearly 20 today.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was working for Michael Gabellini, who I consider one of my mentors, and they had just had to downsize and the same day, somebody called me and had asked if I would design a house. That\u2019s kind of how I began working for myself,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was not a plan, it grew rather organically, so I began making my projects myself and in the process of designing that house, which never got built, I met some other people who introduced me to other clients.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Reddy, who serves on the Dean\u2019s Board of Advisor<\/span>s for the School of Architecture & Community Development at Detroit Mercy, reiterated how important the University was in her development and thinking about architecture.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s now reflected in her work and her company\u2019s work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPart of Detroit Mercy\u2019s lasting legacy in my work is that while I was there, I also developed or had the chance to develop my interest in contemporary art,\u201d she said. \u201cI read every art book that I could lay my hands on. My work was influenced by it, if not so much by the architecture, in the very least in the thinking behind what makes something useful, what makes it unique, what makes it a contribution.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think that design exists in everything; it\u2019s not restricted to architecture or to language. I like to celebrate its presence in everything I do. The projects we take on and the portfolio of the firm is incredibly diverse, which makes it a rather difficult practice to explain to clients because generally people want to see you\u2019ve done one thing and 30 of the same thing. We are always doing things that are different, innovative, where we value the thinking that we bring to the table. It\u2019s also a very collaborative practice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While Reddy had an epiphany as a child in seeing her future as an architect, another impactful moment was witnessing 9\/11 in New York City. It\u2019s helped push her to where she is today.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs traumatic a moment for all of us, it sparked thinking,\u201d she said. \u201cI took a bit of time then to really think about is being an architect what I really want to be? \u2018Is this how I can contribute to the world?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a few weeks, I came back to knowing that this is what I do to make the world a better place for other people and this is my medium. I have been attracted to it, lived in it, revisited it and invested in it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think as an architect, that is a very important thing to keep in mind.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The pandemic did little to slow down Suchi Reddy. The 1991 graduate from the School of Architecture & Community Development is receiving wide acclaim for two very different high-profile design projects \u2013 both developed during the pandemic \u2013 that have earned her praise and showcase in the New York Times …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[12,2,7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Kcng-1Y7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7574,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7571\/revisions\/7574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}