Kent Gregory

The arc of my career, as it has evolved over the years, continues to reveal my vocation.

This career has its foundations in Architecture, the act of creating the artifact of a physical building.

Building is a collective act. In my earlier days it was the act of architects, engineers and builders gathered around the common purpose to serve a client. This client would describe their physical needs and we in turn would offer building solutions for them to consider and choose from. We brought our expertise and they bought our services, a straight-forward exchange. But as the pace of change accelerated, this exchange began to lose value. Our expertise built on backward-looking experience could no longer serve a very different looking future.

Building is still a collective act. At its best, it is the work of a community gathered around a common and noble purpose. A community, by definition, is any group of diverse people with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. The power of community is its inherent and latent capacity to bring forth wisdom, imagination and creativity. To participate in this collective act of building, my role is changed. It is less about bringing expertise and more about bringing curiosity and inquiry. Increasingly my role is that of a facilitator, to help create a space where a diverse group of people gathered around a common and noble purpose can bring their dreams, imaginings and knowledge. A place where all can speak, be heard and are acknowledged. It is a place where data is collected. It is a place where stories are told. This is where new ideas germinate, grow and bear fruit.

Building is a collective act. And when a community gathers to reveal new ideas, the artifact of a building is only part of the story. As this story spins, it also tells of new technologies, economies, expressions and ways for people to engage and connect. It is many ideas bound together in a single story, with the goal of bringing health to the community as it brings its purpose to a changing world.

My profession is Architecture, my vocation is Storytelling. Good Storytellers do not make up a story, they discover it and help to articulate it, to make it visible. It is the story of a community gathered, healthy, and fruitful.