anthonypoon.com

#216: TRIBUTE | ROBERT A.M. STERN (1939-2025) AND THE BEST OF TIMES

December 7, 2025

I didn’t know what to expect when I got the phone message. It was the late 80s. I recently graduated from architecture school, relocated from California to New York, and worked at a no-name corporate firm in Midtown Manhattan. Surprisingly, I received a job offer through voicemail from the famed Robert A.M. Stern Architects (“RAMSA”). Accepting the offer, I felt a little guilty jumping that no-name ship. But it wasn’t much of a Sophie’s Choice: staying at a generic architecture company vs. joining a leading voice of the groundbreaking Postmodern movement.

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#215: WHO DO WE SERVE?

November 28, 2025

As architects, who do we serve? As a client business, we serve our paying customers. As licensed professionals, we serve regulatory standards and safety codes. As community members, we serve society. As creative individuals, we serve an artistic agenda and the zeitgeist.

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#214: IS 85% GOOD ENOUGH?

November 7, 2025

At Poon Design Inc., we evaluate the completion of each project. The question is this: What percentage of the original design is evident in the built work? If we are successful, the final results capture the initial concept, and we pat ourselves on the back for achieving 95% or higher. But sometimes, we get only 70% or lower, meaning the original design got compromised along the way. Why/how?

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#213: AN INTERVIEW WITH VOYAGE LA

October 17, 2025

VoyageLA, the flagship publication of the Voyage Group of Magazines, takes a fresh approach to media, within multiple cities across the country. With stories on artists, entrepreneurs, underdogs, and risk takers, VoyageLA states, “We respect people and organizations that take the path less traveled.” Below are edited and abridged excerpts from my interview with VoyageLA.

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#212: THE INTERVIEW | READING THE ROOM

September 26, 2025

A contemporary phrase often recommended is, “Read the room.” In business, everyone is required to have skills of observation and deduction, as well as awareness, both in general and self. But this is also required–whether a corporate boss or high school teacher, a police officer or nurse, with family or friends. In life, it is imperative to understand a setting or situation, whether professional or social.

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#211: TEN YEARS OF WRITING THIS STUFF

September 5, 2025

In 2015, I launched this weblog. It has been a decade of writing, now over 200 articles, totaling about 150,000 words. For reference, the first Harry Potter book contains 76,944 words.

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