As part of our Hyphen Around the World series, we catch up with various members of our team to find out more about their international experience. We also ask for tips – whether it’s about permitting advice, or a must-try local delicacy!
This week, we interviewed Guillermo Yángüez, Senior Architect at Hyphen. Typically based in our Berlin office, Guillermo has delivered projects for clients across Europe, North America, and Asia.
Full! I have to get Siri to help me manage my time and keep me focused on the important stuff.
It’s hard to choose. Goa, India for its exoticism, Guangzhou in China – NY has nothing on their 20m population, and the middle of nowhere in Germany, where I took a trip to visit the site of a logistics project. I was driving through small town after small town until the towns stopped and all I saw were cows, then boom, I see a hall. Had it not been for that project, I would not have seen that beautiful, remote part of Germany.
MS Teams – I love the ‘off the record’ chat that pops up wherever I am.
Languages (fully English, German, and Spanish, as well as French, Italian, and Dutch to a lesser degree) and reading people. I surprise myself at my ability to de-escalate a heated situation and bring a team together.
The people, the flexibility (unlike previous jobs, at Hyphen my work life fits in with my home life), as well as the variety of work.
The Berlin office Christmas party, like the one happening shortly after I joined the company. Everyone was so nice and cool. I felt very welcome (even my salsa dancing!); the environment made a great first impression.
Freshly made falafel where they grind their own mix. There’s a fabulous place not far from the office, on Oranienburger Strasse.
Sadly, my phone…
Singing. I’m a baritone.
Switzerland or Vorarlberg, Austria. I worked in Vorarlberg early in my career and they have such a strong ‘building culture.’ As well as looking at compliance with building regulations, the local authority questions your design thinking. When I worked there, it always felt like a design critique, constructive criticism, and it yielded great results. As an architect, you can take great pride in what gets built there.
A museum for neglected and under-appreciated arts and crafts. I’ve been asked this question before and it makes me recall a sweater that my grandma knitted for me when I was young… at the time I thought, ‘god that’s awful, I’ll never wear that,’ but when I found it years later, I realised the intricate work that had gone into knitting all those tiny knots and the overall vision she had to join together and create a picture. A beautiful object like that ought to be celebrated in a museum.