Raúl Díaz

Principal, Architect

When Raúl was about 14 or 15 years of age, he started to go to work with his father on Saturdays. He would tend the garden of two houses in Rancho Santa Fe. One house was a Wrightian composition, long and linear with multiple levels, masonry, repetitive glass, steel, and a porte cochere. The other home was quite different. It was an olive green board and batten shed that prominently displayed the garage. It had a porch out front with columns whose thinness was justified by economy, not proportion. The discourse between the two houses sparked a curiosity that has not ceased to this day. On the other hand, finding the drafting classes in high school to be an easy "A" also helped him decide to study architecture in college. Raúl finds inspiration in discovering how much there is to know about the built world, as well as through teaching when he hears the first “aha” or “ohhh, I get it” from his students.