When she was a teenager, Stacy Christie was among the thousands of people who gathered to watch the implosion of the Allis Hotel in downtown Wichita.
The site of the former hotel will now become home to the first phase of the $300 million Wichita Biomedical Campus, a project involving Wichita State University, the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita and WSU Tech.
And Christie will oversee the construction of the building as director of special projects for WSU’s Facilities Planning.
Christie talked with The Range about the project, what drew her to architecture, and how her career outlook changed when she became a mom.
The interview was edited for length and clarity.
Tom Shine: Give me the elevator version of what your role is in the building of the biomed campus?
Stacy Christie: I'm overseeing construction, but also the building is still being designed. So, I'm overseeing design and making sure that all owners’ opinions are relevant at the table. There's both KU and Wichita State and WSU Tech. So, I work for all of those institutions,
Biggest project you've worked on?
Absolutely.
So, does that terrify you in any way?
Absolutely (laughing).
Talk more about that.
I have worked on a lot of projects here in Wichita, and some outside of Wichita. But here in the Midwest, we don't build a lot of tall buildings; we have a lot of land. So the biggest building I've ever worked on height wise is three stories. And square footage wise, I've done a lot of projects at Cessna and Spirit that were quite large square footage, but not with the complexities and the number of people and entities.
I think it's fair to say (the construction world) is … male dominated. You obviously will be in that world. How does that work?
Architects in Wichita, there are maybe 20 (women) … and there's about 200 men, so we really are outnumbered.
It is a male-dominated industry. And I even had a client tell me not that long ago that he didn't want a woman on site. And you know, ‘What? What?’
But for much of my career, I've been the only woman and the youngest person in the room, and it used to intimidate me. But the more experience I've gotten, the less I let it bother me.
And that is actually something I am really liking about this project. I am working for a woman for the first time ever, really. Emily Patterson (executive director of Facilities Planning at WSU) is one of my direct supervisors, and it's just a completely different environment.
And a lot of the people I'm collaborating with are women. It is completely different than the experiences I've had.
What is it about architecture that first drew you to it?
Well, I decided on architecture in eighth grade … no, ninth grade. We did an art class that was professions and art. And I always thought before that, I couldn't really have an artistic profession. I thought it was more of something fun, not something I could make a living at. And then I learned about architecture.
I like architecture for its order. And I also am a middle child of a big family. I like collaboration, and I like bringing people together. I didn't know that was something in architecture until I got into school that … we have to do a lot. And you have to kind of be the peacemaker and to help make decisions and move it forward.
Were you a Legos kid growing up? Or were you more of an artist kid growing up?
I would say both. … I did play with Legos. But I liked building Barbie houses or Barbie furniture, or whatever else. We would make it out of cardboard or whatever we needed to. … I like that hands-on tactile stuff that also drew me to architecture.
I still am a Legos person. I just was looking the other day. I'm like, ‘We need to clean out some Legos probably.’ I have 8-year-old twins and too many Legos.
Your fantasy job was baseball scout. Why is that?
I've always really liked baseball … The Shockers won the World Series when I was in second grade. And we used to go to games a lot growing up and then the NBC Tournament. I have done (Baseball Around the Clock) more than once. I just grew up doing it. I'm excited they're bringing it back this year, actually.
I read that you used to participate in roller derby. What was your nickname?
Ballyhoo.
And why did you participate in roller derby?
One of my coworkers was doing it. And everybody's kind of laughing that she was doing it because she's this little petite girl. And I am not a little petite girl. They're like, ‘You should you should do that, Stacy.’ I was like, ‘I'm not gonna do that.’ But then I went to practice. And I hadn't skated since I was like a kid. And I fell on my butt more than once.
But it was really fun to be around all these women … And then I got in pretty good shape. I did it for a year. And it really was fun.
I don't skate now, which my kids are sad about. But it was fun to have an alternate ego.
Do (your kids) know that mom's working on this big, giant project?
They do. … And so since I've had kids, I think my career has changed a little bit, and I want to do projects that they're able to see and be a part of. Who knows, they could go to the school someday.
But just the idea that if they live here in Wichita 50 years from now, they can always be proud of that because I had a part of it, and I really liked that.
I want my kids to be proud of me.
