A college chemistry class that “kicked (her) on the tail” and an architecture school project sponsored by Hill’s Pet Nutrition were starting factors to Susan Sharp’s career and passion.
Sharp, who lives in Devil’s Pond, has completed a “good amount of travel” as a licensed architect and started her journey with a London firm focused on human health care and veterinary facilities.
“The people that I get to work with are animal lovers, and they’re good people,” she said. “Seeing (the facilities) built, what you imagine the layout. And then when it’s finally built, it’s very satisfying.”
Since 2004, Sharp has been hired by various architecture firms around the country to further specialize in designing veterinary teaching hospitals.
She started her own practice in 2016.
“It was time,” she said. “The writing was on the wall. It was just time.”
While working with Foil Wyatt Architects & Planners in Jackson, Mississippi, from 2004-10, she said she helped design vet school projects for the University of Florida, Louisiana State University, Auburn and North Carolina State.
“While I was there, that’s where I got a good amount of the higher ed veterinary experience,” she said. “A lot of these firms, they don’t have any veterinarian experience.”
She then began work with Atlanta-based architecture firm Perkins & Will for three years, when the firm was awarded a project to design the University of Georgia Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
She said she helped coordinate the installation of animal and medical equipment, including “dog cages (and) horse stalls,” MRI and CT machines and linear accelerators to help treat cancer in animals.
“We got to build the entire hospital all at one time,” she said. “I’m pretty sure I won’t get to experience that ever again.”
With the process often came “learning curves,” which she said included determining the amount of space for the equipment and that the drainage and mechanical systems were installed properly to prevent “bad odors.”
Following her experience with Perkins & Will, Sharp said she gained insight into the operations side of the teaching hospital when received a two-year contract at UGA.
“Seeing things from the operations side, the day-to-day, the calls you get when they tripped up a circuit,” she said. “You’ve got to go flip it back on, and if it keeps happening, you’ve got to determine why (it keeps) happening. Things like that.”
She added that her contract was extended for 15 months, allowing her to be present for the end of construction and warranty period, and serve as acting building manager.
“Most architects don’t get to do that,” she said. “That’s a really unusual experience, but it helped me a lot with the work that I’m currently doing.”
Though she said she has mainly worked from home since 2016, Sharp has also worked in New York City, Texas, Puerto Rico and at the University of California, Davis.
“Every project I work on, I learned something new,” she said. “I try to learn on every project to make the next one better.”