Fred Perpall, Architect

Job: Architect, Atlanta

What I do: Where most people see a building, Fred Perpall sees space being used by people. And where Woodstock residents once saw an abandoned Kmart, the architect saw a chance to create something new.

"On the surface, architecture is about buildings, but mostly it's about people," said the director of architecture for the Atlanta office of Beck Group.

Perpall, 32, sees his job as the gateway between the client and the project team.

"I set the internal vision and concept" for projects in his office, Perpall said.

Beck Group is an international architecture, development and construction company based in Dallas, Texas. The Atlanta office is its Eastern headquarters.

While Perpall doesn't draw the final, detailed blueprints, he often makes the first sketches when he meets with a client, he said. "Most of my drawings tend to be conceptual."

Two of his primary responsibilities as the head of the office are working with clients and developing architects in the firm.

Among the firm's projects are Duke University's new basketball practice facility; theaters and other structures that Perpall called "entertainment-based retail"; and megachurches, including Bishop T.D. Jakes' Potter's House in Dallas.

One recent project was His Hands Church in Woodstock; an abandoned Kmart was converted into the megachurch. The church "was a neat opportunity for social responsibility to recycle a building," he said. "It looks like it always was what it is now."

The project is like many he's doing that stress sustainability of resources.

One of the secrets for megachurches is to use some of the same techniques used in entertainment buildings, he said.

"It's like a movie theater mixed with a broadcast studio," Perpall said, noting that many of the ministries reach not only the 8,000 people in the congregation but also millions via television.

What got me interested in this: "My uncle was a mason" in the Bahamas, Perpall said. "I worked with him [in the] summers. I knew laying blocks was not where I wanted to be."

Perpall said he wanted an outlet for his interest in art and creativity and began college at age 15, studying architecture. "I always knew this is what I wanted to do."

Architecture, he said, "impacts many people on a greater scale. It was an opportunity to impact people."

Best part of my job: "Absolutely, hands down, the opportunity to develop people," Perpall said. "I want to give architects the opportunity to do something new, excite their own creativity. That gets me excited."

As an architect, he said, "taking a client's vision and helping them realize it — being the interpreter of their vision" are rewarding.

Most challenging part: He said that architecture is the managing of art, science and economics and that it can be a challenge to balance the three.

What people don't know about my job: "People don't expect architects [to be] as frugal as we are," Perpall said. Many of his projects "are all about efficiency."

What keeps me going: "The opportunity to improve the space around us," Perpall said. "To enhance the places where people live. With churches, retail and recreation [buildings], we create places where people are going to have an enhanced life."

Preparation needed for this job: You need a master's degree in architecture and design. A person also must be inquisitive — "a curiosity about how people live their lives," he said. To lead a firm, you need a tremendous interest in people.

To fuel creativity, Perpall said a person needs to develop an extensive experiential and visual database.

Perpall has bachelor's and master's degrees in architecture from the University of Texas at Arlington as well as an associate's degree from the College of the Bahamas. He has certificates from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University and has participated in an architecture fellowship in Rome, Italy.

He worked at architectural firms in Nassau, Bahamas, and Fort Worth, Texas, before joining Urban Architecture in Dallas, which merged with Beck Group.

- By Karl W. Ritzler, for ajcjobs. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to jobseditor@ajc.com.