Sometimes it takes thinking like a 4-year-old to get the job done right.

Matt Hale has a few more years than that under his belt, but that’s why he knows the key to a successful project is envisioning it through the client’s eyes. When that client is a 4-year-old, you take a step back and think like a 4-year-old.

Matt thinks about his own son while creating a new Head Start building, a facility that houses school readiness programs for children from birth to age 5. It’s not simply how it looks, but how it will be used by the people who need it – the toddlers who will call the building home each day. The focus on what will work best for the client is both Matt’s motivation and what drew him to Somerville: the value placed not only on the buildings and business but on the people behind all of it.

Design drives everything, and Matt has always had an eye for it. Leaning toward tech courses, engineering and architecture in high school, he focused on design and buildings in choosing his college degree.

Matt works with the project team to see a job through, beginning to end – from conceptual design to schematics, construction documents, site work and administration. He has worked with different firms, systems and disciplines and continues to hone his skills as systems and materials evolve and improve. Now, as an architect at a firm that puts a premium on good design, the highlight of the process for Matt is seeing the building come together; the day that what he saw all along in his mind begins to appear in physical form.

The client is trusting Somerville and Matt to make the best design choices to make the vision become reality, and the client is in good hands. Young and old alike.