Name: Ursa Komac
Position: Director of Academic Programs in Architecture
Company: Western Sydney University
What do you enjoy the most, working in the field of construction & development?
The people I work with are what I enjoy most about working in the construction industry. I like being able to discuss, hear and understand different opinions and perspectives. I am interested in observing cities and how people live out their lives within them. I like thinking about how to improve spaces because they are the skeleton, conditions for life. I want to add to that, and regularly think of how to improve spaces. It’s an exercise that I love and enjoy doing in collaboration with others.
Where do you see your life in the next 5 years, what possibilities are ahead of you?
I always imagined many different possibilities that could lie ahead of me. Especially when I work with students and different stakeholders in academia, as I always get introduced to many new exciting possibilities that change my ideas for the future.
If you could write a letter to a 13-year-old ‘you’ what would you say?
Come on, be brave, take courage and it will all work out. An honest person has nothing to fear. This is what my mother said to me when I was a child, or as G.B. Shaw put it nicely: “Life is not meant to be easy, my child; but take courage: it can be delightful.”
What are 3 skills you have had to develop to get to where you are presently?
Apart from curiosity and critical thinking, which are the driving forces that shape design sensibility, it was being able to speak foreign languages that I have found to be the most crucial skill after leaving Slovenia 20 years ago. The three most important skills that help me professionally were:
- Observing: viewing things from different perspectives
- Caring: because if you don’t care, nothing matters
- Communicating: talking about how to improve things, both visually and verbally. The Anglo world is so skilled in talking and writing. A skilled eye for detail and a holistic view of things were also important to develop. It is important also not to forget to ask, such as: “What are we doing?”, “Where we are coming from?”, and “Where we are going?”
