From Jim Allegro

My Doug connection began in 1985. I was a young architect then...fresh out of school and ready to change the world...how fortunate to encounter Doug Michels at the very first firm I had ever signed on with. Fate was at play, and I am so thankful for it.

There was small space at the back corner of HOK Architects' DC office where a couple of us new "droids" were planted. A naïve intern droid(me), one of the construction guys, a young registered architect and soon to be joined by a bright eyed, Armani-sport'N, BAD-boy designer named Doug Michels. The space we shared had no windows and was at the end of a long corridor...bad Feng Shui for sure...but that cave where the "droids" were assembled became an incredibly fertile ground for a friendship that lasted for the next 17 years. Doug and I joked about that windowless, life-support-challenged space for years to come. We called it the "engine room". You see, Doug saw the potential in everything...he was able to transform even the most marginal of spaces into a media lab, an incubation chamber, a think tank...an "engine room". I thank God for that engine room and for the opportunity to have shared it with Doug.

I have shared many happy years of friendship and collaboration with Doug; Dolphin America, the UNY Time Capsule, the Japan America Society Headquarters, New America, Hyperion, Bluestar, Discovery World Theme Park, and more recently, the National Sofa. It was always intense and always fun. I smile when I think of a few of the late nights cranking on drawings in his Dupont Circle studio. Memories of a living room with a couple of butterfly chairs and Bollinger's Bluestar painting on the wall next to a larger than life photo of flipper...in the kitchen, there was the oven...Doug was so proud of the fact that he had never used it, but it was a great place to store manuscripts or art supplies....upstairs, the carpet had been transformed into his canvas...literally...with gracefully spray painted curves of grey and deglo-orange...what a trip...he thought it was soooo cool...it was.

If there is one thing that impressed me most about Doug, it was his love of his family. In particular, he had an incredible love and respect for his mom and dad. He was always sure to thank Caroline and Bob for their support and for coming to his lectures and media events. I really loved that about Doug. He always joked with me about how he was his "parent's hobby". He thrived on their enthusiasm for his work.

I miss you Doug....a bottomless void appears to have been left where you parted from us...but perhaps we find consolation in taking a closer look at the void to muse over it's design. It is marble rimmed with a breathtaking chrome "hood ornament" that marks it from miles away. The walls of the void shimmer like glass, catching some distant light...they are smooth, liquid-like to the touch...and they whisper to us the many melodies of our lives.

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Hey Doug, I didn't get to thank you properly for the cool Cadillac Ranch T-shirt you sent me for my big Four-0. In the future then...Allegro