Tom Buechele Profiled in American Builders Quarterly

Vice President for Campus Operations, Tom Buechele (BFA1989, MFA 2017) was recently profiled in American Builders Quarterly for his work renovating the 280 Columbus Drive Building's auditorium. The auditorium was built in 1974 and was used primarily as a lecture hall and cinema. Buechele told American Builders Quarterly, "I went through all my art history survey classes in that room, so probably one of my lifetime goals was to convert it into something bright and shiny.” Buechele and his team turned the dark purple space into 9,000 usable square-feet with many skylights delivering much needed sun.

Buechele, after graduating from SAIC with his BFA, worked alongside legends such as Robert Rauschenberg and Roy Liechtenstein as a printer and publisher of fine art lithographs in Los Angeles. However, he was pulled back to Chicago and the orbit of SAIC where he began his career in campus operations. Although Buechele works on the administrative side of SAIC these days, he never wants to give up his academic roots or the flexible and fearless mind of the artist.

He says of his managing style, “A lot of it is about trust and fear. Too many people manage out of a position of fear. One of the things the creative process allows you to accept is that failure is an important way of learning. We always say around here that if you’re not failing, you’re not learning.”

Read the whole article on American Builders Quarterly.

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