Meet the Associate Principals – Michael Stebbins
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What is your favorite city? Why?
Vienna, Austria. I lived and worked there for a year and have returned many times. I fell in love with its built environment, history, food, music and people. It’s a true melting pot of east and west with its 600-year run as the seat of the Holy Roman Empire. Viennese coffee culture is a high art form! And the marzipan! (I am an addict.)
If you could travel to a different time, when would it be?
As an Austro-phile, I am always drawn to the turn of the last century – the Secession period – when there was a great change in artistic expression and a flourishing of collaboration among cultures, art, architecture and even engineering.
What are your hobbies?
The zen of furniture making, gardening and recently collecting antique Japanese wood block prints.
![](https://api.coarchitects.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/MStebbins-Furniture-Making.jpg)
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What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
As a yoga teacher (and architect) I am always interested in advancing my knowledge in the various related areas of study. In the case of yoga: physical practice, meditation, breathwork, and philosophy. I struggled for many years in trying to maintain a particular yoga pose – flying pigeon (Eka pada galavasana). Years ago when I asked one of my teachers, Kumudini Yogini of Veda Yoga, “What should I do when I try to hold this pose – because it always falls apart?” Kumi told me point blank, “Let it fall apart.” It was a revelation and a breakthrough for me. I still struggle with the pose – but it is a happy struggle. Sometimes you need to let it all fall apart as an act of learning.
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Which project did you find the most rewarding to work on?
My well-known passion among my colleagues is working on performing arts projects. They are complex, require intimate collaboration, and result in spaces where society can heal - as disbelief is suspended, and differences set aside in the sharing of a common experience.
What is something you learned in school that you still think about / use every day?
Always look for the joy in the act of learning.