A Day in San Francisco With Design Voice Podcast's Catherine Meng

By Catherine Meng

Catherine Meng, AIA, is an architect and Senior Associate at DLR Group | Kwan Henmi in San Francisco, California, as well as the host of the Design Voice Podcast. She received her Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University, and previously worked in Shanghai and New York City before escaping to the agreeable temperatures of the Bay Area. Her day involves parenting in the time of COVID-19, a DEI Taskforce, code analysis, and editing a Design Voice episode.

6:00am: I wake up to whatever new sounds my 15-month-old daughter, Madeleine, has settled on that week. Lately, she’s been mimicking our dog, so her little yipping sounds rouse me from sleep. My husband and I take turns sleeping in, and today’s my day to take the so-called “first shift.”

7:00am: After setting Madeleine up with her breakfast, I quickly get ready for my day while she eats and isn’t demanding my attention. These days, while I’ve still been working from home, this means throwing on a shirt that will look presentable in Zoom for client meetings, but keeping on my sweatpants. Our daycare is still closed, so my husband and I are both working from home while trying to manage Madeleine and feed ourselves. My office, DLR Group, opened up at the beginning of June, but thankfully the firm has been very flexible and anyone who chooses to work remotely can do so.

8:00am: My husband wakes up and takes over playing with Madeleine while I jump on my first of many Zoom calls of the day. First up is the DEI Taskforce I’m on for the CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) Network. Much of the conversation veers off from our meeting agenda as everyone shares how they’ve been feeling during the recent Black Lives Matter protests across the country and world. It’s a sobering, but still hopeful, start to my day, and I’m constantly inspired by the other amazing women on the Taskforce.

10:00am: Madeleine goes down for her morning nap, and I furiously try to get some work done. I have a few different projects going on, at different design stages, and I have different roles in each one. I answer a quick RFI for a WeWork project that’s currently under construction, send out a few follow-up emails for a mixed-use development for which I’m Project Manager, and finish up a SD cartoon set for a higher-ed project. I really enjoy jumping back and forth between different tasks and project scales, as it always keeps things interesting.

11:00am: I have a Zoom client meeting for one of my projects, a new student services building at a community college. Madeleine is crawling around between my legs throughout the meeting. She’s fairly quiet, although I do have to toss some cheerios in her direction to keep her distracted at times. If she starts crying, my husband runs out from his home office to take her somewhere where she won’t disturb my call.

12:00pm: After a quick lunch of leftovers, my husband and I alternate playing with the baby while the other person does work. Every day seems like a mad rush to get work done in 15-20 minute increments broken up by making sure she isn’t terrorizing our dog or about to jump off the couch.

2:30pm: After feeding her a snack, we put Madeleine down for her afternoon nap, then I start working on the code analysis for the student services building – definitely one of the less glamorous aspects of an architect’s job description! I break up the monotony by chatting with a few coworkers on Microsoft Teams, and checking out the latest posts on Square 1, DLR Group’s intranet. I really miss seeing my coworkers everyday, but we try to stay connected by doing weekly office meetings on Zoom.

5:00pm: After more of our alternating between working/Zoom calls/watching Madeleine, my husband and I call it a day (for now) and all go on a long walk with our dog around the neighborhood. We decide to stop by a local restaurant that, during the pandemic, has been selling wine and cookies. We grab a bottle of wine for later tonight, and I get a chocolate chip cookie for breakfast tomorrow morning, of course eating a few bites on the way home. Then it’s the evening routine of Madeleine’s dinner, bath, and story time.

Catherine’s neighborhood in San Francisco

7:00pm: Madeleine is off to bed, and I run out to get Chinese take out from a neighborhood restaurant. I love walking through our neighborhood in San Francisco during this time of day. I’ve read a lot of articles lately that ask whether or not the pandemic will make people want to leave cities, but the romantic in me doesn’t think this will happen. I just love how diverse and vibrant and often chaotic urban life is, which is reflected in our neighborhood, and can’t imagine leaving it. After finishing dinner, I prepare some food for tomorrow’s meals and snacks as my husband does the dishes.

8:00pm: I get the laptop out again and put in another stretch of work for the evening. After wrapping up some things for a Planning Department submittal, I finally have some time to work on my podcast, Design Voice. I work on the audio editing for an episode that will be released next week. Toward the beginning of the pandemic and working from home, I definitely struggled with adjusting to this new reality. I decided to pause on producing my normal podcast episodes, which feature interviews with different women in the AEC fields, and do a mini-series of episodes about how people have been living, working, and coping throughout the pandemic. Hearing other women’s experiences from this time has definitely made me feel more connected and hopeful, and I’m so appreciative of these women for taking the time to share their stories with me for the podcast.

11:30pm: After finishing up my work for the day, I face the age old question – go to bed at a semi-reasonable hour, or relax and watch some TV (but regret it tomorrow morning)? TV wins this round, and my husband and I watch an old episode of Parts Unknown while drinking wine. We live vicariously through the late great Anthony Bourdain and dream of when we can travel again after the pandemic is over. Despite the challenges we’ve faced throughout the pandemic, I know we are very fortunate, and, in the end I’m so thankful for the time I’ve been able to spend with my family the past few months.