It’s Friday, and the weekend is just around the corner. That means it is time to kick up your feet and relax with some quick fire questions. This ‘Time Out’ features Mohammad Fahad, associate architect at Church Lukas, and Alex Edmeades, area sales manager at Roy Geddes Bricks. Together, they founded The Build Club, a networking and learning series connecting professionals across the built environment through informal collaboration.
What is the first thing you do to get the weekend started?
Fahad: I start by writing out the priorities for the week ahead or the weekend – if I don’t do that, my head never really switches off. Once that’s out of the way, it’s a slowed-down morning.
Alex: Has to be a nice cup of coffee and a freshly baked pastry – sets up Saturday morning perfectly.
What is your hobby?
Fahad: I love hiking, travelling around Europe and salsa dancing. I’m naturally drawn to places with interesting architecture and food, so exploring new spaces and flavours tends to become part of the experience
Alex: I love going to the gym as my escape and calm place. I also love playing paddle / tennis / badminton – any sport involving a racquet!
What is your favourite movie?
Fahad: There Will Be Blood – Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance is magnetic, and the film’s themes of ambition and obsession really stick with you.
Alex: I’m a big fan of psychological thrillers and sci-fi. I would say the two films I could always watch any time are Interstellar and Inception.
If you hadn’t been successful at what you do, what would you be doing instead as a career?
Fahad: Probably running a small business – something like a multi-use coffee shop with good music and a strong sense of community.
Alex: I did a psychology degree, and worked for a year as an assistant psychologist, so I would probably have ended up in that field if I hadn’t been introduced to the world of bricks!
If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
Fahad: To speak every language.
Alex: Has to be power of flight.
What is your secret talent?
Fahad: I enjoy listening.
Alex: As a child I was a very strong chess player and used to compete nationally.
What is your favourite genre of music?
Fahad: Soulful music – somewhere between indie, blues, and jazz. My current favourites range from Gouge Away by Nation of Language and Good Man by Raphael Saadiq to Wildfires by SAULT, Mahal by Glass Beams, and You Were Mine by Tami Neilson. I like music that feels alive, soulful, and a bit unpredictable.
Alex: I like any genre of music really and try to listen to a variety. I do always seem to end up back at the music I listened to through my school years – the punk/rock years of Blink 182, Green Day, etc., and have always been a big Oasis (early stuff) fan.
If you could travel to any moment in time, where would you go?
Fahad: I would go back to the Mughal Golden Age or Moorish Spain, moments when different cultures mixed and produced incredible architecture, art and ideas.
Alex: I would love to go back to Ancient Egypt, and witness how the Pyramids were built, and the lifestyle they lived at that time. Or I would love to go, say, 1,000 years into the future and see what human civilisation is like (or where it was even…Interplanetary?).
