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Architecture/Engineering/Planning
Joel E. Hernandez remembers writing a paper when he was in the third grade about wanting to be an architect - never mind that he misspelled the word "architect."
Hernandez' inspiration for the field comes, he says, from watching his brother - an architect that owned his own firm.
"I remember he would take me to job sites," recalls Hernandez. "I was in awe of him."
Years later, this San Antonio-native would be going out on his own as well - starting up the local office of Houston-based PBK in June of 1999.
While he jumped at the chance to return to the Alamo City, Hernandez - having seen the industry up close through his brother's firm - admits that it was a job that was also a little scary.
"I knew the architecture community was a small community," he says. "I knew that outsiders to the (local) business were not very welcome. The benefit was that I understood the city."
It took a while to get going, says Hernandez, whose firm has created a niche for itself as a full-service planning, architecture and engineering firm specializing in educational facilities.
But ultimately, the San Antonio office was able to stand out on its own.