Amy Watson is an architect who has always loved libraries. “When I was a kid, I’d ride my Schwinn Pixie down to the library, where the librarians would let me take out the new books before they went into circulation,” she says. She worked at her local library as a teenager, right around the time her town decided to build a new one. The architects took the staff, including Amy, on a tour of Chicago libraries. She’s wanted to be an architect ever since.

Amy’s had a varied career: condos in Napa, large tenant improvements, and Claridge’s Hotel in London. She’s specified a sink hewn from a single piece of granite and knows the ins and outs of bolection molding. Her understanding of architecture is “inside out.” She’s most interested in how the interior of a building makes people feel. The meaningful projects she’s working on at Noll & Tam inspire her.

Amy is an avid doubles tennis player: “It’s my great joy in life.” Her favorite thing on the planet is to smash it over the net.