July 2020 – Rick Fenuccio


Meet: Rick Fenuccio

1. What is your current occupation?
I’ve been an architect for 30+ years and started/grew a small firm here on the Cape. In June 2019, I sold my portion of the business to two of our long-standing employees. I’m slowly transitioning over to a new consulting business focused on providing project management services to owners, and also working on some potential development projects.

2. What do you love most about your job and why?
As an architect, the joy is always in going through the design-build process with a client and creating something from nothing, whether that’s designing something new for a raw site or renovating and repurposing an existing building. Improving the local community in some manner, and leaving a site better than you found it, is the longevity piece that is very worthwhile.

3. What has changed in your industry in the past five years?
Like many industries, technology and the speed at which people expect you to do your work has changed. There is an expectation that you should be able to go through a thoughtful design process much quicker due to the efficiency of computer-based design and production systems, so we spend a lot of time upfront walking clients through the process and building realistic schedules. The increased level of regulations and code-required building performance, balanced against quickly rising construction costs, has put a lot of budget pressure on projects in the last five years. Managing owners’ expectations with how far their dollars will go has been an increasing challenge.

4. How has CapeSpace improved your work life?
Taking an office space in Mashpee in the middle of COVID has been a little odd for sure and a bit isolating, but I’m sure once things begin transitioning back to “normal” it will be great working around other people from other businesses. Working at CapeSpace will no doubt give my new business of one a professional presence and access to great amenity spaces. It will be a space I’ll be proud to have clients come to… someday!

5. What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
With our youngest kid in college and the other two now out of college and living out of state, my wife, Mary Lou (who works out of CapeSpace Hyannis for the company Infor), and I make the rounds to visit them, which is always fun. In the summer, we love working around our house, beaching it, and spending time with a great group of friends, while in the winter, we love skiing at different mountains.

6. What is your favorite place on Cape Cod?
Our front porch is definitely one of our favorite places. It’s our peaceful place but also where we can have friends and family over on a summer or fall night. Sandy Neck beach is our other favorite place.

7. If you could invite any three people living or dead to a dinner party who would they be and why?
Leonardo da Vinci – he was a genius who worked in so many mediums. I would love to hear about his design process and ask what was really going on with The Last Supper.
Lin-Manuel Miranda – I heard an interview with him recently and he talks a mile a minute about so many different creative things and I thought, wow, he would be fun to meet some day.
My dad, who passed away two years ago, for sure. I would love to catch up with him and talk about work and give him a huge hug. He was an electrician and loved hearing about the buildings that we were working on, plus I’d like to give him an update on all of his grandkids.

8. What is your superpower?
I’d have to say bringing a disparate group of people together and helping to lead a process where everyone is heard, priorities are clearly established, and projects are designed in a truly collaborative approach. It’s taken a lifetime of work, but I’ve learned a lot about bringing out the best from a working group… that or changing lightbulbs in a single turn. ☺