As a child, Tamara Burns used to draw plans—making houses and complexes for animals, and even diagramming where she wanted to place each piece of furniture when she decided to rearrange her bedroom.

Burns, principal and co-founder of HopkinsBurns Design Studio in Ann Arbor, said she didn’t realize that her creation of unique spaces was what architecture is all about and didn’t know what she wanted to study until she was forced to declare a major in college.

“My mom sat down with me and asked what I was good at and what I liked to do,” Burns said. “I answered, ‘math and art.’ And when you put math and art together, that’s architecture. It was kind of like everything fell into place.”

After that, Burns went on to get a bachelor’s and later a master’s degree in architecture and worked in a few different firms, living in the Bay Area of California where she met her husband and had a child.

When her child was young, she decided to move back to her hometown of Ann Arbor to be close to family before her son started kindergarten. The family ended up moving into the home where Burns had grown up.

“My father always put big porches on all the houses he lived in,” Burns said. “It isn’t a special house, really. It’s just a standard ranch, but the porch opened up outdoor space, a very livable outdoor space, and that had a big effect on me.”

Moving from California back to Michigan wasn’t the only adjustment for Burns. She went from designing chain retail buildings in California to working in the area of historic preservation. At her first office job back in Ann Arbor, Burns met Gene Hopkins, the architect who is now her partner at HopkinsBurns Design.

While Burns was working with now-retired architect Lorri Sipes and Hopkins, the architectural firm merged and became the Ann Arbor office of what is now known as the Smith Group. Burns said the first job to land on her desk after starting over in Michigan was the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.

“That was very different from designing chain retail,” Burns said. “It’s been a fascinating journey ever since.”

Burns said many people have misconceptions about preserving historical buildings and think they can’t easily make the spaces usable under current preservation guidelines.

“In our experience, there are many things you can do with an existing building, even under the Secretary of the Interior standards, that are acceptable,” Burns said. “What we’re looking for is identifying things about the building that are character-defining and important, making sure those things are retained. But it doesn’t mean everything has to be frozen in time. I believe old buildings should be used, not mothballed.”

After working with Sipes and Hopkins for several years, Sipes retired, and then in 2006, the Smith Group closed the Ann Arbor office and moved all the employees to Detroit. Hopkins and Burns broke away in 2007 and started their own Ann Arbor firm in June of that year.

Burns said she and Hopkins have been “very fortunate” to have brisk business from the start, even though they’ve done little to no advertising. She attributes some of their success to working in a specialized field and the rest to her partner’s reputation in the specialty of historic preservation, saying that Hopkins is known as “the architect of the capital” because he’s done extensive work in Washington, D.C.

When she’s not designing as part of her work with HopkinsBurns, she is involved with the American Institute of Architects at the regional and state level. Earlier this year, she was named secretary of the American Institute of Architects Michigan chapter. Since board members typically start as secretary and work their way up through the positions on the board, she expects to be president a few years from now, only the third woman to serve as president of the AIA Michigan.

“We have some exciting things going on in the AIA,” Burns said. The AIA has always been invited to meet legislators one day each year in Lansing, she said, but last year was the first year that representatives from AIA Michigan were asked to give a talk on sustainability and comment on bills that were being passed.

Burns said it was obvious from reading some bills from several years ago that legislators didn’t quite “get it” when it came to creating legislation about environmentally friendly and sustainable building practices.

“But now, the AIA is in a position of a trusted adviser to the legislature,” Burns said.

Burns has come a long way since the early days when she wasn’t even sure what architects did for a living and said she finds her work “very rewarding.”

“It’s good to find something you like to do and people you like to do it with,” she said.

Background

Age: 50.

Education: Graduated from Community High School; Bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Michigan; master’s degree in architecture from University of California Berkeley.

Family: Husband Dennis McGowan, son Jamie McGowan (16), mom Eunice Burns.

Residence: Childhood home in Ann Arbor.

Business Insights

Best business decision: Starting my own business.

Worst business decision: I’m trying to avoid having one.

Best way to keep a competitive edge: Being involved in one’s profession and one’s community.

Personal hero: My mom, Eunice Burns. My father died when I was 5, leaving her to raise four kids ages 5 to 12. She did it with grace and strength and, at the same time, was extremely active in our community.

How do you motivate people? Give them responsibility and ownership of the work they are expected to perform, or give them chocolate.

What advice would you give to yourself in college? Join the soccer team.

Word that best describes you: Empathetic.

First website you check in the morning: I try to stay off the Internet in the morning - it’s distracting.

Confessions

What keeps you up at night? Not much - I rarely have trouble sleeping.

Pet peeve: Selfish people.

Guilty pleasure: Pleasure should never involve guilt.

First job: Dunkin’ Donuts on Main Street, Ann Arbor.

First choice for a new career: Writer. Treasures

Favorite cause: Environmental stewardship.

Favorite book: “The Princess Bride” by William Goldman.

Favorite movie: “The Princess Bride.”

Favorite hobby: Cooking with great music playing and a glass of wine at hand.

Favorite restaurant: Woods on Mackinac Island.

LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter? Facebook, because it includes family, friends and colleagues.

Typical Saturday: Picking up the pieces from the week, stopping to smell the roses, planning, planning, planning.

What team do you root for? Skyline boy’s soccer.

Wheels: Ford Explorer (planning to get a hybrid when this car wears out).

Who would play you in a movie? (I’m told) Jennifer Garner.

Sarah Rigg is a freelance writer and a frequent contributor to AnnArbor.com. You can reach her at sarahrigg@yahoo.com.