Introducing Designers Build_pdx

An evening event hosted by the Architectural Foundation of Oregon (AFO), celebrated the conclusion of my year-long research project as the 2018 Van Evera Bailey fellow. This annual fellowship is awarded to architects and related professionals for the purpose of advancing their career development and encouraging greater contribution to their profession and community. It is an opportunity for professionals in the field to examine not only what they think, but how they think.

 I used the award to research gender inequity within the profession of architecture, including the barriers women face with gaining construction knowledge. Based on my longtime involvement with the AIA Committee on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion I saw this fellowship as an opportunity to continue my work towards understanding the underlying elements that push women out of the profession even as more women are graduating with architecture degrees than men.  

As an attendee of the 2018 Equity by Design Symposium, I benefited from being at the front lines of the effort by AIA San Francisco to collect the largest data set ever regarding equity within the design profession in the US. The findings illustrated a trend of career pinch points common to all architects, but which for a variety of reasons posed significant challenges to women in particular. Further survey results saw that early predictors of successful retention included prioritizing mentorship, purposeful work in the community & training.

This event & information set the framework for the basis of my VEB Fellowship ask: If the survey results show that women note one of the most impactful of the predictors for lack of success within the profession as deficient training, specifically a lack of training in construction methods, how can we address this need at its most basic and local level? What can be learned from existing strategies to stem the tide of attrition and in turn retain women in the field at all levels of advancement? 

 Once I was awarded the fellowship, my work focused on four main efforts. The first was researching existing construction training programs, both academic and those hosted in the private sector. The second was participating in outreach efforts to individuals and organizations in order to gain their insight and collaboration. The third was investing personal effort in attending and taking part in many local construction-related workshops, volunteering with community organizations & participating in a week-long Carpentry for Women class at Yestermorrow Design-Build School in Vermont. The outcome of the year’s study, coupled with survey feedback from over 60 local women professionals, helped shape the framework for the final initiative. 

 What became clear from this exercise was the recognition that although the skills and education relative to building were beneficial, the main takeaway was the value of tangential learning. Time spent crafting in the wood shop or volunteering with Habitat for Humanity taught principles of learning how to fail safely with low stakes, of shaking off perfection to allow for inventiveness, of being comfortable in uncomfortable situations and creating a network of resources - these were key elements that could be called upon to counter the daily pressures of the status quo and create personal resiliency in the face of unequal odds. These lessons crafted the framework for the driving mission of Designers Build_pdx.  An organization that builds equity by reducing barriers to opportunities that promote construction know-how, hands-on training and professional development to women in architecture. Based on the goal to not only retain talented women in the profession but to advance more women leaders by promoting safe spaces to experiment, problem solve and innovate. Designers Build_pdx supports this mission by organizing classes, tours & speakers related to our built environment, planning collaborate partnerships with purpose-driven organizations and curating an on-going calendar of building related classes and events.

Visit designersbuildpdx.org to learn more about the fight for equity in the profession, to see infographics derived from the Equity by Design survey and to get involved.

Universal Design vs. Equitable Design

As chair of AIA Portland's Committee on Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (CoEDI) since 2016, I instituted an annual event focused on progressing equity in the profession. Branded The Future Vision Symposium each year's focus driven by a new topic,  2017's The Value Proposition for Equity & 2018's Voices in the Workplace. The initial day long symposium worked towards defining the value of diverse talent,  proposing a quantifiable benefit to a firm's bottom line. The second year sought to understand the individual's role in firm culture, the balance of maintaining your identity while collaborating towards a shared purpose. Initial thoughts about Future Vision 2019 had me evaluating the concept of Equitable Design. As with all rigorous research analysis, I started by Googling the topic and received countless links to information on Universal Design. It's not that I have anything against Universal Design, but it was not what I had expected. 

The term equity is often used interchangeably with equality, but it is a fundamentally different concept. Equality is giving everyone the same thing. Equity is giving everyone what they need to be successful.  Equality presumes everyone starts at the same place and, with equal measure, can achieve similar success. Equity is a much more nuanced effort that takes into consideration opportunities, needs and, at a broader level, the definition of success. It's assessing the innate strengths and weaknesses of a certain location, structure, environment or individual and leveraging those towards its best outcome. Albert Einstein once said,  “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

In the same way that the terms equity and equality are commonly confused with each other, I suspect that Equitable and Universal Design have met the same fate. My initial curiosity was how does Equitable Design show up or look like? In much the same way that people have a notion of what a modern home looks like or what green (sustainable) architecture is? Not to say it shows up the same for every individual, but everyone has an image in their head that for them defines something as modern or green. In much the same way I was looking for a series of built objects defined as Equitable Design based on the notion of equity. I had assumed that Universal Design would be one element or, metaphorically one tool in the Equitable Design toolkit, but far from the whole.  

Broadly, Equitable Design is about adaptability. Starting from a default - a base of knowledge, a "this-is-how-things-have-been-done-forever" place and adapting for the reality of living. The components of Equitable Design range from the macro to the micro level, similar to Sustainable Design which sees impacts from an individual to a global scale.

At the macro-level it involves futurecasting, master planning for a world and a way of living we can only imagine. Climate change, driverless cars, explosive density - how do we design in a way that adapts as we learn in real time? For instance, a company like phenomenally successful WeWork, which has a front row seat in progressing design innovation around more equitable office design. Creating algorithms from data about how people really work (a mix of open & closed spaces) versus how we think they work (wide open spaces) has informed their in-house design team and allowed a more equitable mix of work spaces. If equity is about providing opportunities to thrive then it must ask questions about the disparity of reality versus conceptualized, what value do we take & move forward from this story and what do we leave behind.    

At a micro-level Equitable Design revolves around the individual and their relationship with the space. Smart homes, multi-generational housing, multi-tasking furnishings - structures that adapt to a user that will never remain static.  As an example, the most recent figures from the Pew Research Center show that a record 20% of Americans live in multigenerational homes. The idea of aging in place has become a main driver as the baby boomer population grows older and housing becomes more expensive. Extended families living together requires a compromise of spaces, a capacity for areas of retreat and community which Equitable Design tools can help navigate.

Focusing on a practice that prioritizes Equitable Design means reframing our conventional questions, refining our research and utilizing a process driven by long range adaptability. Today much of the discourse on equity within the architectural profession focuses internally; such as the need for a more diverse workplace, the social impact of not mirroring our global client base and highlighting the value of talent intrinsic in personal experience. Yet the architecture of the future, our built world, will be defined through the lens of Equitable Design.  So although Wikipedia may currently note Equitable Design as a non-existent concept, I believe it deserves just as lengthy of a definition as Sustainable Design or Universal Design and will be the new paradigm of our profession. 

Image courtesy of photographer Hope Herman Wumfeld

Mystery

“Being comfortable in the mystery is how I work.” – Lauren Weedman

I recently ran across this quote from Lauren Weedman's talk at last year's Portland's Creative Conference. It resonated with me because so much of the process of being creative is based on trust and gut and hoping that you are walking in the right direction. It's a roller coaster ride where some days you feel on top of the world because you had a breakthrough, you solved a problem (probably one of many that need solving) or you had a productive meeting. Other days are bad, hitting your head against a wall bad. Hoping that trick of sleeping on it will unearth some revelation but waking up just as confused the next day. The harder part, in my opinion, is convincing the client, the one that's entrusted this design to you, to come along for the ride and trust the process.

Everyone's creative, and at some point and at some age most all would agree. But over time creativity that isn't nurtured and inner critics that have loud voices tend to drown out that assertion. This isn't anecdotal, extensive tests prove this point. One of the most compelling being a creativity test conducted in 1968 by George Land, originally created to help identify innovative engineers and scientists for NASA. The assessment worked so well he decided to try it on children. The research study tested the creativity of 1,600 children ranging in ages from three to five years old. These same children were tested again at age 10 and again at 15.  Here are the results:

Test results amongst 5 year olds: 98%
Test results amongst 10 year olds: 30%
Test results amongst 15 year olds: 12%
Same test given to 280,000 adults: 2%

Land surmised the results in his book Breaking Point & Beyond, "What we have concluded is that non-creative behavior is learned." Watch George Land's 2011 Ted Talk to learn more about his take on the importance of creativity.

Image courtesy of Jill Bliss 

NY Botanical Gardens :: Nature & glass

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While in New York this September I had the opportunity to see Dale Chihuli's exhibit CHIHULI, at the NY Botanical Gardens. The dramatic blown-glass art pieces were installed amidst the garden's landscapes and inside the glass domed conservatory. The pieces took inspiration from the natural world, but at the same time amplified the color and movement of the organic forms.

The NY Botanical Gardens is one of my favorite places of all time. Having gone to Fordham University, which sits directly across the street from the garden entrance, I would take the opportunity to see the landscape as it changed over the seasons and appreciated the calm oasis it offered in the midst of the Bronx bustle. My all time favorite is visiting in the spring, when tulips of all colors create a riot of blooms in the big front lawn of the white and glass conservatory.  

If you find yourself in New York, you should check it out yourself: https://www.nybg.org/visit/

September travels_Fordham University

This September I travelled East to New York and re-connected with some of the most awesome ladies I know, my old college roommates. We hadn't been back to Fordham University, where we had graduated in 1992, since 2005. This first photo is all 4 of us from both of those visits, two of us 7 months pregnant in that 2005 photo. No visit to Fordham is complete without lunch in Little Italy of the Bronx, which is directly outside of the university's southern entrance. A broccoli rabe and chicken cutlet sandwich followed by a cannoli, stuffed as you watch with sweet ricotta cheese - yes, please!