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Calling All Women: Finding the Forgotten Architect

2009-11-12T22:15:45Z

by Alexis Gregory

Look around you. How many women do you see in your architecture office? It seemed as if there were a lot of women working to become architects when you were a student, didn’t it? But where have all the women gone?

Have we forgotten those who toiled along with us late into the night during architecture school? Why have they disappeared? Women in architecture are facing a narrowing field in the progression from school to licensure and beyond, similar to women in other professions like business, law, and medicine. Women join the architectural world upon enrollment in schools, yet, once they receive their degrees, these women leave academia headed for pursuits other than the profession of architecture.

]]> Data reported in May by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) show that 41 percent of graduates of architecture programs are women. Hard numbers are difficult to set on women who become licensed. However, the number reported in an AIA National Associates Committee Report published in 2004 show that the percentage of licensed female architects in the U.S. was 20 percent. A 2003 AIA Women in Architecture study found that women accounted for 27 percent of staff in U.S. architecture firms, including architecture graduates and licensed architects. Similarly, in the 2009 NAAB report, the percentage of female faculty at accredited schools of architecture stands at 26 percent. When factored with an independent study sponsored by the AIA in 2005 that showed that 73 percent of male architecture graduates in architecture firms were licensed as opposed to 45 percent of female graduates, we can conclude that there is a clear disparity between women and men who graduate and those who become licensed practitioners.

Anecdotally, when one looks at the under-representation of women in leadership positions, such as firm principals/partners, AIA Fellows, and AIA elected leadership, the declining percentage of women who reach higher levels of their profession certainly seems apparent enough to warrant further investigation.

But why the disparity?
Throughout society, women face common challenges that confront them no matter what their lifestyles or professions. Women deal with both personal and professional issues, and often those are contradictory. This leads to a complex set of issues facing women in the workplace.

Nevertheless, female architects have advanced over the past 20 years, especially in South Carolina. As part of my undergraduate research, I pulled some data on trends in South Carolina. The following paragraphs will use some of those data to illustrate a few points.

According to data from the AIA in 1985, 5.9 percent of AIA members were women, while in 2008 that number climbed to 17 percent. Although the numbers are small, this shows an increase of more than triple over 23 years. In South Carolina, women made up 9 percent of AIA members in 2000, and that number increased to 17 percent in 2008. That is an amazing amount of growth in only eight years. Conversely, these numbers are troubling due to the low numbers of women in architecture in South Carolina in relation to national statistics. This is demonstrated through 2005 statistics from the South Carolina Board of Architectural Examiners, which show that out of 975 licensed architects practicing in the state, only 107 were women (11 percent). This percentage is lower than the national trend, which shows that in 2003, 20 percent of registered architects in the nation were women.

How do we remedy this situation?
First, we must look at the architecture schools. Statistics from Clemson University show that in 1988, 27 percent of applicants to the four-year program for the bachelor of arts in architecture were women, and, of those applicants, 31 percent of enrolled students were female. A marked increase is noticeable today in that 47 percent of applicants to the program in 2008 are women, and 56 percent became enrolled students.

So what happens to these women between enrollment and licensure? Although the four-year bachelor’s degree is an important step toward becoming an architect, the MArch is required if you do not have the five-year BArch required to begin the Internship Development Program and then take the Architect Registration Exam. (Data were unavailable on the number of women in the MArch program at Clemson.)

However, if we look at data on graduation rates of women from both the bachelor of arts program and MArch program at Clemson, we see interesting differences. In 1993, women graduates received 36 percent of undergraduate architecture degrees and 34 percent of MArch degrees. In 2007, women constituted 68 percent of students who received a bachelor of arts in architecture and 43 percent of students who received a MArch from Clemson. In other words, the women who were graduating, even with advanced degrees, are neither joining the profession nor getting their licenses.

Why are the increases in women in architecture schools not the same in the profession, and specifically licensed architects? Information obtained as part of my master of science research shows that specific obstacles to professional achievement for female architects in South Carolina do exist. These obstacles include gender, family responsibilities, and firm mentality. Women feel that these obstacles hinder their ability to advance professionally. This was such a large concern that several women in the study decided to become sole practitioners. Once the profession addresses these issues, women will be more able to bridge the gap from education to licensure—which will, in turn, increase the number of female architects in the nation and in South Carolina.

The next step
I am currently conducting research on a national level with my colleague, Dr. Margaret Woosnam of Texas A&M University, as to how these issues affect female architects nationwide. Additional topics we are investigating are mentorships for female interns with female architects; increasing exposure to the work of female architects for architecture students, the profession, and the public; and suggestions to the profession.

This lack of knowledge about women architects is another major obstacle we must overcome. The International Archive of Women in Architecture—run by members of the architecture department and university archives at Virginia Tech—is addressing this issue already by compiling the work of many female architects from many different generations. Perusing those archives shows that the number of females who have created great architecture is higher than one may have realized.

We must work to remedy this lack of awareness of female architects and get support from others in the profession, especially the AIA. With their support, we can promote mentoring and increase dialogue towards the professional development of females in architecture and provide an outlet for females in the profession to share experiences. We need to work together to keep our fellow female architects from dropping out of the profession. We cannot afford to forget anymore female architects.

Alexis Gregory is a registered architect and professor of architecture at the Savannah College of Art and Design. She earned a master of science in architecture with a concentration in women’s studies and history from Clemson University as well as a BArch from Virginia Tech. Her professional experience includes 10 years working in various architecture firms in Washington, D.C.

Protect Your Project With New AIA Contract Documents

2009-11-04T19:43:46Z

On Tuesday, November 3, we released our latest version of AIA Contract Documents, which includes groundbreaking agreements that reflect the latest trends in our business:

]]> Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)
The new C191™–2009, Standard Form Multi-Party Agreement for Integrated Project Delivery, encourages early collaboration among architects, owners, and contractors to reduce inefficiencies and waste. Stakeholders provide their expertise for the project before the design stage. Parties do not have to form an LLC with this agreement.

Federally funded or federally insured projects
The AIA Documents Committee leveraged strong relationships with major federal agencies, such as HUD and USDA, to update the B108™–2009 (formerly B181™–1994), Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Architect for a Federally Funded or Federally Insured Project, to reflect the needs of these agencies. This is an owner-architect agreement for use in projects that are publicly funded but not where the federal government is the owner. Publicly funded projects include building small communities, schools, firehouses, hospitals, etc.

Sustainability
Added clauses in the updated B108 address restoration projects, new sustainable neighborhoods, and updating non-efficient buildings. The integrated project delivery approach also facilitates sustainability, as early planning that involves all the appropriate stakeholders reduces waste and saves money. Integrated processes are being acknowledged and encouraged in sustainable rating systems such as LEED.

Learn more about the new documents on AIA.org and, if you are a current AIA Contract Documents customer, register for our Webcast on Tuesday, November 10 from 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. EST. Attendees are eligible to earn 1.5 learning units.

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Architectural Illustrators Deserve Call-out Credit, Too

2009-10-28T20:29:09Z

by Richard Chenoweth, AIA

Thank you for the AIArchitect copyright article about photographers' rights.

As a past president of the American Society of Architectural Illustrators (2005), as well as a designer and licensed architect (and member of the Washington Chapter), I would like to suggest that architectural illustrators share a similar, perhaps far worse plight.

]]> First, photographers and illustrators share a common goal: to project a three dimensional
architectural work into two dimensions, although we work on different ends of a project. The illustrators do their work on the front end of a project and the photographers do their work on the back end of the project.

Yet, even though architectural illustrations are protected under current copyright law, treated as drawings or graphic art, the ASAI has been fighting for our intellectual property rights and credits in publications for 25 years now. But do this: Open any issue of one of the leading architecture design magazines today and look in the margin for the accreditation of photographs and the accreditation of illustrations. Many illustrations simply say "Courtesy of the Architect." Almost invariably, however, photographs will be properly accredited to an individual.

The ASAI has brought this to the attention of magazine editors, and, yet, nothing changes.

Many of my colleagues have fought personally with huge American newspapers simply to be credited. I once called the architecture critic for a major East Coast metropolitan daily who used one of my illustrations for his column without proper credit, and he simply said: "I don't care who did the drawing."

I don't have time to speculate about the many reasons for this. But I would like to suggest that perhaps we, as a profession, could broaden our support on this topic of giving credit where credit is due, especially as copyright and proper crediting are often a negotiated term of agreement.

I have been on architectural shoots, and appreciate the technical skill, aesthetic insight, and creative abilities of architectural photographers who can spend many hours setting up, waiting for the light, and creating many photographs for a graphic artist's ultimate selection. For the illustrator's part, sometimes a single architectural drawing of an unbuilt project, created in perspective, can take 20, 40, even 60 hours. What we do also has value.

We have struggled with this, and if we cannot even get our professional publications to comply, then who shall stand up for us?

Again, thanks for the article. A great take-away thought is that I will explicitly define the copyright of photographs as a part of my work product that always belongs to me.

Rendering of the Dorsey Residence, Madison, Conn., (designed by Duo Dickinson, AIA) by Richard Chenoweth, AIA, Chenoweth Architecture.

Mies (and Obama’s Old Office) In Line for GSA Stimulus Dollars

2009-10-20T16:03:52Z

The office building used by President Barak Obama as his White House transition headquarters in Chicago is in line for its share of the General Service Administration’s(GSA) American Recovery and Reinvestment Act economic stimulus money. The 44th president’s time at the John C. Kluczynski Federal Building wasn’t the first time it’s been touched by history. Completed in 1975, the Kluczynski building was one of Mies van der Rohe’s last projects.

According to Bloomberg , the 43-story building in the heart of Chicago’s Loop is waiting on $100 million dollars worth of energy performance upgrades, a small part of which has already been distributed for design and construction management services. The GSA selected the Chicago architecture firm O'Donnell Wicklund Pigozzi and Peterson for the project. This project is part of the $4.3 billion the GSA is spending on green building energy efficiency modernizations , and it’s estimated that 500 to 900 jobs will be created from this office building project alone.

]]> The German-born Mies is perhaps Chicago’s most iconic adopted designer, and his brawny, Modernist work is an architectural touchstone of the city. The Kluczynski building shows off Mies’s classic talents for structural expression and his rigorous, rational spatial proportions. The entire building is organized around a 28-foot grid pattern and is subdivided into six 4-foot, 8-inch modules. Expanding on his work on projects like the Seagram building in New York, the exterior curtain walls of the Kluczynski building are made of projected steel I-beam mullions covered in a cool, black graphite paint.

The renovation of the Kluczynski building hearkens back to a time when the federal government hired the finest architects, before the need for the GSA’s Design Excellence program arose. Its renovation and maintenance (which is inherently sustainable) is a reminder that practical, progressive building is often best applied to improve the resources you have, not in developing new ones. It’s not unusual for architects and policy experts to fret about the amount of quality design that’s going to result from the economic stimulus package’s building projects, but Mies’ building in downtown Chicago is an example of stimulus money being used to maintain a city’s existing architectural heritage.

Solar Houses Are the New Cars (In a Good Way)

2009-10-13T23:34:07Z

I'm working on a story for AIArchitect this week that focuses mainly on the economics of building a solar-powered house for the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon, but I don’t want all this talk of owner ROI and scales of prefab production to get in the way of a good design conversation.

So: This year, more so than the last competition in 2007, marks an important signpost on the road to net-zero energy homes required for such buildings to ever be mass produced and palatable to a wide range of consumers.

Basically, I noticed that the houses all looked quite a bit different from each other.

]]> All these different materials and spatial organizations are making it clear that solar-powered residential design is germinating and evolving in different directions. Instead of the gabled-by-default rectangle lined with PV panels on sloping roof planes that will probably be considered the Model-T of the sustainable building world, student teams this year have moved further and further into rigorously planned and rich expressions of sustainability. There’s the cool stone materiality of the Team Alberta group, and the gritty, steel-ribbed brawn of the University of Arizona house. Wood is still a popular material to build with, but more and more teams are using high-tech plastic composites and lining walls with PV panels (like Team Spain and Team Germany). Vernacular architecture references are getting more subtle and understated, and in some ways more ambitious. Cornell University’s house is organized around three cylindrical volumes the explicitly resemble the rural silos of upstate New York. The houses don’t look uniformly “green,” and that’s a good thing.

The decathlon teams are getting more and more comfortable with simply integrating photovoltaic panels into their designs as well. In past years, some teams built houses that required over-large metallic armatures to support excessive PV panels that unbalanced their designs, but were required to power the house. This year, more teams are making sure they’ve dealt with passive sustainability features (solar shading, air circulation corridors, solar orientation, etc.) as rigorously as possible, keeping total energy needs to an absolute minimum. The results are houses that don’t scream “SOLAR POWER!” with a caffeinated earnestness. And they’re more pleasing aesthetic objects, too.

Now, back to the serious economics stuff. It’s a not a great analogy because cars are far from ideal in terms of sustainability and energy consumption, but it looks like the 2009 Solar Decathlon represents some of the first few assured steps away from the “You can have any color as long as it’s black” Model-T and toward the innumerable bells, whistles, shapes, forms, and brands of the modern automobile industry. (Which, incidentally, is also trying to redefine itself in an age where carbon emissions come with a cost. Maybe the two industries can learn from each other.) But it’s this product variety and versatility that consumers demand, and it’s what will win them over. With a broad consumer base established, solar houses will become more and more affordable. The best solar-powered houses are upfront about what kinds of things people have to give up to preserve human’s balance with nature. Good design isn’t one of them.

(Above: Cornell University and Team Germany's soalr houses. Photo Credit: Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.)

A Reasonable Way to Control RFIs

2009-10-08T15:58:27Z

by Shawn Mahoney

There has been good discussion on the Grant Simpson/Jim Atkins article on requests for information in the AIA-member-only LinkedIn page. In my experience, working both as an architect and construction manager, I think RFI's are essential to getting projects completed on time as well as providing the owner with accurate as-builts.

]]> I agree that the number of RFI's on a project is meaningless. I like to manadate that RFI's and document releases (typically issueance of full-size sheets) by the architect are the only means of changing the contract.

This eliminates all other means (i.e. ASI's, etc) of information transfer and allows for others besides the contractor to use the RFI process. Nobody can say for certain whether a response to an RFI has additional costs until it fully reviewed by the contractor. So why even try?

In my view, relying on the A201 strict language for controlling behavior on a project is a mistake. The owner is paying the architect for CA services and if the contractor is sending in unnecessary RFI's all the architect has to do is collect them and present them at a project meeting. The owner will then direct the contractor to stop. The architect running the CA phase of any project has to have a backbone and stand up for the design team.

All projects should have a comprehensive sitdown prior to construction and the ground rules for RFI's should be documented and agreed to in writing. However, no matter how much you document a process, two things are still going to happen;
1. The contractor will discover something at the last minute and need to issue a "hot" RFI requiring an immediate response
2. The architects drawings will have gaps that can't be solved through common detail references or specification language.

No matter how good the architect is, the drawings will never show everything. Through the proper use of RFI's by all parties, the design can be better defined for finer construction and the as-builts for the owner will actually reflect what was built.

AIA Nebraska Members Rebuild Little Sioux Scout Ranch

2009-09-28T17:40:17Z

by Bob Soukup, Assoc. AIA | LEED-AP
Carlson West Povondra Architects

On September 3-6, I was involved with a large volunteer effort to help build a new chapel at the Little Sioux Scout Ranch near Little Sioux, Iowa. On June 11, 2008, a tornado destroyed a large area of the Boy Scout camp and killed four boys. As a way to pay back the nation after the 9/11 attack on New York, a group of New York Fire Fighters came to Iowa for three days, along with 200 other volunteers from all over the nation, plus another 600 local volunteers. All the volunteers spent those three days working to rebuild the campground, in addition to building a new chapel. This chapel was constructed over the remaining floor slab from the cabin where the boys died.

]]> I worked with the families of the four boys to design this chapel over the last eight months. Here are a few pictures of the chapel under construction. We still have some small details to finish on the chapel, but the major structural elements are in place. ABC World News Tonight carried a news story about the whole event.

Kristi Nohavec, AIA, The Clark Enersen Partners, also worked on the design of the chapel. Bill Stott, AIA, The Architectural Offices, volunteered his weekend clearing an area for a prairie restoration project. HDR; Leo A Daly; Nielsen, Mayne Architecture; and The Schemmer Associates Inc. have all been involved with the larger rebuilding effort by donating their design services for other new facilities at the camp.

The below note is from the founder of the New York Says Thank You Foundation and describes a little bit of what we accomplished last week. (Also, see their Web site.)

Note from Jeff Parness, The New York Says Thank You Foundation, dated September 11, 2009:

Last weekend, over 1,000 volunteers with The New York Says Thank You Foundation marched through the North Valley of the Little Sioux Iowa Scout Camp to a stand before a chapel built with timbers destroyed in a deadly tornado that took the lives of four young Eagle Scouts and forever changed the lives of dozens of young boys and their parents on the night of June 11, 2008. And as the young scouts who survived that deadly tornado marched shoulder to shoulder with FDNY firefighters who survived 9/11, the mother of Ben Petrzilka looked out at the gathering of New Yorkers and disaster survivors who had come to Little Sioux from across the United States and proclaimed: “Thank you for coming into our darkness to pull us into your light.” It was a moment none of us will ever forget.

As we honor the memory of all those who were lost eight years ago today, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for enabling us to also honor the kindness and humanity we experienced as New Yorkers and as a nation on 9/12. New York Says Thank You has truly become an Army of LOVE.

Tonight the efforts of our volunteers will be recognized nationally as “Persons of the Week” on ABC World News Tonight and numerous local TV reports.

Thank you for sharing our story with your friends, families, and colleagues today by forwarding this e-mail to those who are looking for a meaningful way to recognize the eighth Anniversary of 9/11. And thank you once again for your continuing support to allow us to reach our stated objective: From one day of terror, 10 years of Kindness.

Reprinted from Nebraska Architect.

Crime and Mass Transit

2009-09-22T22:06:53Z

You can read all about the typical quality of life reasons for expanding mass transit in this week’s AIArchitect (shorter commute times, walkable neighborhoods, cleaner air)--and the participants at this week’s AIA/AIA DC transportation forum came up with a good many. Here’s an unexpected one that should cause us all to stop and think about the supreme influence people’s built environment has on their behavior and the way they interact with others: At the forum, Mindy Reiser, a sociologist who has studied public infrastructure issues, asked the panelists if they had heard of a study done in Bogota, Colombia, that showed that the installation of better mass transit reduced crime rates.

In fact, a report by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy states that after the installation of the TransMilenio bus rapid transit system in 2000, violent crime dropped by 50 percent in the city. (Also, traffic fatalities dropped by 30 percent, commute times dropped by 32 percent, and noise pollution decreased by 30 percent.) Bus rapid transit systems shuttle people across cities by using dedicated bus lanes that regular traffic is not allowed on. They’re typically considered to be a less expensive option for cities that can’t afford light or heavy rail systems.

]]> To be sure: There is no reason to believe that a 50 percent drop in crime rates was caused only by the addition of better mass transit. It’s quite possible that, in a politically unstable and poor nation like Colombia, there was a lot of low hanging fruit to be picked in terms of crime once Bogota committed to any wide-scale civic development program. I’d have to assume that mass transit wasn’t the only civic investment going on at the time that might decrease crime. But what if these same researchers could isolate the addition of mass transit as dropping crime by only 5 percent? It’s 10 times less than the original figure, but, were it an American city, a lot of mayors, police chiefs, and city council members would be thanking architects, engineers, and planners for getting to keep their jobs.

The argument for how mass transit might decrease crime goes like this: Cities with good public transit systems can be developed more densely and are likely to create more active, vibrant neighborhoods where it’s tough to steal away a moment alone and mug someone. Crimes tend to happen in isolation, separation, and darkness, not amongst crowds coming and going. It’s essentially Jane Jacob’s “eyes on the street” theory.

Back in the Dark Age of the American City (most of the latter half of the 20th century) mass transit systems like subways were often used as graffiti-stained ciphers for the failure of urbanism—dark , steaming arterial tunnels that transported the wickedness, anonymity, and inhumanity of failed neighborhoods.

I use a mass transit system every day, and I can’t really relate to that. Some mass transit systems are better than others, but to date I probably see people behave better below ground than I have above ground. In Washington, the Metro has very strict rules on not eating or drinking while in the system. In three years, I have never seen someone so much as eat a french fry on a train. And besides, there are few things as fundamentally democratic, and thus good for increasing the social trust that makes crimes less likely, as making everyone in the community (this means K St. lobbyists with their initials on their cufflinks, Hispanic construction workers with crusted concrete on their boots, and me) endure interminable delays in confined and stuffy space.

Small and Green vs. Big and Gray

2009-09-17T19:33:39Z

Detroit holds a unique place in American history. It’s the cradle of some of the 20th century’s most enduring music, the birthplace of the American auto industry, and the subsequent exemplar of the American made-for-Manifest Destiny city by sprawl, ruled by highways, bypasses, and asphalt. Some of these same choices have made Detroit the quintessential sad poster child for catastrophic urban disinvestment.

]]> In this week’s Newsweek , Bill McGraw argues a heartfelt case for shrinking the Motor City. The city has 2,700 miles of road that snake through 40 square miles of abandoned, empty blocks. As I’ve written about the depressed state of the built environment in Detroit before, it was a city built for 3 million people, many of whom never showed up. Of those that did, 20 percent left for the suburbs between 1970 and 1980. Now it’s an impoverished shell of a city, disconnected by building husks, tear-downs, and empty lots, starving for human activity and vibrancy, pinning its hopes on wave after wave of redevelopments schemes that always seem to fall short of sparking a city-wide renaissance.

Most simply, where there are no people, urbanism can’t grow, and Detroit has become inhospitable to many people because of economic, social, and political fortunes, of which the last-ditch federal bailout of the domestic automobile companies is only the latest example. Thus, it’s straining under its own weight to maintain what it has.

McGraw isn’t alone in urging Detroit to shrink. An AIA Sustainable Design Assessment Team has suggested the same thing, calling for more sustainable mass transit, denser development, and turning the city’s abandoned lots into urban farms and parks.

The last time the nation engaged in any kind of serious discussion about willingly shrinking a city, the subject was post-Katrina New Orleans. The culprit there was natural and irrational, not the result of human intent and reaction, but it was and is no less upsetting. The urge to explore and expand civilization across the frontier, often rather unsustainably, still lives on in our urban planning practices, a legacy left by pioneering ancestors. There’s no reason this urge to expand possibilities can’t be redirected in a more ecologically responsible direction, in Detroit and elsewhere. In fact, I think it’s already been done.

This week I had the pleasure of having a long chat with Canadian architect Bing Thom, a Vancouver native. Over the decades, he watched his city repel intrusive plans to divide the city from its waterfront with freeway projects, embrace natural resources and their place within the city, and densify their downtown, especially residentially. Today, Vancouver is known the world over for the rich urban experience it offers, its previous reputation as a small, remote, industrial city notwithstanding. Those are words that could be used to describe Detroit. And when McGraw writes, “Surrounded by fresh water, and buffeted by nature reasserting itself on land where factories used to be,” the city could be “the greenest, most livable urban area in the country,” is he talking about Vancouver?

No. Detroit.

This vision is already there, and so are the hard choices. If Detroit can reinvent itself, it’ll be as good a story as city’s epic history can offer.

The Natural Order of Development

2009-09-09T20:50:35Z

Four years after Katrina breached the New Orleans levees, the area still has not addressed water management notes Derek Hoeferlin, senior lecturer at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Art at Washington University in St. Louis. Hoeferlin, who has worked extensively on post-Katrina restoration efforts, including working with Dutch engineers on successful coexistence with a sub-water-level landscape, writes that "the city must develop a more nuanced balance between the built environment and what the delta really wants to be: a soggy, sediment-rich landscape."

]]> Hoeferlin contributed "New Orleans Needs a Water Plan" to the St. Louis Dispatch at the end of August decrying the lack of reality-based planning. Instead of working with the water, he points out, Army engineers have tried to overpower it with levees. Keeping the water out is exacerbating subsidence, making things worse not better, he says. A better solution is to work with nature.

"Room for water, at multiple scales—from backyards to public rights-of-ways—must be laced into New Orleans' existing fabric and future construction techniques," he writes.

Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin also touches on the so-often futile human attempts to create permanence when nature will impose its own forces to overcome those attempts. "Wild nature versus human order" is how Kamin summarized the "Perils of Pauline saga of the historic Mt. Wilson Observatory." He was describing the wildfires that marched close by the historic observatory in Los Angeles, which was ultimately saved by a turn in the weather and the fast, hard work of fire fighters.

Looking to the other side of the country—to Manhattan—we see an accomplishment that does indeed seem to have achieved, holistically at least, true permanence. Yes, on the eighth observance of September 11, 2001, the fragile nature of even the most impressive of architectural and engineering marvels is painfully apparent. But if New Orleans is still fighting back after its devastation, could New York City ever be in peril? It doesn't seem possible.

There are a couple of relatively recent resources, searchable on-line, that might help the imagination along that path, though. The first, the Mannahatta Project, was inspired by one person's curiosity over what Henry Hudson saw when he first laid eyes on Manhattan 400 years ago (on September 12, 1609, this month's National Geographic magazine reminds us). Ecologist Eric Sanderson discovered a color print of a detailed British military map of Manhattan drawn circa 1782 during their occupation of the city, National Geographic reports. Matching key landmarks that still exist, such as Trinity Church, allowed him to get a good pin-bar-like alignment and a sense of what the minimally altered topography of the island was in the 18th century. Through extensive research of flora and fauna, and the indigenous population, he meticulously recreated what Hudson might have encountered 173 years before the British map. That interactive information is available on-line. (Take a look, but be prepared to blow as much time as you did the first time you browsed Google Earth.)

The other eye-opener is the History Channel series, Life After People, which is based on the premise that people suddenly disappeared from the planet. It then deconstructs the human-made environment over time. Projecting forward through the same span of nearly four centuries that it took to build Manhattan to where it is today, they surmise, Time Square would once again be the confluence of two streams, made marshy by beaver dams.

But to bring this all back to some kind of point, designing for permanence is a relative concept. And striving for absolute permanence is relatively futile. Designing for a permanent progression of sustainable development over time is much more conceivable, although success in that regard is predicated in designing for inevitable degradation, if not outright destruction, by the forces of nature. In this sense, one is not so much designing with nature as designing as nature: biophilically.

With the end in mind at the outset, and with a great deal of imagination and consideration, the goal of leaving no less behind than you had at the start just might be attainable. If you have a few minutes, watch William McDonough explain the concept he developed with Michael Braungart, which they eloquently termed "Cradle to Cradle."

9/11 Day of Service

2009-08-27T14:44:17Z

Matthew Fochs, the director of design and outreach programs with the American Institute of Architecture Students wrote this to everyone here at the AIA national component headquarters recently: "President Barak Obama has declared that this year will mark the inaugural “9/11 Day of Service.” In Washington the day is being organized by the Greater DC Cares program. I am thinking about participating and wanted to see if anyone else from the office would like to join me (I know a few of you are traveling at some point that day). You can read more or sign up for the day of service by visiting the Web site."

]]>

Photo: AIAS Students work on their Freedom by Design project.

Matt—like most architecture graduates—has been community-involved his whole life. And he has co-joined the AIAS and AIA in a program begun here by AIA Meetings Registration Director Tonya Horsley, CMP, whose "Legacy Program" seeks to include some community enrichment program to all AIA activities at the local, state, and national level.

The idea for this particular program came during the AIA conventions of the mid-1990s, with 1997 AIA President Raj Barr-Kumar, FAIA, proclaiming that the AIA at its annual meetings would be committed to leaving something more significant behind than a streetful of scrapped paper.

Activities since then have spanned from Habitat for Humanity house construction and community planning (deeper still are the R/UDAT, SDAT, and Disaster Assistance programs of the AIA Communities by Design initiative), the Shadow an Architect events, the Solar Decathlon coming up again this October, or gestures as simple as donating unused hotel toiletries to local shelters.

Reaching out and giving back ... that's a big part of what makes most architects passionate about their profession. It's only fitting that we strive together to continue that legacy. Thanks for the reminder, Matt.

Is Recession Diminishing Design?

2009-08-20T13:51:12Z

When the Parrish Art Museum—a fixture on the tony east end of Long Island since 1898—decided to build a new gallery more than twice the size of the original a few years ago, the plan was as ostentatious as the stock market was strong at the time. With a budget of $80 million, Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron envisioned a village of buildings modeled after a selection of the art studios that dot the surrounding area. When the market plunge slashed the budget to a mere $30 million or so, the design morphed into a long, low "horizontal structure nestled discretely in the landscape, consisting of two parallel wings joined by a central circulation spine running the length of the building," as the Parrish Art Museum release describes it in glowing terms. New York Times critic Nicolai Ouroussoff is a bit more dismissive in his characterization: "a major step down in architectural ambition ... It is a creeping conservatism—and aversion to risk—that leaves little room for creative invention." He concludes with an oddly forced induction: "It makes you wonder if the cultural consequences of the financial collapse will be as liberating as some have predicted."

Renderings by Herzog & de Meuron.

]]> Ouroussoff also makes passing reference to the form resembling a Quonset hut (although certainly a Quonset hut suitable for hosting champagne and caviar exhibit openings).

That aside, the client in this case seems to be very pleased with the new design, according to their August 14 press release quoting Museum Director Terrie Sultan: "We could not be more pleased with this design, which enables us to function as a true center for community engagement, serving a broad and diverse audience, including the thousands of school children who visit us each year, by providing access to stellar works of art and ways to explore our special artistic heritage. The new plan will allow us to build a beautiful facility within a sensible budget and a reasonable timeframe. The design will be flexible, sustainable, and economically achievable."

Of course this may be press hyperbole, especially given that Sultan has only been on the job for a year and a half and essentially oversaw the downsizing of the facility plan from the original 64,000-square-foot village to its current 37,300 square feet of (to continue in the words of the press release) " highly efficient space."

In his artful description of the proposed new building and its setting, Ouroussoff does concede that the new design will provide "a perfectly nice place to view art—or host a party ... It's the kind of design, in short, that is difficult to object to."

A client objecting to the design of an art museum. This, on the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the Guggenheim Museum brings to mind one of the bold statements Wright made despite the objection of Newsday founder Harry Guggenheim, who had inherited from his uncle the task of shepherding that museum to completion.

Guggenheim objected that Wright was more concerned with making his own artistic statement than creating a proper setting for the museum collection. The architect responded: "No, it is not to subjugate the paintings to the building that I conceived this plan. On the contrary, it was to make the building and the painting a beautiful symphony such as never existed in the world of Art before."

Parrish will never be the Guggenheim, of course. And, yet, the Guggenheim was built toward the end of one of this country's greatest economic booms. So maybe there is a link between aggressive (and great) architectural expression and current economic conditions.

To use that most trite of phrases, though: Only time will tell on this one point of critical ambivalence: Will the Parrish prove after all to be excellent design because of the talent of the architects and despite its diminished funding? (And isn't that a much bigger issue than any current recession?)

Charles Gwathmey: A Great Mentor and Friend

2009-08-12T20:49:32Z

by Christopher Coe, AIA
CEO of COE Architecture International

I first met Charles Gwathmey when I was selected as the AIAS student representative on the 1983 National AIA Honor Awards Jury that he chaired. Of course I knew his work well, Five Architects was my primer in school. Three weeks later I moved to New York and started my architectural career at Gwathmey Siegel, even before finishing architecture school. It was the greatest education I could have received.

With Charles there was always great certainty about the approach to the work, that Modernism still had much to offer and that it could accept change and invention without losing its inherent power or meaning. In art, certainty this is hard to come by, but Charles was unrelenting in his beliefs about how he approached the work. There was certainly investigation and exploration, but always within that strict framework of belief. For a young architect beginning his career and looking for his “way” in the world, this was obviously appealing and inspiring.

]]> The office was and still is simply unsurpassed in its devotion and execution to how buildings are conceptually and physically put together. There literally were internal “competitions” among different project teams to see who could put together the most complete, exacting, well-coordinated and beautiful set of construction drawings. It was a quest to uncover and solve every single minute detail of construction and to ensure the project was built exactly as envisioned. There was a tangible reverence for the craft of drawing and building. This is an extremely rare trait among architecture firms.

Photo caption: Charles Gwathmey (standing, third from left) chaired the 1983 AIA Honor Awards Jury on which Christopher Coe (seated, center) served, representing the American Institute of Architecture Students. Also on the jury were (seated left and right) David L. Browning and Graham Gund (standing left to right) George J. Hasslein, Bates Lowry, Milo Thompson, Robert J. Frasca, and Antoine Predock.

Since our first meeting Charles has been a great mentor and friend. Simply put, I would not be the architect I am today were it not for him. He pushed for my acceptance at his alma mater Yale University, sponsored my AIA Young Architect Award, and referred clients when I started my own firm. The exacting standards he set for himself, his office, and the work served as the benchmark for how I wanted to practice our art. In addition to his work, which will most certainly stand the test of time, he should also be remembered for the unyielding support he so willingly extended to many other younger architects like me.

I last saw Charles in November 2008 at Yale during the rededication of Paul Rudolph’s Art and Architecture Building that he so lovingly restored and to which he completed a new addition for the Art History Department. He looked thinner and tired; I thought from the monumental task he had just finished. I did not know then that he was ill. I told him I was happy for what he was able to do for his former teacher, Rudolph, and for Yale. He remarked something like “the press is going to kill us.” It was a moment of vulnerability I had never before seen from him. To me, he was always a unique paradox, tough-talking but with an astounding intellect, big in words, work, and life.

I let the comment pass but later that night I remembered a cutting quotation I had heard him deliver 25 years earlier in response to an architecture critic’s article about one of his house designs. To me, it summed up his supreme dedication to the art of architecture and the single-mindedness with which he pursued it. In his put-on tough-guy New York accent he shot back: “Misinterpretation is not the preoccupation of the original artist.”

Charles Gwathmey was an original, an artist, and he will be greatly missed."

Communicate Directly with the 2010 and 2011 AIA Presidents Elect

2009-07-29T21:13:25Z

by Marvin Malecha, FAIA, 2009 AIA President

In formulating a strategice plan for 2010-2015, the AIA elected leadership has solicited input from internal and external stakeholders from the very outset; an effort that continues to-date and will continue through October.

If the outcome of what was an amazingly thoughtful and productive planning meeting July 10-11 can be boiled down to a few words, two come to mind: continuity and evolution.
• “Continuity” because many elements of the AIA’s current strategic plan have demonstrated their value and stood the test of time
• “Evolution” because we have the benefit of learning from experience, and, more to the point, the AIA serves a dynamic profession being shaped by and responding to change that grows more dynamic with each passing day.

Time and again research shows that the recognized value of an organization is in direct proportion to a member’s engagement. My asking you to become engaged in shaping the AIA’s future has a higher motivation as well. Through open member-to-member discussion, we connect to the Institute’s core values and goals to increase member value.

Please take a moment to look at the draft plan and give us your feedback. Let us know if the draft strategies are relevant for the future of the AIA. What do the strategies mean to you as a member? What challenges and opportunities will the AIA face in implementing these strategies? Are there more relevant strategies that have been missed?

In the near future, you will also have the opportunity to participate in one of three Web seminars—hosted by 2010 President-elect George Miller, FAIA, and 2011 President-elect Clark Manus, FAIA. The first is Wednesday, August 26, noon–1 p.m. ET; the second is September 9, 5–6 p.m. ET; and the third is Wednesday, September 16, 2–3 p.m. ET. Watch your e-mail in-box for more information about these Webinars.

Blind and So He Sees

2009-07-23T15:20:33Z

There are certain elements of Chris Downey's story that are inspirational as human interest alone: an architect suddenly losing his sight then losing his job with Michelle Kaufman Designs has nonetheless kept strong his joy of being alive and tenacity for being employed.

]]> Using the Internet and telephone to explore the potential for his existing and new skill sets—for instance, what he calls being a "rookie blind person"—eventually Downey landed a job working with the SmithGroup on the Palo Alto, Calif., Polytrauma and Blind Rehabilitation Center for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Beyond the human-interest elements—and on a more professional level—the story shows the importance of understanding clients' physical and emotional states of being. Soldiers who find themselves back in the States, at a rehabilitation center, and newly blind will be facing a jarring life transition similar to the new life Downey discovered over the course of a few short days. They will experience the same realization that their ability to read their immediate environment has changed, as has the balance of senses on which they will depend. Spaces are still experiential, but the experience is based more than ever before on sound and reverberation, senses of hot and cold, odors, and the feeling of breezes or lack thereof.

As Downey points out, it is certainly good that architects participate in experientially empathetic exercises, such as being blindfolded or using a wheelchair for a day. Empathy is not understanding, however. One day is not months, nor a year, and certainly not a lifetime.

To further generalize from this lesson: If there can be blind architects, there can certainly be architects living almost any imaginable life experience that parallels a similar (and probably substantial) population subset. Thus it is that one element of the AIA's focus on diversity and inclusion is to bring the talents of architects with special insights to bear on the broad range of issues impacting public health, safety, and welfare.

Then there are the more existential considerations. If there were no sight in the vast majority of people, what would the built environment emphasize in terms of aesthetic excellence? Would quallity be conveyed, as Downey mentioned to Architectural Record, by tactile cues? Would entry and wayfinding be defined by norms in acoustics and under-foot textures? And would the ability to perceive and bring focus to a certain range of wavelengths of light be considered a disability instead of vice versa?

This one person's experience provides more than a high level of admiration. Chris Downey also gives us a cause to pause, ponder, and wonder.