Why I Design

This has been an incredibly difficult week for many Americans. I live in a comfortable, safe suburb of Baltimore. I can leave my home to walk my dog, go for a jog and I don't worry about my safety. I wave and say hello to my neighbors and they reciprocate. My sons leave the house with a wave and I never concern myself with where they are going because we feel safe. Not all our neighbors feel that way. Many of our neighbors of color worry about their sons and daughters encountering racism and injustice at the hands of other neighbors and the hands of police. I cannot fathom the worry and pain that this causes. This week, I have spent many hours contemplating these things along with contemplating my white privilege. 

I am an architect. I am also a principal of a firm of 85 professionals, of which about 75 are design professionals. We offer design services in architecture, interior architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, master planning and environmental graphics. Our architectural practice touches many different sectors including K-12 education, higher education, commercial office, student housing and multi-family housing. Our staff is not as diverse as I would like, but its getting more diverse each year. 

We were recently contacted by a company that manages the foundations of professional athletes. A well-known, former Baltimore Raven is interested in renovating community centers in our inner city neighborhoods. After showing our portfolio of community centers, we were hired on the spot.These centers will give our youth in these impoverished neighborhoods access to tutoring, access to counseling, access to athletics and an opportunity to improve themselves. Basically, these centers will give our youth a place to go after school where they are safe, nourished, cherished and welcomed. We are now considering how much pro bono work to do to assist the foundation. I’m in favor of 100% of our work being pro bono. However, given the state of our economy and the number of our projects that have gone on hold, that is a hard sell. I know the parents in these neighborhoods are working multiple jobs with long hours and everything we can do to help them will repay our City 10 fold, but we are a business that needs revenue coming in the door.

I support such endeavors for two reasons. First, Les and Mary Ellen Kemp raised me to be a kind, caring and compassionate people person. My mother pointed out to me today that my maternal grandfather, who died before I was born and who is my namesake, was the same. There are many stories about things he did for others, never thinking of the cost. Second, I was trained in architecture school that we can solve society’s problems through our designs. We can create more humane spaces that enhance the lives of all the users of our buildings. 

I had the opportunity to hear Robert AM Stern lecture a number of years ago. He pointed out that if we continue to design our primary and secondary schools and universities with concrete block, VCT and other hard materials, we are treating our students like animals and they will act as such. If we use softer, more humane materials, our students will reciprocate and treat the buildings with respect. That has always stuck with me and I bring that notion to my work. Nido Qubein, President of High Point University shares a similar view. He renovates his buildings every 5 years so that they are new and well maintained. He builds buildings on his campus that resemble Class A office buildings so that their graduates are used to walking into large sweeping, marble floored lobbies and are not intimidated walking into those environments for job interviews.

But across my career, I’ve had a struggle internally. Yes, we can design beautiful, functional and articulate spaces that enhance the lives of all the users of our buildings. We cannot solve societal issues like domestic violence, disenfranchisement of communities of color, racism, and many others. In some instances, homeless shelters and low-income housing are two, we can affect immediate change but generally, we simply create environments that support the work of the users of these buildings. 

The educational and laboratory buildings I work on are why I design. I don’t expect all members of our community to understand this. I don’t expect all of members our community to have these motivations. In Start With Why, Simon Sinek ponders how great our society could be if all workers understood and agreed with the “why” of the companies they work for. We have had this debate in our own office. About 30% of our work is market-rate, multi-family housing. How does that work contribute positively to our larger society? I can argue both sides. It does create livable, walkable communities in urban environments where not every one has to drive everywhere for everything they need. But, it also contributes to the wealth gap as many of these small apartment’s rent is larger than my mortgage in the suburbs. What should we do?

I have spent 25 years building a career in higher education and laboratory planning and design. Early in my career, I fell in love with working in that environment as I find faculty and administrators to be incredibly kind and passionate people who care deeply for their students and the success of those students. I love working with them, listening to their ideas and helping realize their needs. As I matured as an architect I began to realize that what I loved most about designing educational and laboratory spaces was the promise of what those spaces can bring to others. 

Our firm is an industry leader in the design of student housing which is providing high quality, clean and well appointed spaces for our next generation of leaders to live in while they learn and mature. I recently finished a highly specialized lab that is doing experimental work on blood cancers. These personalized medicine centers are making great progress in tailoring individual therapies to the exact patient. We have designed three accelerator spaces which are locations were start ups rent laboratory space to develop their products and therapies. Another recently finished building will provide workforce development to the African-American community in Winston-Salem, NC. The graduates of these programs can gain good, high paying jobs in the Piedmont Triad Research Park in Winston-Salem or any of the other research parks across the country. 

This is Why I Design. And this is what the AEC community should stand for.