What the Hack? - EQxD Hackathon and Happy Hour Recap

by Rosa Sheng

One of the most talked about events at the AIA convention in Atlanta was WE310 Equity by Design: Knowledge, Discussion, Action! Hackathon on Wednesday May 13, 2015. The final number of attendees (happened to be 32) varied in age, level of experience and multicultural mix; it was unplanned, but ultimately a model of the diverse and inclusive practice of the future.

Thank you to ARCHITECT Magazine @architectmag for the amazing coverage of the Equity by Design along the way, including the 2014 Survey Final Report and video coverage of the AIA EQxD Hackathon. Special thanks goes to our generous Equity by Design /AIA Convention Hackathon sponsors: Autodesk, McCarthy Building Companies and WRNS Studios for providing this opportunity for the future leaders of our profession. 

For the next 2 weeks, we will be sharing insights and results from the six Hackathon teams (including the winners @BLDYOURTRIBE), the scholarship winners and the jurors Obiekwe Okolo, Melinda Rosenberg and Curtis Rodgers. 

EQxD Hackathon Video by ARCHITECT Magazine

Equity by Design Hackathon at AIA Atlanta Convention May 13, 2015

STORIFY - LIVE TWEET RECAP 

We also captured live tweets from the Hackathon and Happy Hour hoping that it will provide you with a great overview of the day's energy. See if you can spot some familiar faces! At the Happy Hour, we had 70 attendees including our EQxD Hackathon speakers and participants, local volunteer Anne-Michael Sustman, members of AIA YAF, Architalks Blogerati, former AIA National President Katherine Schwensen, FAIA, AIA San Francisco Board Members, a few AIA National Candidates Steve Fiskum, FAIA, Jenn Workman and Haley Gipe, all our friends of Equity by Design from all over the US, as well as new architecture student friends from Georgia Tech .  We would also like to thank our Happy Hour venue hosts at Studio No. 7, Shannon and Earl for their beautiful artist's studio that provided the perfect setting for our event. If you are in Atlanta, please continue to support this local business.

READ MORE ABOUT WE310 EQUITY BY DESIGN HACKATHON RECAPS

1. #BUILDYOUrtribe – Equity by Design Hackathon 2015 Winners
2. When Working Hard Hardly Works 
3. Promotion and Advancement: How to champion the Pull.
4. We need to Hack more!
5. I am not an Architect
6. How does going to a Hackathon make re-entry easier?
7. Interrupt workplace bias, be a "Change Agent"
8. Reflections from the EQxD Hackathon Jurors
9. Conscious Inclusion: #BUILDYOUrtribe

EQxD "U" Workshop #2 - What's Flex got to do with Success? Meet the Panelists!

by Amber Evans

June 11th, 2015 @AIASF 130 Sutter Street, San Francisco 6pm-8:30pm

We are excited to bring you the 2nd of 4 EQxD "U" Workshops - What's Flex got to do with Success?  (Win-Win Strategies for Work/Life Flexibility)

We will explore the complexities of making work and life "work" together to fulfill your maximum potential while enjoying the journey along the way.

Work life flexibility emerged as a major theme of last year's Equity in Architecture survey. Flexibility was one of the most important ways that our survey respondents defined success in their careers. The survey also shows that inflexible schedules and long hours are a real burden on our field - a significant portion of respondents had turned down opportunities or promotions due to issues of flexibility, people are leaving the field due to long hours and low pay, and taxing work schedules are a major obstacle to licensure. 

Our panel will feature 4 design professionals from diverse backgrounds; different stages of life and professional practice. All 4 share their insights on the constant dance between practice, life and everything in between. Following a summary of key survey findings on work life flexibility and caregiving, we will engage the panelists in an interactive Q&A. The second half of the session will leverage break-out groups to dive deep and propose actionable solutions to the work life flexibility challenges discussed.

Workshop Agenda

• Networking & Refreshments 6:00-6:15 pm
• Introductions/ Welcome 6:15-6:25pm
• Panel Discussion 6:25-7:15pm
• Break/ Transition 7:15-7:20pm
• Break-Out Groups/ Storytelling 7:20-8:10pm
• Report Back on Break-out Groups/ Conclusions 8:10-8:30pm

MEET THE PANELISTS! (and the amazing firms they lead)

Jeffery Till, AIA, LEED AP

Design Principal, Perkins + Will

Jeffrey Till has is an architect and leader in sustainable development, with twenty five years of architectural and master planning experience in North America, Asia, and Europe. He leads design on a range of projects for clients with high level sustainability goals, with a focus on research driven, multidisciplinary process and performance strategies. He has taught sustainable architecture at Stanford University, advised on green planning strategies, and is served on the national AIA working group on energy modeling, helping architects bring advanced tools to everyday practice.

Perkins+Will is an interdisciplinary, research-based architecture and design firm established in 1935 and founded on the belief that design has the power to transform lives and enhance communities. Each of the firm’s 24 offices focuses on local, regional and global work in a variety of practice areas. With hundreds of award-winning projects annually, Perkins+Will is ranked as one of the top global design firms. Perkins+Will is recognized as one of the industry’s preeminent sustainable design firms due to its innovative research, design tools, and expertise. The firm's 1,700 professionals are thought leaders developing 21st century solutions to inspire the creation of spaces in which clients and their communities work, heal, live, and learn. Social responsibility is a fundamental aspect of Perkins+Will’s culture and every year the company donates 1% of its design services to pro bono initiatives. In 2015, Fast Company ranked Perkins+Will among “The World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Architecture.”  

Kirstin Weeks, LEED AP

Senior Energy and Building Ecology Specialist, Arup

Kirstin Weeks is a senior Energy and Building Ecology Specialist at Arup.  She champions the San Francisco office’s Net Positive Design initiative, and specializes in biophilic design and integration of ecological function in the built environment.  Kirstin works with interdisciplinary teams to create resilient built environments that work like ecosystems, eliminating waste as a concept and supporting wellness, biodiversity, regeneration and reliance on renewable resources.  Her project experience extends from sustainability leadership on large office, civic, academic and industrial projects to city-scale plan development, research and cost-benefit studies. Kirstin holds an A.B. in Environmental Studies from Dartmouth and an M.S. in Building Science from UC Berkeley. 

Founded in 1985 as the first office in the Americas, the San Francisco Arup office is one of the largest in the region, delivering smart holistic solutions for their clients, with a focus on diversity and maintaining strong connections with our local community. The staff are well versed in smart land use, optimizing transit solutions, sustainable design, healthy buildings, and material choices. Resilience is at the forefront of their design solutions, due to the seismic concerns posed by nearby major earthquake faults and the issues raised by climate change. The San Francisco office has a strong portfolio in the design of buildings and infrastructure. These are supported by our offerings in specialized consulting services including acoustics, transportation planning, and transaction advice. Key projects in these sectors include the LEED Platinum San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Headquarters, the Project, Concord, and the Transbay. They are also highly versed in healthcare, arts and culture, and campus design projects, including both educational and corporate campus projects. Recent work includes the UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay, San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Annette Jannotta, Architect, IIDA, LEED AP ID&C

Interior Architect, Flad Architects

Annette Jannotta is an interior architect with Flad Architects San Francisco.  Since childhood, she has been fascinated by creating stories and characters that inspire her to make spaces (hello Barbie’s Condo!).  She found her way to studying architecture at the University of Florida and realized that through design she could share her passion with others. Originally from South Florida, Annette left the warm Atlantic waters to design interiors for award-winning firms in Los Angeles, Singapore and San Francisco.  Many of her current and former clients are leaders in their industries and are always passionate about what they do.  They include Warner Bros., Stanford University, Rhino Records, Genentech, Singapore Changi Airport, and even the beloved late Bay Area Feng Shui master, Liu Ming. Always in pursuit of creative expression, Annette strives to balance and integrate her passion for design, photography, art installation, writing and travel, with enjoying time with her husband, extended family and two very spoiled cats.

Flad Architects is an award-winning design firm delivering high performance environments that enable our clients to elevate their potential and advance their mission. Recognized as a leader in academic, life sciences, technology and workplace design, the firm has been honored with over 90 design awards (74 AIA, 12 IIDA and 8 Lab of the Year).  By leveraging specialized expertise across eight locations including San Francisco, Seattle and New York, Flad delivers transformational design solutions as a single organism. We have earned a reputation for outstanding client service, fiscal responsibility, and design excellence over our 85-year history. Flad’s commitment to sustainable design has driven the completion of more than 50 LEED certified buildings—including the first Platinum process science facility.

Douglas Speckhard, AIA, LEED AP

Associate, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

Douglas Speckhard joined Bohlin Cywinski Jackson in 1998, working in the Pittsburgh office and contributing to a variety of projects, including the Rensselaer Biotechnology Center, Yale University's Chemistry Research Building, and the Natural Sciences Building at the University of California, San Diego. Since relocating to the San Francisco office in 2003, Doug has participated in a number of projects, including the Macromedia Headquarters (now Adobe), and has worked on both corporate and academic facilities in the master planning and design phases. Doug’s most recent experience has been on a creative campus project for a large entertainment company in the Los Angeles area. Doug served as Project Architect during the master planning and conceptual design of the Core Shell phases, which developed naturally into a role as Project Manager for the Interior Fit out, working closely with the client, users and an interdisciplinary team to develop a cutting edge, collaborative workplace for a demanding internet, gaming and mobile device business unit of a large entertainment company.

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson is noted for elegant and humane design, ranging from modest houses to large academic, civic, cultural, commercial and corporate buildings. The principals and staff are deeply committed to active collaboration with our clients, emphasizing thorough research and analysis of each situation's particular human, technical and economic circumstances. The result is exceptional architecture that resonates within its place. Since 1965, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson has received more than 625 regional, national and international design awards, including three AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten Green Projects. Bohlin Cywinski Jackson are the recipients of the American Institute of Architects Architecture Firm Award, the most prestigious honor bestowed upon an architectural practice by the Institute. The founding principal, Peter Bohlin, was awarded the Gold Medal by the American Institute of Architects, the highest honor an individual American architect can receive.

Work Life Flexibility in the News: (must reads before the event!)

Harvard Business Review: 

Millennials Say They’ll Relocate for Work-Life Flexibility

Why some men pretend to work 80 hours a week

New York Times: 

The Unspoken Stigma of Workplace Flexibility

How Some Men Fake an 80-Hour Workweek, and Why It Matters

Huffington Post: 

Forget Balance: 5 Things You Can Do to Lead the Life You Want

 

 

EQxD Event Sponsorship

We are seeking sponsors for our ambitious 2015 Equity by Design Initiatives. If you are interested in supporting our goals for achieving equitable practice in architecture, please contact us to learn more about the multiple benefits for your support. Among other benefits, Sponsors get designated tickets for each of the workshops in 2015 based on your level of support. So make the most of your sponsorship by contacting us early! 

EQxD Get Real: Control Less, Celebrate More, Shall We?

By Katie E. Ray, Assoc. AIA |  Arlington, VA   

Several encounters come to mind when considering uncomfortable situations I’ve experienced as a female architect, particularly since becoming a mother last August. My first week back after my 8 week maternity leave, I had to tell my boss that I couldn't drive with him to a site meeting because I needed to pump in the car. There was also the conversation I had with my project team, in which I said we can no longer have impromptu ‘stand-at-my-desk-chatting’ meetings at 4:55pm, because if I don’t pick up my baby by 6pm, I have to pay my provider extra. I’ve also learned a lot these first 6 months about the ‘work-life-balance’ of being a mom architect. These lessons included discovering that my baby hates when I check work email while I nurse him in the evening (read: I no longer check work email after 8pm), and that studying for the ARE while attempting to sleep-train an infant is no small feat (read: impossible.) However, the biggest hurdle I've experienced is something that has been occurring long before I ever became a mom, and it has to do with my female colleagues.

I’ll use this seemingly insignificant story to illustrate: I recently discovered a new tool available in Revit 2015 which would greatly benefit the work-flow our team utilizes for Lighting Schedules. We have one Hospitality client (whom we have done multiple renovations for and have many more projects on the horizon) that requests for us to show a photo or cut sheet image for all decorative lighting fixtures specified on the sheet next to the RCP. In the past, to achieve this we've created an Excel document then placed it on the sheet as a raster image.  Being able to place an image into the cell of the Revit Schedule would eliminate this tediousness step (and let’s be honest, the process is a huge vulnerability for mis-coordination.) I saw this new schedule as a game changer for our team. Anything that first reduces confusion and opportunity for mistakes and, second, saves time will achieve two of my major work/life goals: better projects and more time to spend with my family.

With great elation, I sent the new process on to the team, copying the “Revit Captains.” I’m a Project Manager, and our team works very closely with our Interior Design team. The folks familiar with Revit, and familiar with the frustrating workflow we go through for schedules, were immediately on board. But a certain member of the team, a fellow woman colleague who heads Interior Design, proceeded to claim that this must be vetted and agreed upon “by all” as acceptable.

She sent a flurry of emails, voice-mails to my personal cell phone that evening, followed by conversations the next morning, all because I stated I would begin employing a new tool. It was a mind-boggling, knee-jerk reaction. I racked my brain. Why the opposition? I've come to realize it was based on nothing more than feeling a loss of control. The way I handled her tailspin was to agree that, yes, all should be on board. But I also affirmed that I am the PM and in the end reserve the right to execute the drawings as I see fit. I never want to fuel the fire, however I think it’s critical to reiterate that I am competent and capable to make these decisions for my team.

This story, which likely sounds like plain and simple “office drama” at its worst, is meant to illustrate that women design professionals have got to lift each other up a bit more. Can’t we celebrate new ideas without immediately seeing them as an attack on our own ability to manage? I can’t imagine the hurdles that this particular woman has had to overcome, being in the position that she holds.  Quite often she is the only woman in a room full of men. But, at times, the politics of asserting your opinion can actually be damaging to the morale of others. With this story, I worry that this particular woman has confused the advice of ‘find your voice’ to mean, ‘be louder,’ but I think we have a duty to each other to bolster and celebrate ideas and accomplishments when they arise.  Some may think this is an issue of clashing personalities, but as I said in the beginning, this is not the first office I've experienced a challenging situation with fellow female colleagues. I think the delicate balance of asserting yourself versus coming off as a roadblock to your colleagues is a balance worth finding, because the only way to advance ourselves is by supporting each other when steps forward are taken.

About Katie Ray @bigklittleatie

Katie E. Ray, Assoc. AIA currently lives in Arlington, VA and is a PM for a firm just outside of Washington DC. Her projects currently range from restaurants, bars, spas, and country clubs. She is a mother and yogi; on the weekend she loves spending time building lighting and furniture from salvaged materials.

EQxD Get Real - To read more about challenges and resilience from diverse viewpoints, go here.

In a similar spirit of spontaneity of the Archimom's Everyday Moments of Truth blog series, we are excited to bring you EQxD Get Real: True stories of Challenges and Resilience from diverse perspectives of architects and designers. Each day we will feature the stories of each person's challenges in the profession and what they learned from those experiences to inspire action for equitable practice in architecture. 

 

In Equitable Practice, architalks, INSPIRE%Tags, EQxDGetReal

I Make Things - Jame L. Anderson, AIA

I make things; the labels we wear, the ways we define who we are and what we do.

When we are born, we get our first label.  On a form generated at the birthing center, hospital, or other, we are designated as Boy or Girl, Male or Female….Baby Girl So-and-So.  Generally, at the hospital, our last names are first our mother’s, before the birth certificate and naming conventions begin.

But at that moment, we are labeled, even before our parents label us.  With this little tag, much of our cultural norms follow: the pink or the blue.  No matter how hard one may try as a parent to skirt these norms and create something un-stereotypical, it is ever present. Then, we get the next label that our parents choose for us, our name. I’m a Jame—not a Jamie, or Jaime, or Jayme.  My Dad is James, thus Jame.

I have discovered that I carry a lot of those little titles on my Self. 

But starting at the beginning, I have always made things. From little ghost scribbles on the white walls of my parents’ home, to sculptures of the slate roofs of caving in barns out in our fields, I have always made things.  When I was in high school I made things and was labeled “artistic”.  Then I went to college and made more things, and considered myself and gave myself the label of “Artist”. 

These labels begin to become part of our identity and in a country preoccupied with what everyone does for a living, this is especially true. When I left the sanctuary which is the college art studio, and struck out in the world on my own, I continued to make things…but they were for other people, things in museums. Not the artifacts, the stuff around the artifacts.  Then I went back to school again. I chose an art school with an architecture program.  On entering, I never considered I’d ever be an “Architect” with that capital A.  I’m not really sure what I thought I was going to do; make really big sculptures perhaps?  But the little girl that used to dress up as Thomas Jefferson in rural Virginia was a grown up girl at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) in the process of realizing that making buildings would be the next thing to do.  So I strove to define myself with another label.

I recall that in 1998, when I completed my Masters, the statistics held that 12% of licensed architects were women. I was amazed.  Amazed.  It was 1998 after all.  What happened to the burning of bras and to Virginia Wolf, Germaine Greer, Camille Paglia, Naomi Wolf and Gloria Steinem? It was as if I was reading Linda Nochlin again while sitting around a triangular dinner table eating from really strange plates.  With this knowledge I pushed forward and took exams and got my next label, AIA...Architect.  Boy, I showed them!

Somewhere after that I got another set of letters, this time at the front of my name. MRS. (Although my last name stayed the same.)  I was legally partnered with my soulmate, declared my love in front of 92 people and ate some cake. I was a fish with a bicycle and enjoying it.

But I was still “making things” (in quotations). At this point, I drew things, designed things, coordinated things that other people “made”. Hardhat and boots on, I stood on construction sites, argued with contractors and did everything an Architect should.  And I was part of a really big team that made really permanent things.  But I was definitely in the minority on site, and that first label was omnipresent.

The label of artist was becoming more and more a distant thing, switching perhaps to lower case and the upper case Architect took over. I then switched artistic capacities, moving in house to an incredible museum.  There, I designed things-that-other-people-made-that-made-things-that-other-people-made look good (if you can follow).  I was marrying art and architecture, or trying to.  I got to hold Picassos and install Rothkos and talk art, and design space.  One day somebody called me an exhibit designer and I wondered, is that what I am? What is the set of dress up clothes for that profession?

Then, I made my masterpiece, and got my next label, and honestly the one that has changed the most aspects of my life: the label of “Mom”, “Mommy”, Mother. This new label: did it obscure all of the other ones?  I make things for her too – things I never could have imagined making.  A non-cook who would prefer to use a drill or a welding torch to a sewing needle, my daughter’s requests have pushed my making into even newer territory.  I was taught never to learn to sew, cook or type because then someone would expect you to do so, but now I find that these new things are making challenges of their own.

So, I took a trip. Back to France and to stand in front of my two BFFs: Nike and Venus.

My soul mate/best friend/spouse was with me and we had a talk.  I was questioning who I was and it had dawned on me that it wasn’t having a child, that it wasn’t any career strife, it was that I had become distant from the direct making. I was 40.  (Maybe it was the zero.)

So I renovated an attic and got to work. 

I don’t make “art” for others.  Those objects are mine: uncompromised, unshared, things that exist in my own mind.  I use what I find in my studio and my home – readily available materials that are sometimes the cheapest and most immediate sort.  They, often, mark the passage of time in the least graceful manner.

I am still very interested in what is termed by many as “women’s issues” although I no longer see them as just affecting women – they are shared by us all.  I am interested in our labels and lines and intersections: boy/girl, pink/blue, black/white, either/or, virgin/whore, in/out, dead/alive, good/bad and either that line that separates them, or the space between them and the symmetry that is formed by them.

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I am wondering about the term “artist” and all my other labels.  Which one is accurate?  Which one should I choose?

Art is not my profession, does that make the label untrue? I am a “person engaged in one or more of the broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts or demonstrating an art”.  So why have I not called myself an artist lately?  When did I no longer exist as one in my mind?

Am I an Architect with a capital A?  I am not in private practice, I have not built a building in several years and I do not have my own firm bearing my own name as the ‘big boys’ do, although I still have a piece of paper from the state of Virginia and a membership in the AIA. 

What does that make me?

I’m a wearer of all of these labels—Architect, Designer, Mom, Wife, Woman, and countless other things too.  I am not Pablo Picasso, Frank Gehry, or Coco Channel and I don’t need to be.  In fact, I don’t want to be.  And by defining myself, these labels are only adjectives, personifiers of me that speak to my experience, which I have learned helps me to make me, Me. 

So, what do I do? What am I?

I make things.

Written by Jame L. Anderson, AIA

Why We Need To Stop Bragging About How Busy We Are

In a recent article by a similar name on Fast Company, Lisa Evans critically evaluates the “culture of busy”: the expectation of working long hours and the bragging rights that come with it.  She explains that “logging in long hours and complaining about not having any time in the day is considered a status symbol and a sign of success.” She references  Brigid Schulte’s recent book Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time, reflects on how adjusted workplace values can positively influence a company.  By example, large organizations from The Pentagon to small start up tech companies have successfully modified the way employees and managers place quality over quantity: increasing creativity and productivity while creating a more flexible work environment.

 “In the breaks, that’s where the ‘aha moment’ comes,” says Schulte. It’s in the moments of leisure time that the brain is working to solve issues so you can begin your next burst of intense work with a renewed perspective.

“When you look at human performance science, there’s such great evidence that working all of those hours really doesn’t get you where you want to go,” says Schulte. While you may be able to work a few 60-hour weeks, eventually you will be so burnt out that you lose the ability to be creative and innovative.

For architects, the “culture of busy” begins at the university level and extends throughout our careers.  In school the culture of the “all-nighter” is rampant from the very first weeks.  The pressure to complete a perfect color wheel freshman year feels very similar to completing a flawless thesis several years later.  Many students experience the same pressure to work late by their peers, professors, and a competitive desire to do their best work.  Working long hours often feels like the best and only way to win a travel grant or fellowship.  Some professors further this culture by arriving to studios in the middle of the night for spontaneous critiques and pinups that last until dawn.  At Design firms with this culture, it is common for architects to stay late, sending a completion email to the boss well past midnight ensuring it has a timestamp. 

If an organization as large and tiered as the Pentagon can change its culture, is it possible for architectural practice to do the same? And if so, what steps can we take to support a culture that merits performance over long hours clocked in? What initiatives have been started in your office that have worked to foster change?

By Ashley Hinton