AIA Utah Fall Conference 2023 Keynote Speaker CAROL ROSS BARNEY, FAIA, HASLA A Woman of Vision and Resolve PUB 4 2023-2024 ISSUE 1
Reflexion is a publication of the Utah Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. www.aia.org/utah AIA Utah 280 S. 400 W., Suite 150 Salt Lake City, Utah 84101 President Jessica Hoffman, AIA, NCARB President-Elect Chamonix Larsen, AIA Secretary Jared Anzures, AIA Treasurer Roger Phillips, AIA Editor Frances Pruyn, CPSM Staff: Angie Harris Roberts Executive Director Joe Mangum Programs & Office Manager ©2023 AIA UT | The newsLINK Group, LLC. All rights reserved. Reflexion is published quarterly by The newsLINK Group, LLC for AIA UT and is the official publication for this association. The information contained in this publication is intended to provide general information for review, consideration and education. The contents do not constitute legal advice and should not be relied on as such. If you need legal advice or assistance, it is strongly recommended that you contact an attorney as to your circumstances. The statements and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the AIA UT, its board of directors, or the publisher. Likewise, the appearance of advertisements within this publication does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation of any product or service advertised. Reflexion is a collective work, and as such, some articles are submitted by authors who are independent of the AIA UT. While AIA UT encourages a first-print policy, in cases where this is not possible, every effort has been made to comply with any known reprint guidelines or restrictions. Content may not be reproduced or reprinted without prior written permission. For further information, please contact the publisher at 855.747.4003. 4 President’s Message AIA Utah — A Place for Collaboration and Community 8 Legends: Donald Finlayson, AIA 12 Member Spotlight: Diane Kayembe AIA Associate; Senior Designer, Lloyd Architects; AIA Utah Honors & Awards Member 13 AIA Utah Fall Conference 2023 Sept 26-27 14 Keynote Speaker: Carol Ross Barney, FAIA, HASLA A Woman of Vision and Resolve 20 Women in Architecture 22 NOMA Utah is Here to Amplify the Voices of the Underrepresented 24 Renewable Energy & Storage Skyrocket in New Energy Plan 26 Introduction to the Small Firm Exchange (SFx) CONTENTS 3
Let’s talk about collaboration. Research shows it is essential to creativity and efficiency and can bring a distinctive expertise to a project. Post-pandemic online meetings and documentation tools have put an emphasis on connectivity in our daily habits and made collaboration easier than ever. From beginning to end, architecture and design is a collaborative endeavor. No matter the project size, the work requires a knowledge base of specialists to get to the finish line, and the number of experts grows as the project develops and complexities are identified. The process inherently requires a mountain of communication and collaboration. How we get there can be chaotic; however, the team shares the same end goal — to enhance the user experience of space through forms, feeling and functionality. Understandably, it is difficult to bring together our community in the Beehive State. We are spread out geographically. We are busy. Keep in mind, though, that making an effort to come together to talk about design and work that inspires us will strengthen your practice and secure the future of the profession. Knowledge sharing encourages innovation. So how do we come together to enhance our architectural expertise? It takes skill to communicate effectively. According to some experts in collaborative working, there are three key elements to assist in gaining knowledge through collaboration:1 1. Create tools that allow everyone to communicate strategically about innovation. 2. Vet and refine ideas collectively and continuously. 3. Keep top leaders focused on helping [people] … get the resources and support they need. AIA Utah and AIA National touch on all these points with in-person and online opportunities to engage and learn. AIA is meant to strengthen the members of our community and diligently works to enhance relationships between our members. The purpose is to listen and implement the best ideas into working solutions. We AIA UTAH A Place for Collaboration and Community JESSICA HOFFMAN, AIA, NCARB PRESIDENT, AIA UTAH PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE From beginning to end, architecture and design is a collaborative endeavor. Design In Charts, Jody Brown 4 REFLEXION
can be more by being part of a group that looks at individual talents and carries concepts through to overall practice. Not only does this benefit the group — it will also enhance your own abilities and talents by refining essential communication skills. Broadening perspective and looking outside of your inner circle is healthy and enables new ideas to form by discussing complex issues. Taking time to really listen will foster an understanding that is vital to our professional development. Together, we can strategize about how to improve the work that we have dedicated our lives to. The process may be chaotic, but we are all skilled problem solvers. By coming together, we can keep up with constant changes and enhance the practice of architecture. Members have many opportunities to use AIA Utah as a format to continue technical education, discuss design innovation, network with peers, practice communication and build relationships with different types of people with varying perspectives. Please reach out to us and consider volunteering on a local committee or event! There are several board and committee positions opening up, and candidates will be able to speak at the annual business meeting at the Annual AIA Utah Conference on September 27, starting at 11:45 am. We have a wonderful lineup of events prepared for you, including building tours, panel discussions on large development preparation and maintaining talent in your practice, and the keynote speaker is the national gold medal winner, Carol Ross Barney. You won’t want to miss it! In my circle of family and friends that are architects, we get energy from each other’s ideas. Conversations on the sidelines of a project have the freedom for ideas to flow. We problem-solve and have fun doing it. One close friend shared a book about the design process with me called Design in Charts by Jody Brown, who is able to capture the design and collaboration process in a thoughtful and accurate way. Get yourself a copy, settle in and enjoy! 1. Harvard Business Review, 3 Ways to Build a Culture of Collaborative Innovation by Kate Isaacs and Deborah Ancona https://hbr.org/2019/08/3-ways-to-build-a-culture-of-collaborativeinnovation The process may be chaotic, but we are all skilled problem solvers. By coming together, we can keep up with constant changes and enhance the practice of architecture. Design In Charts, Jody Brown 6 REFLEXION
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BY FRAN PRUYN LEGENDS Donald Finlayson, AIA As part of our ongoing series of interviews with architectural legends, we are proud to present this interview with Donald Finlayson, AIA. We spoke about his introduction into architecture and how his experience brought him to where he is today. We hope you enjoy learning more about Don as much as we did. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 8 REFLEXION
When did you decide to become an architect? I decided to be an architect at a pretty young age. I helped my father build a house when I was 10. Then at 13 or 14, I took a drafting class, and the last project was to design a house, and I was hooked. Where were you? I grew up in Midland, Michigan. It was the home of Dow Chemical, one of the largest chemical companies in the world. It was a great place to grow up because of the intellectual quality of that town. One of the sons of the founder was Aldon Dow, who was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. Where were you trained and then ultimately how did you land here? In high school, I decided to try to go to the University of Michigan. I also applied to BYU. The University of Michigan, to my great astonishment, sent me a letter saying that they “couldn’t predict my success.” So, after graduating from BYU, I still planned to be an architect, but BYU did not have an architecture school. So I reapplied to the University of Michigan and graduated as one of the top in my class in 1976. Having graduated, I moved to Washington, D.C. This was during a recession that was every bit as deep as the recession of 2009-2010. I sent resumes to every architect in the phone book and got six replies. When I visited them, three of them said, “We just liked your resume. We didn’t have anything else to do; we just thought we would talk to you since you are here.” I got no job offers. But during my time at the University of Michigan, I was a draftsman at a hospital consulting firm, and I got great experience learning about hospitals and healthcare. I used that experience to find a job with a startup hospital consulting firm in D.C. that turned into a great opportunity. Six months later, we had won a project for the federal government in Hawaii with two architectural firms that had no healthcare experience at all. Since I was single, they asked me to move to Hawaii (hard duty, but somebody had to do it) to be the resident. This was in early 1977. I distinctly remember sending sketches back to the home office using a fax machine, five minutes per page. I was there for six weeks at a time, off and on for three years. The rest of the time, I was back in the States, working on other projects. Soon, we had a project working for the San Diego Naval replacement hospital and a replacement hospital for the VA in Bay Pines. These were projects that were driven by the federal government to try to pull the United States out of a recession. So here I was traveling back and forth between Hawaii, Long Beach in California and Florida for three years, with a few stops in D.C. to see what was going on in the office. It was an amazing experience for someone who was just out of school. What did you learn? It started before that, in the summer of 1974, while I was still in school working for a hospital consulting firm. Our assignment was to develop signage for a hospital in East Detroit. They took me to this hospital, and I sat in the emergency room right across from registration. You couldn’t do this today because of HIPAA laws. I was within two or three feet of where they would check in patients. In comes a construction worker who had dropped steel on his toe. They had no place for him to sit at the registration desk. It was a metal, old line desk with a standard that had glass in it. They asked him, “What’s your name? What’s your mother’s name? What’s your father’s name?” The 40 questions that you get. He was obviously not feeling well, so he turned around to sit beside me and she said, “Oh, I only have three more questions.” He turned around, fainted and hit the top of the pole that held the edge of the glass and fell on the floor right in front of me. They picked him up, put him on the gurney and took him into the emergency room. A half-hour later, I saw him admitted to the hospital with a concussion. What I learned from that was: we can do better. During that time, I got the experience of starting to design these big hospitals; hospitals that would now be billion-dollar hospital projects, three of them in the very conceptual stages. No architect with one year or two years of experience ever got to do that. How did your career evolve? When those projects started to decrease, our consulting activities focused less on designing hospitals and more on the operations of hospitals. While it was fascinating, it didn’t feed my desire to be an architect. At the five-year mark, in 1979/80, I got restless. I had met another architect in Washington, D.C. and asked him if they had a position. This guy knew my boss. He called him and said, “Is this okay?” That was one of the first times I saw someone sacrifice themselves for the development of another person. I moved to a firm that I don’t think exists anymore, VBKR. It was a 200-person firm that serviced Virginia. The University of Virginia was doing a major replacement hospital in Charlottesville. We teamed with what we thought was the best national firm: Hansen Lind Meyer, another firm that no longer exists. That introduced me to Dick Hansen. I moved to Iowa to be an understudy to him and learned an immense amount about how to work with academic medical centers. That led to work at the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, the University of Iowa and so on. It was quite a resume builder. Within a couple of years, he decided it was time to retire, and I was part of a group that was tasked with buying out the two 9
founders. That was both a wonderful experience and the seeds of disaster because there were 10 of us who hadn’t really worked that well together, pulling this buyout together. It all worked as long as the economy was good. But in 1990, there was another recession, and there was a lot of infighting between the Florida office, the Chicago office and the Iowa office on who ought to take the cuts. Ultimately, that led to firing two presidents. When they brought in a president from the outside, I met him, then said, “I have to leave. This is not going to work.” I then joined Cannon Design in Buffalo, New York, another large national firm. I was nominally in charge of the Buffalo office healthcare practice, though that didn’t really mean a whole lot because more of the healthcare practice was done in other offices throughout the country. I had met Tom Jensen of Jensen Haslam, and we developed a relationship while working on a hospital in Burley, Idaho. One snowy day in Buffalo, New York, he called and said, “I see that it’s snowing. Are you ready to come to Utah yet?” So, on Jan. 1, 1997, I started here in Salt Lake in charge of Jensen Haslam’s, 15-20 person Salt Lake office. The rest of the firm was in Logan. I had moved to Utah with one great motive: I had two 10-year-old sons, and they needed their dad. But I came with experience and a relationship This is an opportunity for two smaller firms to become one of the bigger firms in Salt Lake.” He went back and approached his colleagues, and thus the marriage came to be. Talk about projects that you were particularly proud of and why? The Huntsman Cancer Hospital is one not only because it’s beautiful, not only because it’s important here, but also because I lost a daughter to cancer while we were designing it. And every time I go up there, I’m close to my daughter. At the Huntsman Cancer Hospital, we had an opportunity to start from scratch and do healthcare the right way. Working with the University of Utah as well as Intermountain Healthcare, and we began slowly developing work. My first assignment, almost the day that I arrived, was to help the hospital in Heber, which was in just awful shape, find a way to replace itself. I found out later that the corporate man in finance wanted this study done so that he could close that hospital. I lived in Heber, and the study to do that hospital was quite an exercise. We needed only 12 beds, and the architectural issue was to design it so that 40 staff members could operate the whole hospital. Most of the staff had multiple jobs. The assistant administrator was also the OR director, and on and on. At the same time, we had a contract with the hospital in Nephi. That created a practice for us in small hospitals that was quite amazing. In the course of 10 years, we did 25 or 30 very small hospitals throughout the Western United States and the first brand-new hospital in Maine in 40 years. Along that path, we established ourselves doing healthcare work. The University of Utah was ready to begin a development of their hospital facilities, again, very badly needed additions and renovations. One of the local contractors came to me and said, “If you team with Thomas Petersen Hammond, you will win that job, and we’d like to be your partner.” I’d not met anyone from Thomas Petersen Hammond, and to my great joy, I met Tim Thomas, who became a dear friend, and we won the project. I’m very proud of that facility because we changed not only the look but also the quality of delivery of the facilities. So now how did Thomas Petersen, Hammond and Jensen Haslam get together? I was the person who knew both firms really quite well as we worked on the University [of Utah] Hospital project. I actually asked the people from Thomas Petersen Hammond to come take up space in our office so we could work as colleagues. They did, and we found that we liked them an awful lot. As that project came to the end of design, I went to Tim and said, “Would you guys ever think about joining up — being together? with me was a physician, Joe Simone, who was vital to the development of the Huntsman Cancer Institute and the Director of the hospital. And we laid out some principles: we said the patient comes first. And throughout the design process, we would ask that question, “What’s best for the patient?” And what you see when you go visit that facility is our take on what was best for the patient, even if that made the assignments for those who work there a little bit more difficult. That was fundamental to why I was doing healthcare architecture as a specialty. 10 REFLEXION
various disciplines, so that concept came very early to me. If I hadn’t succeeded in architecture, I would have gone into computers. I remember when Steve Jobs started marketing the Apple II — I wanted to buy one but couldn’t afford one for a few years. And I saw our industry change through the years in trying to figure out how to adapt to the computer capabilities. I was in large firms at the time, and even the large firms struggled with the financial investment that was necessary to make the conversion. I was at an age that learning what we used to call CADD, did not make sense for me. But I did use simpler computer programs on the Macintosh to do a lot of the planning. Many of those same tools are used today in the early planning stages. I was made a Principal when I turned 35. At 37, I was involved in a buyout of the founders. It was a horrendous task, and one I was unprepared for. We ended up using an employee stock ownership plan, which gave the founders an increased value and also provided some tax benefits by having all of the employees be able to share in the ownership. Once I started bringing together Jensen Haslam and Thomas Peterson Hammond, I realized that 85% of the ownership of the two firms was held by people that were 55 or older, and I was the youngest. Guess who was going to have to hold the bag. So, I learned from the earlier experience, and we established an ESOP program that we grew into. And now Architectural Nexus is 100% employee owned. And that’s an achievement that I’m really proud of because it really is an opportunity to be able to return to those who create the wealth of the company, the value of that wealth. I started out my career visiting older hospitals that had walls that were painted a dull green. I asked one of my mentors, “Why do we see so much green?” And he said, “Have you ever looked at the color wheel?” I said, “Yeah.” “Do you know what color is the opposite of red? The color of blood? It’s a dull green. And if blood gets on that dull green, it looks brown. That’s why.” Oh, my gosh. I noticed that the operating room suites were on the top floor when we visited an old VA hospital. I asked that same mentor, “Why would you put them on the top floor,” and “We never do that anymore.” He said, “Well, this is a sixstory building. The theory was that flies can’t fly up past five floors.” Talk to me about the changes in the architectural profession. Everything about the architecture of healthcare today has changed from when I began my career. One of the AIA committees I joined was Healthcare. It was called a committee in those days, now it’s called an academy. My first meeting was in the AIA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and there were 14 of us. Today, when the academy meets, 3,000 or 4,000 people come. We’ve seen a vast change. And I’m pleased to have been on the forefront of humanizing hospitals. That’s why I did what I did. When I started out, we drew with pencils on vellum. Quickly, it became ink on vellum and then trying to figure out how to do computers. One of the interesting things that HLM had explored in their early days was minimizing drawing by using what they called pen register drawing where multiple layers of vellum would be put on top of each other, much like the layering that now exists in some computer programs for developing Have there been any disappointments along the way? Oh, heavens, yes. I talked about the University of Virginia project. We lost that, but I won the opportunity to be part of Hanson Lind Meyer. When I first moved to Utah, I had done the studies for the site selection and the programming for the McKay replacement hospital. One of the greatest disappointments was not being selected to do that. But everyone wins projects/loses projects. You can’t let that be too big of a disappointment. You get to do the ones that you’re supposed to. What advice would you give a young architect starting out now? Have a vision of what you want added to the world when you’re done. Architecture as a profession shouldn’t be just an employment. I know that I’ve changed lives. I know that matters. I volunteered at the Huntsman Cancer Institute after I retired, and I can’t tell you how many people, when they squeezed out of me that I had been the architect, thanked me for the experience they had there. Would you do it all again? Be an architect? Oh, yeah. I might do it a little differently. I asked my mentor, Dick Hanson, what he would do again, and he said, “I’d spend more time with my family.” It is a very demanding profession. There’s no way about it. And you have to put in who you are as one of the ingredients in order to achieve what you set out to do early in your career. 11
Time is valuable; why AIA? AIA has a known presence that provides resources, community and insight within the profession of architecture. As an emerging professional, I look for opportunities to not only grow my skills but to diversify the profession and empower people to use architecture as a community tool. I’ve found this in joining the AIA Utah Honors & Awards committee, where I was overwhelmed with support to spearhead the Student Design Awards. I believe AIA makes great efforts to advocate for architects and has created an environment where I can help to support emerging professionals. Favorite Utah space: I think it would be criminal to choose just one favorite Utah space. I’ve lived in Utah for 10 years now, and nothing can compare to the striking cookies-andcream mountain ranges in the winter, the turning of the leaves in the fall or the varying orange and red striations in the bluffs in the south. Favorite drink: A Caballo Blanco is fantastic! 1.5 oz. El Tesoro Tequila 0.5 oz. Del Maguey Vida Mezcal 1 oz. pineapple juice 0.5 oz. lime juice 0.75 oz. ginger juice 2 dashes of Angostura bitters Mantra: “Ain’t got to get ready if you stay ready.” Diane Kayembe AIA ASSOCIATE SENIOR DESIGNER, LLOYD ARCHITECTS AIA UTAH HONORS & AWARDS MEMBER 12 REFLEXION
LEARN TODAY, BECOME THE ARCHITECT OF TOMORROW AIA UTAH FALL CONFERENCE 2023 SEPT 26-27 Day 1 Tuesday, September 26 11:00 am Check In / Box Lunch 11:30 am Lecture: Astra Tower 12:30 pm Lecture: Salt Lake City & County Building 2:00 pm Building Tours: Astra Tower Salt Lake City & County Building Day 2 Wednesday, September 27 8:00 am Check In / Breakfast 9:00 am Opening Keynote: Carol Ross Barney 10:30 am Panel Discussion: Preparing for Development at Large Scale 11:30 am AIA Utah — Annual Meeting Chapter Update & Announcements Vote for New Board Members 1:30 pm Panel Discussion: Strategies To Hiring And Retaining Talent 3:00 pm Future Forward Facades 4:00 pm Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) Going to Take My Job? (Probably Not.) 5:00 pm Happy Hour 6:00 pm Honors & Awards Open Board Positions President Elect 2024 / President 2025 Treasurer Secretary Associate (YAF) Director National YAF Representative Committee Members Wanted! Honors & Awards Young Architects Forum Government Affairs Urban Design Utah Utah Architectural Foundation 13
KEYNOTE SPEAKER Carol Ross Barney, FAIA, HASLA A Woman of Vision and Resolve BY FRAN PRUYN Carol Ross Barney is the AIA National’s 2023 Gold Medal Winner. She is also the Keynote Speaker for the 2023 AIA Utah Fall Conference. We chatted with her about her career, about women in architecture, what led to her success and the primary points of her address. The following are excerpts from our conversation. You decided to become an architect when you were in high school, right? Yes, I went to a Catholic girl’s high school, and I think I was the first architect that they had ever had. I loved making things for as long as I can remember. And I believe, personally, that everybody should leave the planet a better place. There were a whole lot of jobs that didn’t have that potential. I didn’t know any architects. I just sort of, in my little high school mind, decided that this was really a good fit — that I could save the world and make things better. Who inspired you? Some of the politicians and figures of the time: Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was elected in 1960. So, I was in seventh grade, and he just set a whole new idea about who Americans were and what they could be. That was definitely inspiring to me. I have a really strong interest in social justice. As for buildings, I was inspired by a lot of the modernists. I didn’t know what I was looking at particularly, but I am in Chicago, and so I watched some really amazing buildings go up, even in my youth. I was always inspired by the ambition of the modernist period buildings. These buildings were using new materials and daylight, and they were just so transparent and beautiful. As I started practicing architecture, working for Holabird and Root, my first boss was John Holabird. He was a true mentor. He didn’t necessarily give me things, but you could tell that he thought I could do it. 14 REFLEXION
I was really close friends with Natalie de Blois, the first woman to be an Associate Partner at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill here in Chicago. Her career was really different than mine. She was super talented, but she worked in the corporate structure. She told me that once she and SOM Design Leader, Gordon Bunshaft, were going to a project meeting. He told her that he didn’t like her dress and she went home and changed it. That was not like Natalie; she was a super independent person. But she was willing to put up with the BS to get the rest done. Also, she had four sons, and I didn’t know women architects who had children. So, looking at her career was really fascinating. And then I had a friend, a colleague, Ken Groggs. He was one of the founders of the National Organization of Minority Architects. We were in AIA together. When I met him, I had just started my practice, and he had just started his. He and I were talking, and I was telling him how hard it was for me to find clients. I didn’t even know who to talk to. And he said, “Come over to my office.” I sat across his desk, and he took out his Rolodex. He said, “Okay, do you have a pencil? I’m going to tell you who to call.” He had been in government for years doing public work — being the client — and he gave me his entire Rolodex. That influenced how I practice architecture. I think it made me more collaborative. I recognized that it’s not what I can do — what I can accomplish — it’s convincing other people or helping other people. Frustrations, disappointments? One thing people may not realize about our profession is how many buildings you draw that don’t get built or how many interviews you go to for projects you don’t get. There are probably thousands of those disappointments on the way. Especially when you’re starting a practice, they can be extraordinarily personal. And so, yeah, I had the same hurt as every other architect. There are problems women architects have that are unique, and they come from the culture of the firm. Those things are real, and they affect everything that you do in the office. I don’t think it is as blatant now. I had a senior partner chase me around his desk, trying to give me a birthday kiss when I was 21 years old. It’s like, what do I do now? Even if you were pretty confident about yourself, what do I do now? And what did you do? I think I kept running! I think we went around and around and around that desk many times. I flunked my first college design course because the Teaching Assistant told me that he didn’t think women should be architects. I expected to have some resistance, and coming from this girls’ school, I was prepared to break all doors down, but I wasn’t expecting it to be that blatant. In a way, it makes you more resilient; it makes you more determined to do it. I had to appeal to the Dean and get my grade changed. Those are frustrations of a different kind. I’ve been in my own practice for 40 years and have a few accolades on my side. But as recently as four years ago, we were the design architect to a big engineering/ architecture project, and the architect on their staff told me, “Don’t talk in the meetings unless I tell you to.” He said the same to our partner in charge of the job, who was also a woman. So I thought, “Okay, we know what’s happening here.” The interesting thing, though, is that nobody’s willing to cross him because there’s still this sort of patriarchy that exists in architectural firms, especially ones that are more traditional. Beyond that, architecture is not easy. Basically, you’re trying to convince people to trust you with millions and millions and millions of their dollars. When people say, “Oh wow, that’s really a nice building,” I see what I didn’t get done. “Don’t they see that detail?” or “Don’t you see where they cut costs?” or “This piece is not as perfect as it should be.” I truly believe architects are optimistic because if you weren’t, you wouldn’t do this. Was there ever a point in your career where you had to just take a leap of faith? When I started my office, that was a leap of faith. I was Director of Design for a company in Chicago, and we merged with another company. I was pretty unaware, but I soon found out that there was a fight to predict who was going to be the director. I lost before I even knew I was in it. I got a call from a couple of the clients I was working for. They said, “We still want you to be our architect.” Honestly, I had never thought about opening a firm. I was more interested in the project than I was in building an office. And I remember thinking, “Well, maybe this isn’t such a weird idea.” I went to the bank and opened a checking account for my business — that was a huge leap of faith for me. What did it take to make it successful? That client, which was a local college, gave us a commission, and immediately right after that, probably a half dozen 15
more clients came. The other thing I learned is usually you’re hired because of a relationship, not because of a design. So, I knew these people, and they hired me. They didn’t hire me for as big of jobs as I did for Holabird, but they hired me. The stunner came about six months later when I found out that everybody who had ever wanted me to be their architect had already called. It was discouraging. It was really discouraging. But I think most founding Principals would tell you the same story. Very, very few people get it on a silver platter. When I mentor young new firm owners, people who are trying to start practices, I tell them they need the portfolio, they need the experience and they need mentors. They need to nurture relationships because relationships open doors to opportunities. How do you personally do it? It’s taken me a while, but I have developed the right persona for me and for my studio over the years. I found out that I was much better at competing in the public arena. Sometimes people hired me just because they got points for hiring a woman. That was part of our socialpolitical culture — something you should do. And it’s not enough to build a firm on, but it was helpful in winning some commissions. There are some things I’m really good at, and there are some things I’m really bad at. I think that one of my talents is realizing what those are and finding someone to fill in my gaps. One of my partners is my Marketing Director and Principal. She does what I don’t do. I’m a social pygmy. I’m a terrible conversationmaker in a crowded situation. I’m great one-on-one, and I’m really good when I’m talking to hundreds. But that middle situation where you’re in a crowd and you have to talk, I’m so bad at it. We’ve been working together for years, and she’s really the architect of our strategy for business development and marketing the firm. I have other people in my studio who fill in other gaps that I just don’t do very well. That was an important realization — I’m not competing with everybody. In fact, together, we were making a whole. It’s not about modesty, either. I mean, I do some things really well, and you better let me do them or I won’t work with you. Tell me about speaking to hundreds at the conference. What are you going to talk to us about? I’m going to talk about our practice for the last 15 or 20 years. Formally, we offer architecture, landscape architecture and planning. But we have found a fertile area in building infrastructure. It’s made me really interested in the pieces that make cities work and what they’ll be like in the future. The thing I think architects need to hear — and like to hear — is that we are the members of the design team who envision the entire project. What are you particularly proud of? The Riverwalk took 15 years of my life, and I like the project. I think we did a really good job. But the thing that just floors me is the way it affects people. The other day, I was sitting on the riverwalk waiting for somebody. I always feel at home in my projects, but this one has grown to be a thing of its own. I felt like I was seeing something new, and it wasn’t something bad. It was just that everybody had adapted to it. It is their project, and that was stunning. I have projects that I love, just because they turned out beautifully. We did a little Civil Engineering building for the University of Minnesota, Duluth, and it’s just a very boisterous, expressive building. It talks about materiality in the Iron Range. It has really visual references to the job of civil engineers, like storm control. We have these big scuppers that hang off the building. So, you see the stormwater rushing off the roof and being retained in these big Corten barrels. I like that building because it talks. How do you pitch these creative ideas to people who are very utilitarian and very budget-minded? I just had this discussion with another architect today. They were saying, it 16 REFLEXION
doesn’t matter what the budget is; you have to do what’s right for the design. Okay, Rule Number One in public architecture, the design has to be right for the budget. That argument never works. It just doesn’t. First, we try to explain the value. We tell clients that there are thousands of good solutions, but they have to be good solutions for all the invested parties. We have to find two or three that we will show them. We often say we are showing you the dumb solution. This is the one you’ve seen before. It works. We would build it for you. It’s a very solid solution. Then usually, we like to show the solution that’s 180 degrees from that one, the one you never thought of. It still meets all the criteria. And maybe we’ll show the one or two in between. The important thing, especially working in a public capacity, is the designs that we propose have to be integrated, and they have to be holistic. That the design doesn’t just work really well as a classroom or other building type, it has to work from a cost standpoint as well, and it has to have the ability to relate to the people that are using it. If you don’t hit all those goals, you’re going to get thrown out. It doesn’t matter what you think. One mistake I see when I am on design juries or reviews is that an architect will have a really good idea, and they’ll show it to you three different ways. That’s a loser. Or the contrary is they’ll have one really good idea, and then they’ll have two that they don’t like, so they’ll draw them really ugly. That’s a loser, too. The client is going to pick the ugly one. How do you provide a number of design solutions for a client without blowing your design budget? That’s hard. In fact, when I’m working for the federal government, I’m regulated under the Brooks Act by how much I can charge them. So, we’ve learned to do it really efficiently. We learned a big thing working on the Oklahoma City Federal Building that replaced the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building after the terrorist bombing. The GSA asked us to engage with the survivors and city officials because it was such an emotionally and culturally difficult project. And we did a lot of things wrong. But we did develop this rich base of information and opinion. So we started to think that we should do this for every project. Over the years, we have developed a really robust set of tools to do engagement. I think it’s so interesting that a lot of clients hire us to do that in addition to design, they’re willing to pay for it as an outside service, especially communities, which are the ones who need it the most. To get the research done, to discover really innovative solutions: talk to people. What do you think is the most challenging right now for women architects? Things are changing. I’ve taught at IIT for 30-some years. Half of my classes are filled with women now. The place where people are still frustrated is getting to the level of firm ownership and firm leadership; women still lag in those areas. There’s still a lack of opportunity for women architects. You don’t get the opportunity because you don’t have a portfolio, and you don’t have a portfolio because you don’t get the opportunity. There are fewer ladders that are available to women. I hope that one of the things that my winning the gold medal changes is people’s perception. The past examples we have of women winning the gold medal are Julia Morgan — who has been deceased for 60 years — and the two medalists, very wonderful architects, but they’re married to their partners, which is a different experience than most women architects encounter. It is forward progress. In the 50s or 60s, you couldn’t 17
get a mortgage without a husband, and you couldn’t get a credit card without a husband. Now you can get a gold medal without a husband. It’s really good. What do you think the most challenging thing is right now in architecture? The most challenging thing for architects and architecture is convincing our clients — insisting that our clients build the most sustainable designs. If we don’t, the planet will still be here; it just won’t be inhabitable. When you look at design, sustainability is just one criterion amongst a whole group of the good that buildings do, but right now, it’s an existential requirement. 18 REFLEXION
Contact us today to place your announcement ad Call 801-676-9722 Or scan the qr code to fill out the form. Who to congratulate , who to acknowledge , and who to ank for a job well done. Employees are motivated when they are recognized and feel valued. The Reflexion magazine is a great platform to celebrate your team's accomplishments! Awards and Distinctions Carol Ross Barney, FAIA, HASLA, is the 2023 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal recipient and is in the vanguard of civic space design with a career that spans over 50 years. She is dedicated to the design of public spaces, from small community facilities to campus buildings for premier academic and research institutions to groundbreaking new transit stations and civic and urban places. Her exploration into the power of how the built environment can improve our daily lives has produced distinctive structures that have become cultural icons. As an architect, urbanist, mentor and educator, she has relentlessly advocated that excellent design is a right, not a privilege. For nearly two decades, Carol’s studio has been working along Chicago’s Rivers, including the design of the Chicago Riverwalk and a vision for improvements for all 150 miles of riverfront. Other notable projects include the design of the new Oklahoma City Federal Building that replaced the Murrah Federal Building following a domestic terrorist attack; the CTA Cermak and Morgan Street Stations; McDonald’s Chicago and Disney World Flagship Restaurants; the Searle Visitor Center at the Lincoln Park Zoo; the JRC Synagogue in Evanston; UMD Civil Engineering Building; Multi-Modal Terminal at O’Hare International Airport; NASA Aerospace Communications Facility and Chicago’s new DuSable Park. Carol’s work has been honored with over 200 major design awards, including the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, the National Design Award, fourteen National American Institute of Architects Honor Awards for Architecture, Interior Architecture and Urban Planning and Design, over 44 AIA Chicago Awards, and two AIA Committee on the Environment, Top Ten Project Awards for sustainably designed buildings. Carol is a graduate of the University of Illinois and served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica, planning national parks. She has taught an advanced Design Studio at the Illinois Institute of Technology for over 30 years. 19
Women in Architecture As architects, we have a profound influence over our communities and the built environment. However, demographically, the gender makeup of the architectural profession does not reflect the populations we serve. In Utah, women make up less than 20% of practicing architects. NCARB and the AIA have studied gender disparity in the profession and have identified disparities along the path to licensure and within the profession that result in high attrition for women. Women in Architecture (WIA) SLC is a local nonprofit that operates towards a singular goal: gender parity in the field of architecture. We achieve that goal through three core strategies: Community, Mentoring and Advocacy. Community WIA SLC provides a network that builds and supports the local community of women in the architectural field. Studies show that women make up nearly 50% of architecture students nationally. (Our local numbers are, unfortunately, lower.) Once out of school, the percentage of women that get licensed drops to below 30%, and they are entering a field where local architects are only 15% women. This limits the number of mentors and examples of women in senior leadership positions within their firms. Beyond this, the competitive culture of architecture makes it very difficult to meet and socialize with women from other firms. WIA helps unite the community of women by hosting various events, lectures, seminars and volunteer opportunities each year. Social events such as the Partini, a New Year social and a summer family-oriented social are fun for our community to gather in a low-stress environment. The annual PechaKucha is another opportunity WIA uses to highlight the contributions of women in our community and expose young architects and licensing candidates to opportunities within the design fields. BY CELESTIA CARSON, PRINCIPAL, VCBO / PRESIDENT, WIASLC 20 REFLEXION
candidates and women who have been established in the field for over a decade. WIA also partners with the University of Utah to host a yearly Professional Practice Panel discussion. Advocacy WIA SLC is committed to engaging the management of our local firms and A/E community, educating them on the value of a diverse workforce and encouraging investing in women professionals. WIA SLC also engages with other Utah women’s organizations, such as the Utah Women and Leadership Project and A Bolder Way Forward Utah. Starting as a grassroots effort, WIA SLC was founded in 2012 by a group of women architects, Celestia Carson (VCBO), Libby Haslam (Studio LP), Greta Anderson (FFKR), Soonju Kwan (GSBS) and Christina Haas (FFKR). This group served as the founding board of directors. The board has included women across the Salt Lake architectural community and currently includes Sophia Malik (Lloyd Architects), Jinnie Lee (GSBS), Erin Carraher (UofU) and Jen Dalley (Parallel Lines). As the founding president, I have continued to serve as the organization’s president. Ongoing advocacy and support efforts of WIA SLC include NCARB Exam fee scholarships, free access to testing study support through Black Spectacles, scholarships for women in the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Utah and introducing architecture to youth through education and community-led STEAM programs. WIA SLC does not require official membership or dues. It is an open organization welcome to all who are interested in participating. Upcoming events are posted on social media platforms such as Instagram @womeninarchitectureslc and through a WIA mailing list. To be added to the mailing list, please send a request to womeninarchitectureutah@gmail.com. For more information, visit our website www.wiaslc.com. Mentoring WIA fosters mentoring opportunities between the emerging generation of women architects and established women professionals. These relationships reinforce both groups; they provide essential networking opportunities for the mentees and reinvigorate the passion of the mentors. Each year, WIA hosts one or more formal mentoring events to provide meaningful connections between students, licensing 21
NOMA Utah is Here to Amplify the Voices of the Underrepresented BY EMAN SIDDIQUI, AIA, NCARB, NOMA ARCHITECTURE The Utah Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) officially became the 37th chapter of the organization in the summer of 2022. The mission of NOMA Utah is to support and highlight underrepresented communities in the design and construction industry. Through mentorship, outreach and education, we promote increased diversity, helping individuals in the development of their professional careers. To accomplish this, NOMA Utah provides resources for licensing exams and exam preparation, provides mentors to students and young professionals and engages with under-represented communities to build a future pipeline. NOMA Utah also provides resources to the professional community to increase diversity at local design firms and support their hiring and promotion. Since our inception a little over a year ago, we have given away 10 ARE exam fees as a way to increase the number of minority licensed architects since many minority and first-generation candidates may face financial barriers in their journey towards licensure. We have hosted mentoring sessions for students and emerging professionals with an esteemed panel of minority leadership from across the valley — this led to many open and honest conversations about what it means to be a visible minority in client or consultant meetings, how being a nonnative English speaker may impact your licensing exam taking capabilities and about non-traditional pathways to licensure. We have attended the last two Career Fairs at the University of Utah to act as a resource for students and hope to take this to Salt Lake Community College and Utah Valley University in the years to come. We have partnered with Women in Architecture for a New Year Social and with the Young Architects’ Forum on a building tour as we continue to build bridges with allied organizations. We have participated in professional panels hosted by the WIA at the University of Utah and presented a panel on Creating an Inclusive Workplace Culture at the AIA Utah conference as the broader design community starts to look to us to lead the necessary conversations around equity in our profession. This summer, we partnered with Glendale Middle School to host a two-week summer camp as part of NOMA’s signature Project Pipeline initiative. The mission of Project Pipeline is to empower young people to affect change in their community through design. Project Pipeline serves a diverse population of students, all of whom are underrepresented in the design field — this is why we chose to partner with Glendale Middle School, which serves a student population of 67% Hispanic/Latino and 19% Asian/Pacific Islander students. We worked with students through all stages of design using thought-provoking and fun exercises. By the end of the twoweek program, 65+ students had participated in NOMA Utah’s inaugural summer camp. NOMA Utah Summer Social — Celebrating a Year of Inspiration at AIA Utah, July 2023 NOMA Utah Executive Committee (l to r): Tang Yang, Eman Siddiqui, Kambaja Tarr, Zahra Hassanipour, Jessica Batty, Dwight Yee 22 REFLEXION
NOMA Utah Project Pipeline Summer Camp at Glendale Middle School, June 2023 NOMA Utah presentation on Creating an Inclusive Workplace Culture at AIA Utah Annual Conference 2022 Anyone in the design and construction industry is invited to become a NOMA Utah member — architects and allied professionals. We take a lot of pride in representing not just architects, but all the disciplines involved in our field. The current composition of the Utah Chapter is 40% Asian, 30% White, 15% Hispanic/Latino and the rest is made up of Middle Eastern, Black and Native American members. All NOMA Utah events are always open to everyone — one does not have to be a NOMA member to attend. We are encouraged by the strong showing of support by our design community for NOMA Utah in the past year, which underscores the need for an organization like NOMA that brings to the forefront the issues of the marginalized and the disenfranchised that continue to plague our industry. Our initiatives are made possible by our sponsors and our volunteers, for whom we are very grateful. We have another mentoring event planned for the fall in addition to a presentation on hiring international students at the AIA Utah fall conference. We are working on starting an ARE prep program to bring together licensure candidates and provide them with resources and support. We will keep working on improving our Project Pipeline camp as we understand the lessons learned from our first year. We will also continue to build partnerships with allied organizations on our mission to create a more inclusive and equitable architecture profession. 23
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