Category: Design Industry
Access Matters: What You Need to Know About ICC Accessibility Updates
Hospital Design and Maintenance in the COVID Era
CAHED, the Colorado Association of Healthcare Engineers and Directors, hosted its annual (Virtual) Speed Networking event on November 12. Speakers from Craig Hospital, Denver Health, UCHealth, Banner Health, NV5, SCL Health, and Children’s Hospital of Colorado divided among breakout groups via Zoom to educate professionals involved in building and maintaining healthcare facilities how they are coping in these strange times and what trends are evolving today. Following are takeaways from owners and facilities managers and how architects can adapt during this rapidly changing time in hospital design.
The New Normal
Healthcare leaders stressed that today’s “new normal” is likely temporary, and that COVID-19 isn’t necessarily going to change how they design and construct facilities in the future. They emphasized the need to not overreact, but to look at each instance calmly and objectively. Most are, however, delaying larger projects in favor of making smaller repairs, while still considering updating future policies and operations. Tasks are reprioritized daily. Many facilities have also reduced non-emergent care due to the pandemic, and projects that affect patient areas have mostly been put on hold. These days, whole portions of a hospital may suddenly become overflow for new COVID patients, sneeze guards are installed for every interaction, workstations are staggered, security cameras and personnel are added, and hotel stations are scheduled instead of serving practitioners on a first-come, first-served basis. Healthcare owners admit it is a struggle to comprehend what is needed currently—they work hard to properly prioritize regular projects compared to COVID needs, which change on a daily basis.
Mechanical Systems and Maintenance
One of the largest challenges is modifying HVAC equipment to accommodate HEPA filtration and ensure COVID-negative spaces. To change one air handling unit into a HEPA unit, some owners have shut down entire hospital wings—but shutting down so much space just to make modifications is a problem as they struggle to find enough beds. Flexibility in the future will be key, from mechanical systems to the creation of universal rooms. Mechanical systems that were cheaper to build may be harder to balance for COVID-negative rooms, especially if large zones are handled by one VFD unit, making it hard to shut down capacity to do maintenance. Hospitals are simply too busy and don’t want to turn an entire wing into a bio-containment ward. What will be necessary to handle future diseases?
Maintenance is also difficult. What is contaminated and what is not? How can they balance the need to protect both the people in bed and those performing maintenance? What do you have to do or wear to change out a filter? Are they getting the right number of air changes per hour? How do you cohort an ICU room to provide for two COVID patients while keeping safety paramount? Best practices are ever-changing, and restrictions vary by county—and by the day.
New Processes
Breakout areas have been created where personnel can remove masks and eat lunch socially distanced, but in general, no more than five to 10 may be in a room, even with masks. Departments need to find different ways to work together. Telemedicine has not made huge inroads into care and accounts just 10 percent for consultations. While many providers and patients do not gravitate toward telemedicine, hospitals don’t want caregivers out in the wider community. Still, therapy can occur in someone’s home, and hospitals are beginning to provide more of these services to accommodate patients outside of their facilities.
COVID Testing
There is little mass testing for COVID unless there is an outbreak, and many healthcare facilities use temperature screening in an attempt to avoid the spread of the virus. Often, nurse practitioners screen visitors, vendors, patients, and contractors alike, sometimes relying on visual control to determine if there might be a problem as colder outside temperatures obscure results, sometimes requiring people to wait 10 minutes until a true temperature can register. There are a variety of procedures, some more restrictive than others. Some only require visitors to self-report symptoms. Others have banned staff from traveling. All find it difficult to get a clear picture of emerging COVID infections.
Serving the Whole Community
Some facilities struggle with their own unique issues related to COVID. Denver Health has typically been the hospital that cares for the unhoused population, and they formerly would welcome everyone through their doors. Now, that is not possible. They have limited hours for visitors and can’t perform take-ins how they once did—allowing the general public to wander in, use bathrooms, and hang around the cafeteria. Denver Health has since upgraded the presence of security to ensure that no one is congregating around the premises without a direct need and have closed bathrooms for public use. Instead, they have installed portable restrooms outdoors to help reduce contact with those infected.
Supply Chains
Hospital supply chains are also in flux. It is a daily challenge to manage usage numbers and supply. Healthcare facilities have seen some increase in the domestic supply of important items, and most hope to end single-source procurement by diversifying their supply chains. They have turned away from large supplier overseas. Despite more domestic producers coming online, they still see companies move their factories across the border—an air filter company one owner depended on for years moved to Mexico.
How Designers and Contractors Can Help
Designers have been instrumental in helping owners imagine how to upgrade their facilities—for example, laying out floor plans to reveal how many beds can fit into a space. Designers, contractors, and vendors have brought new ideas to owners from other successful projects. Healthcare owners are eager to learn what has worked at other hospitals. With declining budgets and the day-to-day stress of reacting to COVID, they also better appreciate transparency and strong communication with their contractors. At the CAHED event, owners stressed that they strive to understand that surprises occur, and that they need designers and builders to be open and honest with them about cost changes as soon as possible.
Saving Dining—by Design
AIA Colorado teamed with the State of Colorado and the Colorado Restaurant Association for the Winter Outdoor Design Workshop—delivering hope with a side of hygge for the vulnerable restaurant industry.
Winter is coming, and like the north winds, the pandemic continues its chill on important sectors of our economy. We all hoped the COVID-19 curve would have flattened by now, but without extraordinary measures to keep establishments open and safe, Colorado’s restaurant and tourism industries risk being flattened instead. To help, Governor Jared Polis and the Colorado Restaurant Association teamed with AIA Colorado and several other AEC partners for the Winter Outdoor Design Workshop to develop outdoor restaurant design concepts, keeping Coloradans safe from the elements—and the virus—while dining in the dead of winter.
Early on in the pandemic, my colleagues and I reached out to our restaurant clients to find out how we could help. Costs aside, they felt permitting would be their biggest hurdle. We are glad to see state and city officials expressing interest in helping ease the path. “The restaurant industry is critical to the economic health of the State of Colorado, and it’s vital to the well-being of our local communities,” said Governor Polis in announcing the Colorado Winter Outdoor Grant program, an emergency assistance fund for Colorado restaurants experiencing financial hardship.
The restaurant industry operates on thin margins even in flush times, so the stay-at-home orders reducing indoor seating to just 25 to 50 percent capacity triggered a quick culling of revenues. Particularly hard hit were locations with little overflow space. Carryout sales—for business models that could take advantage of this market—got a boost when the state began allowing to-go alcohol, starting March 20. By May, restaurants began adding seating areas in public sidewalks and closed streets, as Governor Polis waived many state regulations and urged cities to do the same. Dave Query, founder of the Big Red F Restaurant Group, which operates Jax Fish House, Lola Costal Mexican and other popular concepts, says he’s been able to add extra outdoor seating to about half its restaurants. “Reducing indoor capacity to 50 or 25 percent means we need every outdoor seat we can find,” he said.
Ely Merheb AIA, founder of Boulder-based Verso and charrette participant, found “a silver lining witnessing streets become more people- and business-friendly.” Other groups also recognize the benefit of expanded pedestrian areas, especially onto side streets and parking lanes. Said Rob Toftness of the Denver Bicycle Lobby, who would like to see Denver’s temporary street closures made permanent, “Anytime we use public right-of way for something other than storing a private vehicle, it’s a win for everyone.”
As architects and urban planners, we’re taught early in our educations that a lively pedestrian presence serves to activate downtown streets and boost business. And to keep the party going through winter, we need to keep the customers warm. Cue the Winter Outdoor Design Workshop.
The idea sprung from Colorado Restaurant Association CEO and President Sonia Riggs. She reached out to AIA Colorado, where she formerly served as CEO. “Both organizations started digging into what that might look like,” said Nikolaus Remus, AIA, Advocacy Engagement Director at AIA Colorado. “After our first call, it was obvious we should bring ACEC Colorado on board since viable solutions were likely going to have engineering considerations.” Ultimately, the partnership included AIA Colorado, the State of Colorado, the Colorado Restaurant Association, Colorado Restaurant Foundation, American Council of Engineering Companies of Colorado, and the Associated General Contractors of Colorado for a daylong charrette to develop design concepts for outdoor dining. “I think there was a real buzz, an energy during this event to try to create and design amazing environments for our local restaurateurs,” said Scott Prisco, AIA, Denver’s Chief Building Official. “The selection of the team members was very relevant, as well. There were so many creative thinkers with differing perspective to achieve solutions to problems.”
After learning about the outdoor dining charrette while listening to a news conference from Governor Polis, “I reached out to AIA immediately, because I’ve been looking for ways to bring my skills to the table to help people,” said AIA Colorado member Jenny Edwards, of Ricca Design Studios. She along with dozens of other architects, engineers, restaurateurs, contractors, and public health and safety officials teamed via a videoconference to develop easy-to-implement concepts to encourage outdoor winter dining. The inclusion of fire and building officials was intentional, both for up-front input and to publicize an effort to promote faster emergency permitting.
Rob Duran, regional manager for the Blue Agave Grill concepts, joined the charrette after seeing that up to 60 percent of their revenue this year was being generated outdoors. “As data continues to show, outdoor dining is safest, and the diner’s willingness to sit outside through the elements is proving to be an obstacle that restaurants want to tackle.”
After an opening session with introductory remarks by the Governor, the nine teams broke into groups to each address a specific condition, from urban parking lots to mountain resort shopfronts to rooftop patios. Each team presented their rough concepts in a closing session at day’s end, then continued to meet throughout the following week to further develop their ideas. Major themes emerged: open modules with flexible seating vs. fully enclosed four-tops; open airflow to disperse airborne contagions while blocking the wind and keeping heat inside; efficient, yet safe heating under roofing; utility upgrades; heated benches and accessories; attracting diners on both sunny bluebird days and snow-dusted evenings; affordable and scalable modules that would allow customization to site conditions; snow loads; Brrrreckenridge. “Working with a group of amazing volunteers, we determined we could help temper winter’s chill with designs which created an experience that would draw guests despite the colder temperatures.” said Jeff Metheny, AIA, Principal at Studio Atlantis.
The resulting concepts landed in two camps familiar to every backpacker and trekker: tents and huts. Each team addressed these often-contradictory needs in unique ways, giving restaurant owners options that they can adapt to their specific locations. “We wanted to design with some flexibility, having both semi-permanent fixtures like posts and non-permanent units like panels,” said Edwards. “We considered the idea that this could be either disassembled and moved or become a permanent fixture for the park moving forward.” Each team was tasked with a different siting, and her Crinkle Commons concept considered the case of a nearby/adjacent park.
Added Jeff Metheny, whose team addressed urban streets and looked to Colorado’s own history as inspiration, “Using shapes derived from Conestoga wagons, teepees and A-frame shanties, each restaurant can create an upsized experience and much needed seating, all while maintaining safe distances from other diners. We were intentional in designing these structures to be easily and quickly fabricated and installed with the ability to be moved if needed.”
No matter the structure of the shelter, heating remains the key concern. “The primary obstacles for providing heat include available electric service, as well as code issues surrounding propane and gas units,” said Prisco. In response, the teams offered flexible, layered solutions for heating. For example, where gas capacity is available, remote and ducted portable construction heaters could provide the efficiency of gas at a code-compliant distance. With sufficient electric service, radiant electric heaters could be used safely under a roof. Heated walls, benches, or flooring could be added via off-the-shelf products customized to the specific site and structure. And personal heating accessories, from phase-change materials to good old-fashioned blankets provide the final layer. “Our Comfort Wall proposal focuses on maximizing comfort from a seated position, by creating a modular, low-wall system that blocks wind and concentrates heat from ground or under table sources, closest to seated customers,” said Merheb.
One takeaway? Cultural shift will be as important as a built intervention. As no outdoor space will be as cozy as last winter’s crowded tavern, we’ll need to coach our customers to expect a Colorado adventure. Add more hot-toddy cocktails to the menu. Normalize rugged après-ski looks. And naturally, promote a made-for-Colorado slogan: Bring Your Own Blanket.
Practice + Design Conference 2020: Day 3
Just Architecture 2020 Practice + Design Conference Day 3 Recap: “Justice Equity, Diversity + Inclusion”
By Victor Gonzalez
History seems to be repeating itself, and we cannot wait any longer to make architecture influence equitable change around us. Day three of the AIA Colorado Just Architecture 2020 Practice + Design Conference highlighted the constant effort in creating a more equitable practice, showcased by the AIA Colorado Equity, Diversity and Inclusiveness Committee. The committee itself realized that we needed an action to make sure there are more entryways into the field of architecture and were determined to increase awareness and access to architectural education. This continuous effort was highlighted nationally through the presentations of, “Just Speak Up,” by Carole Wedge and the importance of women leading the future of the profession. Following her presentation was, Milton S. F. Curry, who voiced his vision for the future of the design field through, “Just Constructions” presentation showcasing the power in outsourcing architectural education to other underserved communities. Day three of the keynotes closed with a powerful keynote, Pascale Sablan, who explained the various mediums in which the current and future generations of BIPOC designers have empowered themselves in order to shape the future of “Just Architecture.”
Over the noon hour, students joined members of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusiveness Committee for a virtual “Ask an Architect” event, where architects with diverse backgrounds answered questions on architecture as a profession and higher education. The afternoon featured three lively breakout discussions with the panelists, encouraging us all to become more self-aware and step in in our firms to begin to create change. A panel discussion with all presenters left attendees with powerful takeaways, and the event culminated with a virtual livestream of the “Women in Architecture” projection, which takes place in downtown Denver all through October.
Once again, the Practice + Design Conference left us informed, connected, and above all, inspired. Check out some of the key takeaway moments below, and we’ll see you next year.
PANEL DISCUSSION CAPTURE
SESSION NOTES
Carole Wedge | Just Speak Up
- Find your confidence and your voice
- Things that I have experienced made me realize that it is valid and important to learn to build your own capacity and ability to speak up.
- Alumni from CU Boulder – BENVD
- Alumni from Boston Architectural College – BARCH
- Kemper Award 2020
- CEO in 2018
- FAIA in 2008
- President in 2004
- Principal in 2000
- College and University Leadership 2000
- Library Leadership 1994
- Joined the firm in 1986 working in the mail room as a student at the Boston Architectural College.
- Was inspired by her father’s word that was finding her own confidence in the world
- “Journey of your career and your life is one you have to design and make happen.”
- “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world, Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -Eleanor Roosevelt
- Having that voice to have that conversation in order to open up that opportunity.
- “Stay open to learning.”
- Learning to speak up for things and learning to advocate
- How do women lead, how do people of color lead?
- “The culture and the people define the type of firm you are.”
- Any woman in America has experienced a sexist comment.
- You have to build your muscle through empathy.
- “Our core values guide us.”
- They shape our vision, our culture, and reflect our beliefs as a company, and as individuals.
- Passion: celebrate your passion for design.
- Diversity: Embrace different perspectives, listen to every voice.
- Empathy: realize the impact of what we do.
- Integrity: Do the right thing, the right way, every time.
- Balance: Whether it’s in design or in work and life, we strike balance in everything we do.
- Building culture:
- Inspire: we encourage each other to do better, be better.
- Foster: we empower the next generation of visionaries with a passion for design.
- Respect: we recognize the ideas and work of our peers with the highest regard.
- Shepley Bulfinch is women-owned and led.
- A more diverse team will be a naturally more successful team.
- Makes better design and makes a better field.
- The diversity needs to be measured at different levels.
- What is the interculturalism of the firm?
- There needs to be a pipeline built on where your employees come from.
- There should be an extensive outreach to BIPOC communities.
- We have to go look at other places that we are not accessing, because how are they supposed to access us if we are not present?
- AIA Convention
- Carole Wedge was inspired to create a scholarship stipend to get students to travel to the convention center in Boston.
- Justice and equity lead to diversity, inclusion and belonging.
- Racial justice is climate change.
- Designers can have a powerful impact on the environment.
Milton Curry | Just Constructions
- USC School of Architecture
- Focus on the process of making and becoming
- Making and constructing culture through the creation of buildings and spaces.
- From Fresno, CA (1960s)
- Parents had migrated from Denver.
- Born during the Civil Rights Movement
- As a profession you are not a profession that has distinguished itself from the causes of the Civil Rights Movement and you are most distinguished from your thunderous silence and…” (Whitney Young)
- I was going to have to view my life through activism.
- Individuality activism is not accessible to all and it is not guaranteed to be a success.
- Just constructions is a way of attending to our basic needs and our access to the natural world.
- I know how justice looked like and how people that were ethical constructed their lives and careers.
- There is power and meaning of protesting through structural change.
- Although the 13th Amendment outlawed slavery, it was a gateway to replace this form of racism and oppression entrenched in our infrastructure.
- The university must be an ally on how we enable to build these social bonds with a common sense of values.
- Accessibility to all is what creates opportunities for all.
- Educating ourselves of the nature of the harm that was inflicted on us.
- Why is it that the urgency of now gets shifted to another business cycle.
- “I want to engage a social, political conversation about the contemporary world that I live in or my relationship to it, and at the same time I want to abstract it.”
- If we want our profession to change, we have to make the construction of our profession to change.
- Modern values were bonded together by myth.
- Rethinking architecture theory in order to recount how our profession has segregated and discriminated against certain communities.
- The same modern works have inflicted harm on indigenous communities.
- USC school of architecture is emerging as a global platform for cultural heritage architecture and urbanism. Our school is returning to the experimental DNA.
- USC is second among the top 30 raw numbers for diversity related to BIPOC.
- We are diverse, but we are not diverse as we need to be.
- Architecture development programs targeted at the high school level
- Pipeline for attracting underrepresented students continues to be a challenge.
- This issue is complex and recognize that systemic racism is determinate of educational outcomes and opportunities.
- Affirmative action is one of the ways to attain equity.
- The average Black and Latino students have to fight other influences such as educational inequality, food deserts.
- 2015 started a high school program that has launched the A-LAB.
- ACSA Diversity Award.
- Paul Revere Williams Archives Program:
- Involved in the transformation of the urban fabric of LA.
- He was the first Black American appointed to the AIA Fellows.
- He was the first Black American to attain the AIA gold medal.
- The Getty Foundation and USC School of Architecture
- Will be a multiyear of symposium that will leverage USC School of Architecture.
- Allows scholars the opportunity to view these archives and preserves the legacy left behind by Revere Williams
Pascale Sablan | Justice Through Action
- I was asked to stand.
- It didn’t just happen to me.
- Google “Great Architects”
- First 40 start from contemporary to historical.
- How many are women?
- How many are Black?
- How many are minorities?
- Zaha Hadid holds it down in two categories.
- Why was this the result?
- Google stated that this was the case since there was, “not enough content for BIPOC to be showcased.”
- Say it Loud exhibition
- Feel our impact and show our work through the great caliber that we have had.
- “Say it Loud” has even been brought to the United Nations.
- “Say it Loud” exhibition became an international movement.
- Say it Loud has a traveling activation.
- AIA team to put their exhibition in a mobile app.
- Say it Loud Virginia
- Has been brought as a set of lectures and presentations.
- Say it Loud Pennsylvania
- Selected in a venue for communities to have access to
- How to engage our communities into the exhibit work
- Say it Loud Georgia
- Say it Loud United Kingdom
- February 2020.
- The issues and challenges we face here are also found across the world.
- Beyond the Built IG takeover
- There are multiple ways of attaining this design profession.
- Great Diverse Designers Library
- Showcases as a resource to elevate us to collaborate on projects.
- This is also a way of protecting our history.
- Being strategic with our relationships with publications in order to preserve our history.
- Great Diverse Designers Textbook
- International designers featured.
- Leveraging the content of which we inspire.
- Learn Out Loud – Kids Books.
- Lego Collaboration.
- It is a way of inspiring children to see their identity in the profession.
- Say it with the Media.
- Asking publications to take a position to increase a 5% every year on the amount of BIPOC content is held in their publications.
- Architecture as Advocate.
- The National Memorial for Peace and Justice
- “The lynching museum”
- Each medal has the name of the person that is lynched.
- This is not of the past, but of the present.
- As publications are going away from the term “slavery” we need to make sure that architecture is a way of a permeant statement.
- National Museum of African American History and Culture
- It creates a place for celebration of Black history and culture.
- National Center for Civil and Human Rights
- Showcases the current rights we have today because of previous efforts.
- Max Bond Highway.
- African Burial Ground National Monument
- First project as an intern.
- 800 bodies found at this site of buried slavery.
- Haiti Campus
- ACE mentoring allowed us to create a campus for the underserved communities.
- Dismantling oppressive spaces.
- Project Pipeline
- 400 Forward
- Having more one on one mentorship with students.
- Design Justice
- Allows an online platform on how architecture can help resolve these issues.
- Hip-Hop Architecture Camp
- A gateway of music to architecture.
- See it Loud Camp
- Educating and empowering through design augmented reality.
- Embed information, young kids, augmented reality.
- Beyond the Built Environment
- See it loud camp
- Say it loud
- Learn out loud
- The National Memorial for Peace and Justice
Practice + Design Conference 2020: Day 2
Just Architecture 2020 Practice + Design Conference Day 2 Recap: “Just Sustainability”
By Victor Gonzalez
Architects have great power, and with great power comes the great responsibility of preserving our environment. The greatest challenges not only face our current profession, but also the design field as a whole. These were just a few of the takeaways from day two of the 2020 Practice + Design Conference focusing on environmental stewardship.
As architects, we are clear leaders in climate action and must direct our focus on sustainability. Staying resilient is what creates environmental stewardship, and with more focus on education and outreach in supporting our communities, we can achieve a more sustainable future. The conference today showcased innovative and vibrant designs that highlighted today’s theme, “Just Sustainability.” From the benchmarking requirements for museums by Joyce Lee to understanding the sustainable features of timber by Thomas Knittel and the maximized use of sunlight by Lake|Flato Architects, all entailed the influential factors of maintaining, “Just Sustainability.”
Afternoons were filled with member networking—of the digital variety. Each speaker held intimate breakout discussions and all reconvened for a thoughtful panel discussion. And from Denver to Durango, connections were made over happy hours with each of the sections with playful activities and reunions with old friends.
Below are key takeaways and along with a special illustration documented by a live illustrator Ellen O’Neill.
PANEL DISCUSSION CAPTURE
SESSION NOTES
Joyce Lee | Just Culture
- 1 of 300 LEED Fellows
- Faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania
- Serves on the COVID-19 taskforce
- Part of a firm that takes the place of sustainability and wellness
- Former national co-chair
- Works on a variety of museums
- Building benchmarking disclosures.
- 3 museum Categories: art, history, and science
- 3 size categories
- Museum building age
- Average site EUI by year
- U.S. Climate Zones are new to museum owners who own a collection throughout the country.
- Museum site EUI by climate zone
- How do museums perform today?
- Based on commercial building type and obviously there are consumption levels by climate zone.
- Benchmarking cities
- Example: Philadelphia
- Sustainable Development Goals:
- No poverty, zero hunger, etc.
- ASHRAE CH 24
- Collection: Public Space
- Collect: Nonpublic Space
- The culture of justice or just culture
- Practice is focused on sustainability and balance.
- Covid-19 Aerosol Transmission.
- Open windows help with delusion.
- Hospitals go through 12 air changes by hour.
- Not all schools receive this air quality change, which is why there is such a concern for students and teachers.
- Metropolis petition headline: Architects and designers are demanding healthier policy priorities.
- “Just Culture” a longer term in cultural institutions. Architecture can improve life at all economic levels.
- jlee@indigoJLD.com
Thomas Knittel | A Just Future Through Carbon-Balanced Buildings
- Looking at a recently completed hotel in British Columbia
- When we look at all the new construction that is projected to take place between now and 2050, we see the critical role.
- This conference is fundamentally about ethics.
- Architecture is a starting place of what it is available and what it can do.
- Materials matter for planetary health:
- Human civilization and the state of the natural systems on which it depends.
- Understanding that what is good for us must be good for the world, we must make the effort to know what is the best for the world, and change for it.
- Rate of consumption per capita has significantly increased.
- The material consumption has caused the increase of landfills.
- The rural materials play a critical role in developing materials.
- Change happens, and architects have a big role to play in the super sizer of construction
- You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
- Seeking planetary help in what would nature do differently in comparison to our destructive behavior.
- Carbon fuel emissions are irreversible.
- You can’t manage what you can’t measure.
- It is more than carbon that we are responsible for and measuring.
- 30 Regenerative keys: How we process energy, how mass timber can help.
- Carbon-balanced buildings
- Our material determines these emissions.
- Cellular Flexibility
- Clinic floor, outreach and training centers provide healthy air as possible.
- This way it is key to work with our structural engineers.
- Changing to curtain walls is one small, but significant example on how to reduce carbon emissions.
- Orange County Sanitation District HQ
- Board room, gathering space, and educational gathering space, acoustic clouds, a central core that includes gathering for common areas
- Structural Carbon Balance Study – Mass Timber Option
- Mass Timber alternatives complement the California building code
- Timber should be recertified and reserved.
- Must advocate for timber sourcing and forest tree practices.
- There is a strong link between forest and people.
- Ecosystem services must be preserved.
- We must ensure that mass timber drives forestry.
- Mass timber buildings could be four stories and 84 feet tall.
- The story for the building is the tree itself.
- Carbon reduction at the urban scale
- Park City Initiative in China
- The west mountains provide natural resources to the people.
- Park City Initiative in China
- The urban form that is proposed is to give a sense of place.
- Buildings as carbon banks
- Provide a new carbon cycle
David Lake and Heather Holdridge | Vitality and Livability of Communities
- Urban design can strengthen the city.
- Just nature, place, craft, restraint
- Four ideals that drive work, that shows the best of “us”
- Respond to the context.
- Set sustainability goals for projects and then tracking.
- Social justice, equity, justice, and inclusion is definitely an aspect of becoming sustainability.
- “Just” label
- Being more clear about our plan and term on social justice and inclusion.
- Making sure that our building is day lit.
- “Library of the future”
- Every floor level had its own purpose and its connection to the other areas.
- Have it connected by different age groups.
- Stone civic building to demonstrate knowledge.
- Animate the streetscape.
- Add an event space.
- Using the library to show a connection to nature.
- Perimeter is lit by the daylight.
- Goal: is oriented around the daylight capture. There was more dense shading provided, so there was no visual discomfort.
- Maximizing daylight, reducing heat gain.
- Testing the ideas through computer simulations.
- How can we connect to the downtown district?
- Confluence Park
- Make sure that sustainability is present.
- Storying water was expressed.
- University of Denver – Wellness Center
- Constructed out of mass timber.
- Reduce the carbon impact emissions
HAPPY HOUR NETWORKING
NEGRONI WORKSHOP WITH THE DENVER SECTION
SKETCH COMPETITION WITH THE SOUTH SECTION
NOTECARD DESIGN COMPETITION WITH THE NORTH SECTION
Practice + Design Conference 2020: Day 1
Just Architecture 2020 Practice + Design Conference
Day 1 Recap: “Just Design”
By Victor Gonzalez
The 2020 AIA Colorado Practice + Design Conference debuted Wednesday, October 14, and focused on the theme of “Just Design.” Five keynote speakers in the morning sessions showcased the scale of architecture that is currently taking place from the capital of Peru to the heart of Chicago’s south side to the districts of Los Angeles.
The designs of Lima, Peru, from Sandra Barclay, showcased “Just Intimacy” in relation to how design can downscale the vastness of our environment all by taking inspiration from local culture. The eight designs highlighted by Neil Denari incorporated “Just Urbanism,” and how the busy urban grid of Los Angeles can help inform design by designing with the urban grid rather than against it. “Just Design,” wrapped with the presentations of Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, highlighting the importance of creating a vibrant public space through storytelling, story making and how it can all adjust to the world. Day one was filled with many amazing stories and interpretations of design and how the current members of AIA Colorado continue to help shape the world around us.
Following morning keynote presentations, afternoons were filled with member engagement, featuring breakouts with each speaker, then a panel discussion with all, which resulted in high-level discussions on design alongside the humility of casual conversing with home as the backdrop for these world-renowned designers. Below are key takeaways and themes that emerged from the day’s events, which were documented by a live illustrator Ellen O’Neill (above).
PANEL DISCUSSION CAPTURE
SESSION NOTES
Sandra Barclay | Just Intimacy
- Working in Peru has unique challenges, such as climate change and the relationship between shelter and culture.
- She discussed intimacy within a further landscape.
Ingredients of architecture
- Culture, Territory, Climate, Place, Program, Technology
- All of these ingredients create the strategy for architecture.
For the territory climate: Lima, Peru
- This geographical climate creates the current environmental conditions.
- Peruvian climate is a mild climate, with lots of precipitation, storms, and winds.
- All of these conditions demand shelter.
Pre-Columbian legacy and landscape
- Downscaling obstruction
Puruchuco, Lima
- Forms a micro-form of intimacy
Casa Vedoble
- Defines an enclosure
- Provides a frame to the ocean view
- Houses that capture the sunlight
- Provides interior spaces with vastness
- Contained artificial beach with pools, all while still providing privacy intimacy
Paracas Museum
- Modifies landscape
- Thinking of an archeological museum
- Providing a correct space that inhibits the desert
- Working with the desert landscape
- Fifth facade provides protection from the strong wind and from the sun.
- The production methods provided rethinking on how we design.
- The Paracas Museum provides almost a huge human vase.
- Its porch acts as a threshold throughout the interior and exterior of the museum.
- The museum provides natural ventilation to prevent the use of air conditioning.
The Hispanic Legacy and the City
- Influences the relationship between the residents’ dwellings and the city
- Creates life and intimacy where it can all take place at once.
- Design a house in an intimate, but contemporary way.
- Uses systems of bedrooms that can help create a sense of intimacy that is lifted above the street.
- Space unfolds as interior and exterior through blurring the vaulted boundaries of house, garden, and pool.
- There is a relationship between intimacy and closeness.
- Creates community by connecting the interior spaces
Limana Restaurante
- Demonstrate Lima’s greatness
- The enclosure helps create a quiet place from the rest of the urban environment.
- Inside the closure, the volume is organized to capture the sunlight and create a module that receives natural light and ventilation.
- Creates a constant space of fluidity.
- The space unfolds into a total exterior space.
- The thresholds creates an enclosure of transition.
The Lessons from the Masters UDEP Academic Facilities
- Uses cross-ventilation to cool the space.
- Accept the simplicity and modesty of the space.
- The building condenses the collective human experience.
- Drawing foothills of the tropical soft forest.
- “We start by extending the shade of the forest and the space of the building.”
- The program grows from the rooftop to the ground.
- The spaces are left.
- The perimeter of the space acts as a protection.
- South facade is focused on receiving the natural bridge.
- The organization from east to west is in relation to the calendar of the sun.
- Sun clocks meet.
Neil Denari | Just Urbanism
- 8 Los Angeles projects
- Modulated grids for L.A.
- The grid respects ideas and logic of how Los Angeles is connected through its urbanism
- The democratic idea of a city and country in creating neutrality and equality through how the country was to continue growing (Thomas Holme idea).
Kyoto City Grid
- Is the importance of Chinese planning on how the palaces were off center and thinking about other strategies on how infrastructure to articulate geometry etc.
- There is a challenge between working with and on the grid for architectural works.
“The Continuous Monument”
- Near Superstudio created a grid that was empty.
Aldo Rossi
- Gallaratese, 1972
- Socialist idea of what it means to be an individual in a collective
- Being an individual during this time was to be in an open space, and only haven individual space to create humanity.
- Argues that architecture cannot predict well.
- 8 projects showcased are all commercial projects.
- All projects are informed through the zoning platform.
- Goal is to give as much life as possible to a project, but to respect the zoning regulations.
Silver Lake 1
- Politics evoked in the grid at all particular levels.
- It is a two-story commercial building including:
-Restaurant on the ground floor.
-It takes up the place on the city.
-It is filling the zoning envelope.
-The site is a parallelogram.
-Trying to resolve the vertical and horizontal through radius.
Half Court Housing
- 100 feet deep with a parking lot.
- 3-story, 8-unit housing project.
- Cushioning of the exterior to the internal organization
- Half court housing because it is filled half of courtyard space
- Courtyard Hotel
- Includes a portal with a courtyard that leaves space on the front with a restaurant in the front.
- The portal is what leads to the courtyard and the rooms ring around that look into the courtyard and there is a formal stair that connects the spaces to the courtyard.
Beveled Office Building
- 45 feet in height.
- The corner of the building is notched.
- The invisible infrastructure interacting and complementing the grid.
- There are different methods applied to the exterior of the building to make it unique to how it interacts with the grid.
- 221 Western Housing
- Uses a hybrid between linear building and butterfly cantilevers that dramatizes the gridded nature of the building.
9000 Wilshire Office Building
- Takes up its place in Beverly Hills tries to stand out in the way that it liberates the two floors and adds a garden in between.
- There is tension on how the building takes up a place on the site while also giving it a sense of monumentality.
- It is a modest project that adds urban infrastructure with a nice skin.
Santa Monica wellness Center
- The building fills in the parking and the 45-height limit.
- The volume is being sliced off to provide relief to the volume and how it fits on the grid.
- It incorporates public space.
La Brea Hotel
- It is a gateway to West Hollywood.
- Putting a large building within the zoning envelope
- It is located on a tight site, with a portal and large restaurant and kitchen.
- The urbanity of the projects is what facilitates the project with the rooms pushing the parking back.
- L-shaped building with rooms of privacy and views
Tod Williams and Billie Tsien | ADJUST
- How to address huge issues on how the issues seem overpowering on how to seriously address what we need to understand is that we work within our own best way.
- “We work to serve others.”
- We need to rethink the problem on our terms and how to best address the projects
The Barnes Foundation
- Inspired to empower through education, Barnes kept this collection of art and African artifacts throughout a house.
- Believed that all people could be taught and that every person deserves a chance with art.
- The project is located on the site.
- Barnes collection moved from the residency to the downtown city fabric of Philly
- There was a larger idea between the Barnes collection which was that his art was for all people.
- Gallery in a garden.
- Garden in gallery.
- Bringing light and life into the gallery.
- Oftentimes the work would be enclosed in artificial light.
- Wanted to include light and life into the collection.
- Keeping the neoclassical plan but adding an adjustment.
- The sense of a garden was still brought in.
- The entrance portrays the idea of walking through the building.
- The building focuses on using light and courtyard space from the interior of the building to the outside.
- The galleries are behind the public space that is open to other users.
- Included is a changing exhibits gallery and the existing collection.
Obama Presidential Center
- Libraries were noble buildings of books.
- Obama focused his legacy on ennoble and enable.
- Storytelling and story making.
- How do we change the present and future to make it better?
- Establishing a landmark
- Creating a campus, which makes other aspects to the building.
- Site: south side of Chicago
- There is a relationship between Obama’s homeland set throughout a park from Olmestead’s park.
- The plan includes: forum, museum, plaza, library, PAAC.
- Wanting to change the topography of the park.
- Adjusting the flat use of the landscape.
- The center focuses on political discussion and creating access to the library and the support systems for the center.
- Young people from around the world will come to learn new skills to do a variety of activities.
- This is home to many programs such as the Obama Foundation Scholars.
- The tower is included to provide a space to the public that can house events and public space in general.
- The use of sunscreen will protect the room at the top.
- The screen will be words from his important speeches.
Designing for Wellness with Powers Products
The 2030 Commitment and the AIA Sustainability Advancement Working Group
Sustainability is a watchword in the architectural community, one that has broader implications than just energy savings and lowering carbon emissions. According to the Framework for Design Excellence, sustainable design is more than just lowering energy use and includes considering the “triple bottom line” of social, economic, and environmental value. Sustainable buildings should contribute to a diverse, accessible, walkable, and human-scaled community; support biodiversity and connect with regional habitat restoration; conserve water and material resources; be economical, and balance first costs with long-term value; support occupants’ and the surrounding community’s physical, mental and emotional health; be adaptable over time and address future risks and vulnerabilities from social, economic and environmental change; continuously improve upon discoveries made in previous projects; and be a beautiful addition to the built world that future generations will want to keep around.
As a profession with so much responsibility for shaping the built environment, architects have always had an interest in sustainability and all that the word implies. But in the day-to-day rush to get projects in and out the door, it is difficult to incorporate all of the diverse interests, information overload, conflicting data, and demands for sustainability that eager designers encounter. What do we concentrate on first? And how do we incorporate sustainable goals in the face of occasionally indifferent owners and tight budgets?
AIA Colorado supports many committees working on subjects of importance to the architectural community, including the Sustainability Advancement Working Group. Formerly the Resiliency Knowledge Community—with a concentration on how to ensure the built environment can respond to fires, floods, climate change, and other disruptions—they are now concentrating on promoting the 2030 Commitment and assisting design firms with adapting their practices to meet it. The 2030 Commitment envisions building projects achieving Net Zero energy use by 2030. Being carbon neutral means that carbon produced through a building’s operations will be offset by the project generating as much renewable energy as the building consumes.
2030 Commitment
In 2018 alone, firms participating in the 2030 Commitment saved 17.7 million metric tons of CO2, which is equivalent to the carbon emissions that would be avoided by taking all the cars in Georgia off the road for an entire year. Signing onto the AIA 2030 Commitment involves a commitment to gather information and evaluate the impact design decisions have on your project’s energy performance, allowing you to track improvements in the energy performance of your firm’s projects over time. Design firms joining the 2030 Commitment will gain access to confidential data from leading AIA firms’ projects worldwide. They will also be provided with the support, education, tools, and analysis that can help them improve their expertise, develop new sustainable approaches to sell to clients, validate their design approach, compare their data to other firms in the region, and help combat climate change while improving the bottom line. See this link for more information:
Firms joining the 2030 Commitment must submit a Sustainability Action Plan within 6 months. The SAP guides firms in creating their approach to sustainable design and provides an opportunity to strategically and methodically translate your sustainability goals into a comprehensive approach for transforming your practices and portfolio. The Sustainability Advancement Working Group provides additional educational resources for architects who want to improve their abilities to create sustainable architecture. The committee has already waded through the massive amounts of information and resources available to provide architects with a better understanding of how they can improve their projects for their clients and communities.
Members of the Sustainability Group emphasize that sustainable architecture doesn’t have to cost more. For example, optimizing the massing and orientation of a building can have a huge impact on energy costs without requiring additional funds. Energy modeling is a lot more sophisticated and user-friendly these days—previously, practitioners had to perform the math calculations for their solutions themselves, and now the computer programs can provide these automatically. Many people use these programs to inform their design as it progresses, and daylighting analysis has also improved, giving designers and their engineers vital information before floor plans and elevations are fixed. LEED standards and building codes have also greatly improved the energy performance and indoor health of buildings. Public clients often require LEED certification, and the industry has moved further into green architecture to accommodate these requests, offering marketing opportunities for firms interested in sustainability. Designers today are much more aware of the need to control waste, lower energy use, and increase material conservation and indoor air quality, while new non-VOC building products that weren’t available even 5 years ago are ubiquitous today.
While the 2030 Commitment concentrates on reducing operational carbon, a focus on embodied carbon is trending among sustainable practitioners. Some materials naturally contain more embodied carbon than others; for example, concrete structures require more energy to produce than a wood structure. Where material comes from is increasingly important. As the 2030 Commitment begins to reduce operational carbon, interested designers predict that a continued focus on sustainability will gradually shift to reducing embodied carbon as well.
My focus professionally has been on using Lean methods to integrate cross-functional teams in the design and construction of buildings. Lean dovetails perfectly with sustainable building—both practices acknowledge that having integrated teams early in the design process is key. It has often been stated that in the first 10% of design, almost 70% of all costs and environmental impacts have already been determined. Primary materials, the structural system, fenestration and massing and orientation are often determined at this point before engineers even start their work. Having a set floor plan that engineers must then “fit” mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems into creates a piecemeal approach to design, ensuring that the project will ultimately perform as less than the sum of its parts. Contractors brought in late in the design process—even by the Design Development phase under a CMGC contract—have very little room to make recommendations that will greatly improve the project, and on most traditional projects do not provide specific trade knowledge from those “Last Planners” who will ultimately install these systems. Bringing engineers and even major subcontractors on early gives architects the knowledge to create the optimal project for their clients using a whole systems approach.
Intimate knowledge of how a building will be built is key to providing true sustainability that can actually be measured. A design/build firm specializing in bringing Passive House principles to their projects described one commission from a prominent learning institution that required them to design and build the mirror image of an existing college dorm building across a quad. Using Lean and sustainable principles, they managed to create a mirror image of the building—only the new structure met Passive House standards while costing $5 per square foot less than the building built 5 years before. Passive House concentrates on designing and building a façade that controls the passage of air and moisture. The HVAC system is sized to accommodate the façade. Hence, the new dorm only required a 20-ton mechanical system, which was much easier and more economical to build and operate than the previous dorm’s 70-ton system.
Holistic thinking is central to sustainable architecture. Yet in current practice, many engineers design for a “type” of building (not the actual building being designed), using rules of thumb that grossly over design the system, especially the mechanical and electrical systems. For example, when designing a school, interior designers who choose paint colors with a high light reflectance value can reduce the number of light fixtures required to light the room, which also reduces the need for cooling. Expensive, efficient windows can provide occupants with a comfortable environment while also eliminating the need for a perimeter heating system. Unfortunately, sustainable projects still usually calculate payback on line-items and not on systems as a whole, leading to poorly considered decisions that eliminate those “expensive” windows without calculating the additional cost for the mechanical system.
Hence, if the mechanical engineer is designing for a building “type,” he/she will design for the worst-case scenario without collaborating with others: The month is July, the building is at full capacity, the weather is the hottest on record, all the lights are on at noon, and his mechanical system can still cool the building—then they add a safety factor! By bringing in everyone early to discuss the actual building being designed, using multi-disciplinary teams that include MEP engineers and contractors and the architect working together, you can create a whole that is better and cheaper than the sum of its parts. The team should make decisions together, then design to those decisions. Contractors keep a check on costs, and ensure that constructability is an input to the design and not an outcome inevitably leading to weeks of scope cuts and “value engineering.”
One obstacle to adopting this process is that a typical architect’s traditional fee structure—with design fees peaking in the Construction Documentation phase—does not easily allow project teams to bring important people in early. Owner expectations are an issue; designers must show that there is great benefit in spending more time and money early in the design process when the most value can be created cheaply. Trade partners early in the process can work together with designers to deliver the building earlier than is possible when contractors are brought in too late. The team can compress submittal and RFI review times, or perhaps even eliminate submittals altogether with the cooperation of trades and owner groups in the design phase. All while delivering a sustainable building that costs less to operate and is better integrated into its environment.
One book that combines a Lean approach to a new vision of sustainability (where building designers aren’t just satisfied that their buildings have a “lesser” impact on their environment, but actually enhance the environment they stand within), is “The Integrative Design Guide for Green Building: Redefining the Practice of Sustainability.” If an architect would like to jumpstart a sustainable culture in their firm, read the book, sign up for the 2030 Commitment, and then contact the Sustainability Advancement Working Group for more educational opportunities and assistance. With a little commitment, we can all do our part to decrease the impact the built environment has on climate change and pollution!
Equity in Architecture: A Frank Conversation with Annicia Streete
By Amy Dvorak, Assoc. AIA
Annicia Streete is an architecture and construction practitioner at Catena Construction and Sprocket Design+Planning. She’s an adjunct faculty member of the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado, serves as a faculty advisor for the American Institute of Architecture Students, served in the ACE Mentorship Program, and is on the founding team of the Colorado Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects. She’s also a Black immigrant.
With statistical odds against her—there are just 17 registered Black architects in the state of Colorado—Streete emigrated from Trinidad and Tobago in 1998 to pursue her education and career in architecture. And she’s done quite well. She remains committed to improvement and enhancement through education and opportunity, as demonstrated through her service in the ACE Mentorship Program and her recent participation as a panelist for the AIA Colorado event, “Let’s Talk About Race.”
Afterwards, we caught up with Streete to discuss ways to achieve a more equitable profession. Read on as she dives deep on representation in architecture, accountability, and the racism that still exists in our state today.
Representation in architecture: Why is it so important?
Michelle Obama gave a quote at the AIA Conference in Architecture in 2017: “You can’t be an architect if you don’t know architects exist.” For me, that is so specific in what the intent is there. How would we know what we can be if we don’t have an example?
In Trinidad and Tobago, there were no female architects designers—no influence for me, mostly men. My father was in construction, and my uncle was in engineering. Particularly looking at younger generations, those are formative years to anyone who’s been where you want to be to figure out how to get there.
How has the architecture profession built roadblocks to participation for people of color?
When I think about pursuing basic opportunities when first starting my journey into the profession, for me I always have a student’s perspective. Even before higher ed, giving students in communities with lesser access to resources that might exclude them is a hindrance and it trickles all the way up to the profession. I say that because the profession has resources to reach communities. If we expect the profession to be fed by communities, we must nurture communities.
Some other things that have been noted is that licensing—being able to do that in a timely manner, access to study materials, cost of licensure—it’s a hindrance to some. When some get into the practice world, they’re not making enough to even cover normal or daily expenses. Compensation rates when I first entered the field didn’t seem at all commensurate after doing due diligence toward a degree.
What needs to change in the architecture profession to better combat systemic racism?
It should be cyclical. What as a profession can we give into the community so that they’re nurtured, so the product—the students—can be fed back into the profession? It’s extending resources at the community level, making sure there’s adequate mentorship and scholarships for upcoming practitioners and designers.
The thing not so tangible is the relationships, especially for minorities in the field, so that they have an equitable position in the practice. One of my mentors said, “We’re in the business of architecture, construction, or design. But we’re basic human beings, so we have to be able to relate on a human standard with each other.” It’s not always business as usual.
Why is it that we’re so uncomfortable talking about race?
A lot is systemic. Usually when I hear words like systemic racism—and now more frequently—I try to stay rooted in what the words actually mean. There is a system put in place that people have been taught to treat another race differently. Some don’t know how to engage or interact with another race. When that’s been engrained, how would you expect someone to engage on a basic human level if you haven’t been taught that?
There’s not so much of a willingness to understand another perspective or culture, so the instinct is to shy away versus engage. Some people don’t want to go there. There are three different types of people: Some see themselves as allies. Some see themselves as racist, some as non-racist. And many people are non-racist but don’t have the courage to speak up. You have these systemic factors and some are more personal in how they engage with other people.
What opportunities do you see for those who want to create change but aren’t in leadership positions?
Start by adopting activities of not just mentorship but empowerment. You can be mentored in a firm, but the next step is empowerment. Give opportunity for those you mentor to exercise their skills, and there needs to be accountability with that, where you don’t leave someone out to dry.
I had a good mentor on a well-known project in Denver. During a client meeting, he was tired from talking and he asked me to run the next part of the meeting. I was an intern. He empowered me. By the time I was done with the meeting, I felt proud and accomplished. Just one experience changed the whole outlook on empowerment.
You have to recognize that you’ve been given a platform and opportunity to make way in industry, and that has to be redeposited into the industry. If we’re talking about equity, everyone deserves the opportunity to have knowledge passed on.
A lot of pressure has unfairly been put on BIPOC to create the necessary change. Whose duty is it to make firms more equitable?
All of us—but not all of us have the same opportunities or the same platforms.
It should come from a position of conscience, from responsibility, to see your fellow designer succeed so the entire field can succeed. When someone is oppressed for so long, fighting and fighting for so long, chances are you want people who have been oppressing to take some action and responsibility.
Part of the exhaustion comes into play. When being an ally and approaching someone to see how they’re doing, making sure you’re being aware, you might not get the response you think you’d get. You can’t take it personally. There’s so much you might not know about what that person has been through and is different in how everyone handles certain levels of pressure.
The word that keeps coming to me: needed.
In response to the panel discussion—a prompt for the architecture community to have a conversation on racial inequities—someone commented, “Too late. Action is what’s next.” How do you respond to that?
Any discussion is always good as a way to make sure you’re putting out the right messages and being heard. I partly agree; action is what is needed. When you think about the amount of years of oppression, we’ve been talking. When I think about people who are not aware, I always give people the benefit of the doubt. That’s my approach as a human being. If you show me respect, expect to get that. People who are unaware, we have to educate and inform. So the discussions become a starting point that should have happened and been acted on years ago. But as a catalyst, let it work as a catalyst, not as an escape that might be used.
When we think of where we are as a society, we’re late. We’re a few hundred years late. And while it’s never too late to do anything I believe, you have to back it up with action, you have to acknowledge that you’re late. Nothing wrong with acknowledging it using words like listen and engage.
If your intentions are sincere from the beginning, even if you don’t know what the next step is, you need to understand there is action that can come behind your fence. It’s not that everyone is taking the same action or the same scale of action, whether donating or skills-related or protesting and being present, there are different scales of support to be lent, but to me it’s the core of your intentions.
I want everyone to be aware. If you realize that this is an ever present battle and stigma. Just because it’s not on news, that doesn’t mean it’s not history. People need to understand that this is an ever present issue. That’s why it’s systemic. It’s been 400 years, 500 years, and still today in modern times, we are still faced with the issue. This isn’t just going to go away.
What concerns you for the future of the profession?
I had a run-in with a white gentleman who took something away from me. He used the N-word and said, “Trump is gonna get all you out of this country.” I was getting gas in Capitol Hill. He grabbed the hose from me and just went off—in my own neighborhood. Here I thought I had security. This happened first thing in the morning on my way to work. I thought, I have to stand up to this. I spoke intelligently, said what I didn’t appreciate, and asked what examples he was setting for the kids he had in his car. I’m not even safe in my own domain, my own neighborhood, place of work. Then I got to thinking about my family, my students, my black colleagues—are they experiencing the same treatment?
It’s hard to shut down my brain at night. I try not to live with too much fear. Scriptures are something I really hold onto. One speaks about fear and not letting it take over, but overcoming fear. That helps me calm the mind and think about possibilities.
I think about those kids, sitting there, hearing that. They absorb everything. That’s systemic.
It’s a loaded general concern for loved ones, for friends and family, how they’re going to not just move forward, but also how they may thrive in society as it is right now.
What else do you want those in the profession to know?
We need to just love and understand each other and treat each other for basic human respect. Take steps that promote each other in being able to succeed. Some firms need to have training on diversity on how to be able to do that. And people need to show up. By your actions, we can tell. If your actions don’t align, then I can’t see you in a certain light that you’re an ally or committed to seeing change.
If you’re white, and you’re seeing these stories on the news, don’t be in such a position of opposition just because it’s being publicized. I see some very non-understanding responses, and it’s unfortunate and unfair, and some of it is disgusting. If I asked you to put the same scenario on yourself, you’d want me to be understanding.
Every generation has a responsibility to the next generation—and accountability to the previous.