What’s Your Story?
At the latest AIA Convention in Atlanta GA this past week,
AIA President Elizabeth Chu Richter challenged architects to share why they
entered the profession, and tell others “What’s Your Story?”. To be honest, why I entered the profession is
lost in memory, and now made into a story.
I’d rather focus on why I STAY in this profession.
I continue to practice Architecture and Sustainability
because I believe that I can make a difference in people’s lives, and I believe
that I can make a difference to our environment. I believe that what keeps me going is my
passion for design, for sustainability, for researching issues and passing on
information to clients, students, co-workers, peers, friends and family. I love to help people create or update their
residences and places in which they work through design – to make them
healthier, and/or to make the spaces more responsive to the needs of those who
inhabit them.
I believe that Winston
Churchill spoke well when he stated that “We shape our buildings, and
afterwards, our buildings shape us.”
Recent studies indicate that US residents spent up to 90% of
our time indoors. Think about that. What would YOU change to make your house or place of work better, knowing how much of your life you spend in it?
It is my mission to
make the spaces we inhabit as healthy, as pleasing, as responsive to people’s needs as I
can through design.
So, this is why I continue to practice:
- I believe that architecture is a craft.
- I believe that our drawings should be as beautiful as the end product.
- I believe that everyone has a right to dignified housing.
- I believe that design can impact everyone’s life.
- I believe that architects can help improve people’s working and living environments through design.
- I believe that there is a direct link between our physical health and the environments in which we live and work.
- I believe that it is better to have connections (visual, physical, or both) from the inside to the outside in our built environment.
- I believe that we can improve health and wellness of people, places, and continue cultural traditions through architecture.
- I believe that ‘doing less harm’ in the built environment is the minimum we should be doing as humans.
- I believe that creating sustainable and regenerative buildings should be the goal for every building.
- I believe that we need to create Living Buildings in every community around the world as inspiration for what we can achieve.
- I believe that the most successful architecture is not a judgement based on style, but based in the craft of design and the quality of construction, and judged by how people respond to the building and its spaces.
