Wisdom from the Field: Public Interest Design Practice
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WISDOM FROM THE FIELD: PUBLIC INTEREST ARCHITECTURE IN PRACTICE A Guide to Public Interest Practices in Architecture Roberta M Feldman Sergio Palleroni David Perkes Bryan Bell ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS So many individuals and organizations contributed to this We appreciate Mississippi State University College of research project. It goes without saying, the Fellows of the Architecture, Art and Design’s support of the Gulf Coast American Institute of Architects have made this research Community Design Studio, which is the setting for David possible. We are honored to have received the 2011 Perkes’s work on this research and a collaborative practice Latrobe Prize, and encouraged to see that the FAIA has environment for work since the aftermath of Hurricane committed funds to the study of public interest design. The Katrina that continues to show the value of community practitioners and partners we interviewed were generous partnerships. and open in sharing the stories of their careers and public interest practices, as were the workshop participants. Our The University of Illinois, College of Architecture and the Advisory Committee has served as our conscience, not Arts has given its generous support to the Latrobe project only advising on the research but assuring that we under- and the City Design Center, the context in which Roberta stand the importance of the task we have set for ourselves. Feldman has engaged in community design for the past two decades. The Loeb Fellowship supported Bryan Bell’s survey research. We would like to thank Dr. Patrick Moynihan of Few research projects are accomplished without the skillful the Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Science and assistance of other researchers. Deirdre Colgan, our lead Dr. Howard Gardner of the Harvard School of Education for consultant, artfully conducted many of the interviews; and their support on the surveys. Dasha Ortenburg also pro- Erika Warhus, then research assistance Portland State vided valuable assistance in conducting the surveys. We University, came through with anything the team asked add our thanks, as well, to the AIA for their assistance in of her. the distribution of the survey. We have received generous financial support from The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, a foundation that should to be recognized as well for its continued support of public interest design initiatives. Each of our home entities has provided additional funds and in-kind support. We would like to thank Portland State University for helping to negotiate the rights of publication and legal process of this grant, as well as manage its accounting. In particular we are extremely grateful to Sam Lowry for shepherding this grant forward beyond any call of duty. Public interest design practices were found, by the Latrobe Prize research team, to not only address a community’s immediate needs, but often build the assets and capacities of that community. Worksite at Butaro Hospital Doctor’s Housing, MASS Design Group. FORWARD We embarked on this investigation of public interest prac- In a significant way, our experience in this field also served tices in architecture to learn from others who were en- us well. It certainly helped to advance the interviews to gaged in these practices, and to communicate as faithfully greater depth, and to understand the information they as possible what we learned to the architectural profession. provided more fully. This depth allowed us to engage is- From the start, as a research team, we knew we could not sues of practice that would have remained unexplored. But claim to be either totally non-partisan or objective in our the findings were also surprising to us. We come away views on the subject. We all share a common conviction, with the realization that we can no longer generalize about gained through our own, decades long practices in this a single model of public interest design practices. Public field, that design can and should have social benefits and interest work is being conducted by both small and large outcomes for our society. We also believe that public inter- firms with equal conviction and ingenuity and through ap- est design is becoming a viable and important form of prac- proaches and strategies that we feel have the potential to tice in architecture. As the surveys we conducted show, transform the field. These are some of the most creative it is of interest to a surprisingly large and diverse segment practices in the field. It’s our distinct honor and pleasure of the architectural community. This evidence was particu- to share this knowledge with our fellow practitioners. Our larly encouraging and verifies the increasing interest we hope is that this report and its recommendations, drawn have noticed in publications and among practitioners and from the evidence, will help to encourage others to join students in the field. Despite the perspective we brought our field. to this research, we strived to be respectful and rigorous in the implementation of the research methodologies used this study, methodologies we all four have used, to dif- ferent degrees, in our individual careers as practitioners, advocates, and academic researchers. One of the qualities of public interest practices is the desire to be transparent and committed to the communities one serves. Such is the spirit in which we undertook this research project and evidence we collected. Indeed, we feel particularly responsible to the study’s value because of our interest and convictions that the evidence we gathered, and those who so generously offered them in service to others that makes us particularly responsible to the study’s value. Our attitude is reflected in the report that follows. We have used, to the fullest extent possible, the words of the practitioners interviewed, and built our observations and conclusions from this evidence. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FORWARD 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 14 INTRODUCTION Transforming Architectural Practices Research Objectives Study Overview Methods Surveys Interviews Workshops Analyses and interpretation of the findings 20 SURVEY RESULTS AND FINDINGS Bryan Bell Definition Current Practice and Economic Recession Ethics The Practice of Public Interest Design Challenges to the Practice of Public Interest Design Support for the Practice of Public Interest Design 27 INTERVIEW FINDINGS, THE PRACTITIONER’S PERSPECTIVE Roberta M Feldman and Sergio Palleroni What is Public Interest Design? How are Current Public Interest Practices Operating? For-profit practices with public interest pro bono initiatives For-profit integrated practices Independent non-profit corporation Foundation initiatives Developer What Strategies Have Proven Effective? Focus on social, economic, political and environmental impact Engage the community Identify projects Expand disciplinary and professional boundaries Overcome funding limitations Advocate for equity Educate the profession What has been Learned from Practitioners from Other Countries? How can Public Interest Design Practices be Sustained and Expanded? Educate the profession Educate architecture students Recognize the valuable roles of peer networks Overcome identified challenges of lack of “time and money” Pursue broader scale, systemic solutions Recognize projects and practitioners Educate the public about the value of architecture Strengthen the profession’s ethical standards and communicate the profession’s higher aspirations Support of the AIA 76 THE PARTNERS’ PERSPECTIVE: David Perkes Public Needs Practical Needs Practical Knowledge of the Partner’s Work Design Expertise that Advances the Partner’s Mission Flexible Practice Approach Community Design Skills Effective Collaboration Commitment to the Community 94 CONCLUSIONS 98 RECOMMENDATIONS Embrace and support a transformed profession. Communicate the profession’s public service values. Facilitate best public interest practices and strategies. Expand existing and attract new funding sources. Educate students and professionals about public interest design. 104 APPENDICES 1. Advisory Committee 2. Practitioners Interviewed 3. Partners Interviewed 4. Workshop Participants 5. Survey Questionnaire 6. Practitioner Interview Questionnaire 7. Partner Interview Questionnaire 8. Survey Findings Report 143 ENDNOTES EXECUTIVE SUMMARY WISDOM FROM THE FIELD INTRODUCTION You are not a profession that has distinguished itself by your social and civic contributions to the cause of civil rights, and I am sure this does not come to you as any shock. You are most distinguished by your thunderous 1 silence and your complete irrelevance. CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER WHITNEY YOUNG TO THE 1968 NATIONAL AIA CONVENTION. Whitney Young issued a challenge to the architectural pro- interest work through a better understanding of public inter- fession to address society’s unmet social, economic and est models and methods. environmental needs. Currently, a public interest design movement is taking shape in practices across the U.S. and Five research questions were considered: in other countries to meet these public needs. This move- 1. What is public interest design? ment has its roots in the architectural profession, stemming 2. What are the needs that are addressed by public interest from a wide spread desire to solve problems at a scale that practices? is bigger than an individual project. Such public interest 3. How are current public interest design practices practices identify and initiate projects that address com- operating? plex, long-term societal problems and have broad public