I have declared my candidacy for the Director-at-large position for The American Institute of Architects (AIA)'s Board of Directors. Recently at the AIA's leadership summit, I had the opportunity to share my platform with the global AIA leadership.

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A brief summary of my career as an architect -

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I have had the honor to work with some of the most amazing design firms mostly out of New York, although I’ve worked on projects all over the world. I have worked with firms including SOM, HOK and Buro Happold – always working to infuse sustainability into the design process. I’ve had the opportunity to run my own small practice and have appreciation for the challenges of running a small business. I’ve worked with a public agency, Battery Park City Authority (BPCA), and know what it takes to move large public projects along. At BPCA, I was leading planning and design and managed the coastal resiliency project. In my current role at Corgan, I lead firmwide sustainability and understand regional nuances within the country and outside. Most of my free time weekends, for the last 4 years, have been devoted to working with Pokhrama Foundation to design a school – pro bono - for a remote agricultural community in northern India. I now sit on the board of Pokhrama Foundation and am most proud of this project.

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Connect and learn more about me on LinkedIn.

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Why am I vying for this position?

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I’m passionate about a better future, and I believe that I can bring a wealth of experience, knowledge and rigor in my service to the AIA. As I did when I served with the AIA COTE Advisory Group a few years ago. I contributed our cohorts efforts to get the principles of COTE Top Ten measures adopted to be part of AIA's Framework for Design Excellence.

 

 

How will I drive impact?

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We are in the midst of a seismic change in our global environment, and this has to be the decade of action. The impact of climate change on the built environment is enormous, and as architects, urbanists and designers we need to be leading the conversation on climate change and other significant shifts in the way we live and work. We need to empower our profession, engage both internally within our industry and externally, and lead the conversation on urban shifts.

 

The AIA has continuously rolled out some great resources for our community, and we need to continue to empower our design community with knowledge and tools necessary to lead their clients and communities, in rethinking design for not just climate change, but also rapidly changing technologies and a global shift in the way we live and work. I have done that while I was part of AIA COTE Advisory Group a few years ago. Our cohort worked with the AIA leadership in adopting the top ten measures into what we now know as the AIA’s Framework for Design Excellence. I also led the work to develop the Design Datamap.

 

I see us engaging more with experts beyond our industry to find solutions across the board, from human scale through urban and regional scales. We need to engage with policy leaders, other disciplines and researchers at all scales. While leading design and sustainability at Batter Park City Authority, my team was managing a host of consultants including marine engineers, environmental attorneys and community engagement experts. Architects are great orchestrators and know how to use systems design thinking to bring it all together.

 

And we need to lead, as orchestrators of the built environment to this new paradigm of design that must adjust to a rapidly changing world around us. So, a big ‘YES’ to Kimberly Dowdell’s proposal to a Chief Architect in every Mayor’s office. I say it must be mandatory to have a Chief Sustainability Officer and a Chief Resiliency officer in every mayor’s office.

 

Lastly, we have the power to uplift our community and communities we build. Equity and justice is a thread that must weave through all our efforts and programs. I want to also highlight that our impact is global. At Pokhrama Foundation Academy , there are many girls who are now getting education who previously had no access to a school. Karishma is a 13-year-old girl from that school who told us that now no one can force her to marry (at her age) – because she now knows there are laws. That is empowerment – and it happens in the environments we create.