Note: This is the second in a series of posts by Portland Architecture guest blogger Corbin Keech. Corbin is looking at how the recession has affected recent architecture school graduates. We hope to continue guests posts by Corbin from time to time after that. Corbin received a bachelor's degree in architecture from Kansas State University in 2006, and worked for the past two and a half years at ZGF Architects. He now provides contract design work for several architecture, urban design and planning companies in Portland.
As a Portland native, Naomi Cole affectionately recalls her childhood here, where environmentalism was as common as coffee shops and seasonal affective disorder. “People in Portland tend to design and build their urban environments with respect to the natural one," she says. "That’s just how it is, and it becomes even more pronounced when studying architecture in other places. My approach to urban development today is largely affected by the fact that I grew up with this ethic.”
This January, staring an uncertain future and a fragile economy square in the face, Cole fearlessly chose to leave her position as Sustainability Coordinator at ZGF Architects for more autonomous pastures at Konstrukt, a small consulting firm founded by her father, Jeff Cole. Her clients include local governments and non-profits such as BetterBricks, the City of Beaverton, and Portland + Oregon Sustainability Institute as well as green building consulting for a few local architecture firms. Here, she can fulfill the collaborative role she had always envisioned for herself; to be a fierce exponent of community engagement and market transformation. Above is a rendering of a project Cole is currently working on in Hood River. (Image courtesy of Richard Brown Architects.)
Like Kari Merkl, Cole had an early interest in architecture. For an eighth grade thesis project, she was mentored by Kent Duffy, a principal with SRG Partnership. She spent a summer in high school studying architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design, and three separate summers in high school and college as an intern at Thomas Hacker Architects (now THA Architecture) . Throughout these early explorations, she continually imagined ways in which design could be married with a sense of environmental and social responsibility. In high school, a lecture by William MacDonough at Portland State solidified her interest in the field as he explained why architecture and design is the effective route to environmental responsiveness. “His message resonated. I hung on every word," says Cole.
With ambitions for environmentally responsible architecture, a Bachelor of Arts degree in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania was a good fit because of its inherent flexibility. “While it was studio-focused, I was not limited strictly to architecture because of the liberal arts degree, and I was required to expand my horizons through other coursework,” says Cole. “As a continuation of the interest I had initially found in both environmental studies and architecture, this was an opportunity to construct a thesis that combined the two.” Oddly enough, her devout interest in sustainability made her the anomaly. “Surprisingly, my architecture classmates were not as interested in achieving broader sustainability goals in their projects.”
Cole came to realize our impact as designers can be as large or as small as we choose it to be - she now chooses to go big with a focus on master planning, urban design, and advocating for greater sustainability policies and programs. Her background in architecture only strengthened her interest in solving problems, as well as her credibility as a reliable advocate for change. “Improving the function of one building is obviously important," she says. "You could spend an exorbitant amount of time supervising the successful operation of an occupant-controlled night flush system, and this kind of change must occur at every scale. But for me personally, I find greater effect on a larger scale by conveying sustainability values to a broader audience - at the level of city of neighborhood planning.”
Cole professes that she has never left architecture. Rather, architecture has simply been a part of her process. “I came to sustainability through archiecture. I started on a very linear track, and although it’s evolved significantly, to me, it stills seems like a direct progression,” she continues. "To be an architect, you have to possess a diverse skill-set. You need to speak intelligently on a range of topics. Really good designers are able to take challenges and limitations and think creatively about how to achieve a vision within those constraints. Design is broad, and people interested in architecture are also interested in the design of objects or cities.”
Indeed, architecture is endlessly complex. So could this explain why architects have a tendency to look elsewhere? Certainly it is not this simple, especially given the complexities Cole and others presumably face when working with municipalities and non-profits.
I suggested to Cole that perhaps her hometown perpetuates this phenomenon. Her own father provided a model for self-employment and work from home as she was growing up. In other words, perhaps Portland facilitates greater professional experimentation. Cole paused for a moment and agreed. “Portland supports the kind of flexible professional life that many of us want," she adds. "A young architect in Philadelphia might not see as many different directions to take a degree in architecture as someone in Portland. Whereas there are more opportunities here ... somehow.” As is commonly accepted, Portland is an okay place for big business but a great place for small business. “Because of its livability and affordability," she concludes. "Portland is a more palatable place to take a risk.”
The bottom line is that Portland puts us at an advantage as individuals and as designers. As more architects lose their jobs and work continues to destabilize, we are forced to reevaluate our respective skill-sets. The benefit of taking inventory of what we love versus what we must do to survive is that a new opportunity could potentially reveal itself. Our city is more affordable, the social networks more accessible, the professional world less stratified, and the overall sense of community more pronounced. Perhaps this is an oversimplification, but it is nonetheless reassuring.
Conversely, it is debatable whether things are that much different here. Cities larger than Portland certainly don’t have a shortage of creative, ambitious individuals. Moreover, everyone’s experience is slightly different, but no less meaningful. Perhaps Portland’s uncharacteristically familial atmosphere is not the silver bullet. As I continued to pursue the issue, Eden Brukman offered her perspective with equal saliency.
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