Building the Pipeline Through K-12 Education

A This episode is sponsored by Monograph and Arc IT. You'll hear more about them later on in the episode.

B I'm Evelyn Lee. And I'm Janine Chastain. We're collaborating on curated conversations to explore how the industry is changing.

A Together, we'll find ways to create new solutions to current challenges while elevating the value of architects.

B Welcome to Practice Disrupted.

C Hello, listeners. Hello, Janine. Hello, Evelyn. Hello, disruptors.

D So this week, we are creating this particular episode on the road. We have both been traveling. Janine was traveling first, and now I'm traveling. So you may hear an audio quality shift a bit between recordings. In wrapping up 3 seasons and a pandemic, we are both taking a little time off before the end of the year.

C But don't worry because this week, we've got an excellent episode for you with another great interview. We've invited a friend from the Bay Area and a fellow on the show who's going to share his story on entrepreneurship, community activism, and educating k through 12 students on architecture

D that has merged over 20 plus years of experience in architecture, planning, and education to develop and construct inclusive communities internationally with a focus on equitable design and planning justice. Prescott is a founder and director of COOLINA, a community design, planning, and teaching practice empowering everyday citizens of all ages to use our collective knowledge and voice to shape the physical environment to their visions by engaging them in their spaces for nonprofits, small businesses, community based, and government organizations. He is also an experienced youth educator with 15 years of practice from elementary school through university students on architecture, planning, culture, and sustainability, which you'll hear more about in the interview.

C So we'll be asking Prescott about his business and a lot of his community activism work, but we're also going to talk extensively about Project Pipeline. And for those who don't know, the National Project Pipeline Architecture Program educates and engages youth from elementary to high school. The national mission is to empower young people to effect change in their community through design and exposes youth to the professions in the built environment with a focus on architecture and is one of the few national initiatives in the nation connecting minority youth to a comprehensive pathway to becoming a licensed architect. Project Pipeline Summer Camp is only possible through the continued support of sponsors, members, and friends. And in today's conversation, we'll be talking specifically about Project Pipeline that's organized through SFNOMA, but Project Pipeline is a national program that is connected to NOMA chapters across the country.

D If you're interested in making a donation, we'll make sure to drop the link in our show notes. Let's cut to the interview.

E Thank you very much for having me on the podcast. You know, I I love what you 2 have been doing over the last several years and appreciative of you showcasing, you know, really the diversity and different ways that you can practice, but more importantly, just the way that people, you know, leaned into what they do well, you know, and really figuring out how to make a wall for themselves and to be able to pay their bills while not holding to be in traditional practice. So I I totally appreciate, everything you've been doing, and I'm really honored to be, you know, part of this this podcast, and to be part of the group. You know? So a little bit about me, you know, I'm Prescott Rivas. I am an architect. I am based in, the best city in the United States of America, also known as Oakland, California, on the indigenous lands of the Ohlone, Chinook. And I feel fortunate to be in this city for the last 20 years. I grew up actually in upstate New York, so this has been the place that I've spent the majority of my life, and I really do call it home.

E And absolutely love Oakland despite what people think of it. I love the idea that it really is a community. Once you are here, people fully embrace you. And the and the biggest thing about it that I really love is is it's a place of rebellion. It's a place that really, honors and respects people who are pushing for social, economical, environmental changes, and that really fits in the line with a lot of the interest I have and passions I have. You know, I'm trained as an architect, and I went to architecture school at Howard University, did some graduate studies in urban planning at San Jose State. And but I've really spent the majority of my career focusing on how to create, more healthy and vibrant communities. I spent my first, really about 15 years working in corporate firms, doing health care projects, large care health care and academic research buildings across the country, which was really great and fulfilling.

E But, you know, all that time I was working within that those areas, I was always doing work within the community, particularly working with with young people. You know, and I started working with young people my 4th year at Howard University with the National Building Museum, which has a program at that time called City Vision. And we worked with middle school students over 16 weeks to teach them how to, improve their community. And we used the city of DC as the laboratory for the students to take them around to different parts of the city to see things they really liked and wanted to implement within their own community. And so I've really been building everything off of of that idea of really how do we make change makers of young people, but more importantly, how do we bring them into creating space now and not asking them to wait until they are adults and really seeing them as citizens who can contribute to make positive changes to their community. And, you know, with that, after I left corporate, I was able to go work in a community design center, Asian Neighbor Design, which was an amazing place to work, working primarily with community based organizations, government organizations, small businesses, and just people who had a need but didn't necessarily know how to start to think about how they wanted to change their space, or plan for their spaces in the future. And I really got to switch my roles to focus more on community engagement and planning, which is something I really wanted to do. I started seeing that to be able to create good architecture really need to be formulated within the policy and programming and planning.

E That's what really fosters good architecture. A lot of times, good architecture is just, you know, you've got really good people. They can push it through even though they're bad policy and bad programming. But if you set it up in a way that the programming and policy leverages the power, the intelligence, and the collective knowledge of the community, then that's when you can really start to get design that really is for and about people. And so I worked there for 5 years really being deeply involved mostly with the South of Market community, which mostly is Filipino, so I had to really learn a new cultural group and learn how to ingratiate myself into a different community that I was not part of and be able to understand their own lens of thinking both from, you know, where they are spatially in the south of market, but also what does it really mean to be Filipino? And what what is your pride? What, you know, exemplifies, you know, Filipino culture? So I learned to eat a lot of Filipino food and hang out in a lot of Filipino events, which is great because it really made me understand

D I was gonna say that sounds horrible.

E Oh, yeah. It was it's horrible. I mean, but I think that's the best thing when you're when you're forced into these news positions, especially on projects where you're working with a different cultural group or within a different neighborhood, is you have to learn so much more. And if you are receptive to it, the only thing it's going to do ever for you is improve you as a as a human. And, you know, that's what we're trying to I believe what we should be trying to do always with space is try and improve humanity and create space to improve humanity. Unfortunately, Indeed, had some issues, and it it it, for all intents and purposes, went went under. And I was able to transition and take, one of our clients with us to start my own firm, which is Kaleema, which I started in what what year is it now? I guess, 2019. And it really was taking what I'd learned through my years in traditional practice and working within a and d to really be able to focus in the areas I wanted to focus in on.

E And Klima is actually Swahili, and I really wanted my my firm to have an African name because I really wanted to perpetuate my my history and my coming from the African diaspora. And Kalima also talks about the exact way I want to do work and work with people in general, and that's to cultivate. I want to cultivate minds. I want to cultivate communities. I want to cultivate programs. I want to cultivate an economy. And so it really resonated with me on thinking about, you know, how can I project what I want to do with within my name of my firm? And so we focus in on 3 different areas, and these areas are very specific too. We first engage, then we educate, then we design.

E And that's always the process. And the engagement is really about the learning and figuring out how do we work with each other and understand where we're coming from, but it's also to understand what knowledge are you bringing, what knowledge am I am I bringing, and then to figure out what other knowledge do we need to find. And the educational component is is starting to share that that information readily and really be able to ground ourselves on those those practices of what we can really help shape because it's always about a collaboration that's gonna bring us to the fullest of what the project can be. And then finally, design. And when I say design, design does not initially mean that we are producing a building space. It might be a plan. It might be a program. It might be a policy, but we're designing something, and we're gonna have some type of outcome that allows us and when I say us, I'm always talking about my clients, who I never see as clients and I always view them as collaborators.

E That allows us to push forward what we need to make that community better. And that can be defined, like I said, in 10,000 different things. And then finally, my my last piece that I, you know, I love to do is is work with young people. So also that education is big for that developing out programs and policies and alignment with other youth organizations, people who are interested in working with youth, to create those new pathways for people to become what I like to call them spatial activists, because I'm not trying to push people to become architects or planners. I want them to be people who understand space and understand how to manipulate space that benefits them and their community. And I always say the community because my goal is to plan for and create programs for those who are existing in space and then worry about who's coming in the future later because that's where I think a lot of our designs end up wrong. We're planning too much for those who are coming and not really concerned about who's there now.

C I mean, it just makes me realize, like, there there were several reasons why I I extended an invitation to you, and I'm reminded, of all those reasons in listening to your intro. I mean, you've always been a community advocate and activist in all of the roles that I've ever seen you in as long as I've known you. I didn't realize that we both started our firms at the same time, so that's really interesting to know. I I think we kind of pivoted right at the same moment. And then, of course, you know, I had this incredible experience with you watching you, you know, kinda in your zone of genius as an educator working with young people through Project Pipeline, and so I was I was so moved by that experience, getting to watch you work with young people, and, actually, seeing them light up and be very excited about architecture that I thought, in all of our conversations that we've been having on the show about diversity, you

B seemed like the perfect person

C to talk to about what it actually takes to connect with young people and to help them figure out their way into a meaningful career, you know, beyond, their high school experience. And and you're even working with kids who are, like, in middle school, so getting them introduced to these ideas about architecture really early on. So I feel like there's a lot to cover in this episode, and I wanna do justice to each part of those conversations. You know, maybe let's start with the community piece. And if you can tell us why community activism and social justice work is important to you, and where where did that passion come from?

E Well, it's it's my family, 100%. You know, generally, when I do a presentation, I always talk about, you know, my 3 most influential people in my life are my mom, my father, and my and my aunt Ramona. And I have a picture of the 3 of them, you know, this very posed picture from, I think, is probably the the seventies. So they're looking all pretty sharp. But all 3 of them are educators, and, a lot of my family had has been and is currently in the educational field. And even if they're not, they are always doing something that is along within a mentorship track within their their their given profession. And so seeing the way they interacted with community and how much they fought for community really resonated with me. My mom was an art teacher, who taught middle school and high school.

E She also helped to found a, drop in art center to help to create a the next generation of artists who didn't actually have the track and money to pay to go to an expensive art school or didn't have that provided within their, you know, their regular education, you know, elementary, middle, or high school. My aunt was a librarian. She she was in Brooklyn, so she was also, you know, you know, a a socialite back in the days because she never married, and she hung out with the artist. So she also cultivated, like, any anything I had a passion for, she would cultivate me. Like, I I was on science. I'm a big sci fi nerd, and I had a big thing for doctor who, still do doctor who when I was in middle school. And she somehow this is back in the eighties. She was able to get, like, 6 full transcripts of doctor who and was just, like, most excited person ever about being able to have those.

E And she created libraries. She worked in the in the public school system in New York City, and then later on, she she was a consultant to help to develop private libraries for for private schools on Long Island. And then my dad, went was everywhere from, you know, a teacher to a guidance counselor to a school principal to a dean at at the State University of New York System. And he also, along with whom my godfathers, helped to write the curriculum for the equal opportunity program for the State University in New York system, which, you know, at that time, was designed primarily for to get black and Latino students into the State University New York system and then make sure they they had the systems and the support to be able to graduate. They're all, you know, giants in their own. Right? And then my dad, after he retired from there, you know, developed at a community center in Port Chester, New York for 10 years. So, you know, I I will say in a in a nice way, I was gently encouraged to work with both my mom and her drop in art center as well as also particularly my dad when he had his community center because at that time, I was going to school at Howard. And when I came back at summer, he was short one year, a guidance counselor, so he's like, you're gonna help run my my my summer camp.

E I'm like, but but he's like, nope. This need you to do it. You're gonna make it happen. So, you know, it's just kind of I would say it's in the DNA and also what I'm I'm I'm used to seeing. It's I didn't see any other way to be able to interact with my community.

D Tell us a little bit more about the root of the in the initial inspiration for Project Pipeline. I mean, I know it may seem obvious, but I think, you you know, what is most obvious, there's also, like, those special little drivers that, like, really make you super passionate about something and the vision, mission, and goals of that program.

E Yeah. Yep. Love to. 1 of my my favorite subject matters. You know, and I'm gonna talk at project pipeline, you know, at at kind of a couple different levels. You know, there's the the the history, you know, where it was originally intended to go, where we work within it in SFNOMA and then also kind of the the newer, larger platform that we've developed out really in the last 2 years. But, you know, project pipeline is a program of the National Organization of Minority Architects that was born in 2002, and I joined our Fort Lauderdale conference. And the president at that time was Paul Terrell.

E And he asked, Drake Dillard and David Kirk, Drake, who was in California, specifically down in LA, and David Kirk, who was in, Cincinnati, to research and establish a camp that would help to introduce minority students to, to architecture, really with a focus on black students to help us to increase the number of licensed black architects. And with the first camp being held in 2006 in Cincinnati. And since then, it's expanded to I think we're now up to 30 camps across the country. And, you know, the we have a formalized curriculum that works across all the the various chapters. But, you know, the the larger thing really about it now is to really be that framework of helping to shift the profession, really and I'm really thinking about all spatial professions of going from just being about, you know, design to really being about justice for people, so really about design justice. And I really give Brian Lee, the credit for really making that shift. You know, we had inklings of that when we started up our project pipeline camp here in, 2010, but we we hadn't fully formed it and had kind of had it incubated about about what does that really look like and, you know, how does that create. And so it's you know, the mission now is to empower young people to affect change in their community through design.

E And we use the city as a classroom and making sure that they're we're connecting them to, practicing architects, planners, and designers and really thinking making of having them become not only, you know, spatial people, but really civic leaders and change makers. We still want that those those these young students to to become licensed architects, but more importantly, it's really about them being advocates for the improvement of their own community and being able to elevate the community's voice and specifically their voices. And for the students we're working with is to have them elevate their voices now and not have to wait until you graduate school. Like, you're in middle school. You can come up with good ideas right now. Matter of fact, you are coming up with good good ideas right now. We just need to teach you a process on how to be able to show adults what your ideas are, how you systematically came up to these solutions, and then be able to present it in a way that they can't be like, oh, that's a bunch of crap. They can be like, I don't agree with you, but they can't be like, well, I don't understand you got here because you understood a process.

E You showed the process, you did some research, you did some community engagement because that's part of a part of our practice. When we do our when we do project pipeline, the students have to go out and do community engagement, which means they have to go out on the streets and ask the neighborhood we're working, the people, what do they think about this project? If they already have some early ideas, get some feedback on their ideas. If not, ask ask the community what are their ideas. So we really try to ingrain it into the way that we envision practice should be so that they're not doing something that is just, you know, playing around with, you know, design. No. We're we're serious. We just take the studios that were that you would do in college or that you work in your office, and we shrink them down, change the language so that so students could understand it. And then that's the process we're actually teaching to them.

A How are you finding those individuals that do? Is it because it's such a small community of community builders, and then it's very easy to find those mentors? Or, like,

D how are you guys identifying, like, those connections for for project pipeline?

E Well, I I would say that we're we're really lucky enough that, you know, each one of the chapters that has recently started up had a lot of people that already work within this mindset. Even if it's not their own firm, their this is where their their thinking is. So it's an easy adaptation. Also, a lot of our our design mentors for our students are current students. So and we know the current students have a much different mentality than the the majority of, let's say, practitioners that are over 45, 40, you know, and I'm one of those practitioners. You know, so we've already got a large group that already has this different framework and thinking about how do we engage and work with community differently. And then those who are might not aren't there, they're kinda coming to this to say, you know, I wanna be surrounded and kind of understand this process so I can start to introduce it back into my firm, which I've actually had a lot of, people come from, especially our early days in within SFNOMA, and to really kind of understand, how do we do this type of work? And so it's important that we we once again, just like in any good community community engagement, we're meeting people where they're at. And so part of the process is that we do extensive training.

E And when I say extensive, it's actually an afternoon, but we really talk about, you know, what is the program and then the the way that we want to speak with our students, how you question them, how do you build that relationship. So a lot of the the things I personally learned, you know, through a and d, we implement through Project Pipeline. And I also have to honor, you know, for SFNOMA, you know, my 2 other cofounders. A lot of people think I just found this by myself. I did not. I founded it with Deanna Van Buren, and many people will know Deanna Van Buren, is a leader in integrating and coming up with how to use restorative justice as a lens, framework, and an economic system to create and build sustainable communities. And then my other partner in crime, Romel Taylor, who works for the city of San Francisco. You know, it was great that we were able to work this together and had this vision that we really wanted to to not just create designers, but really be civic agents of change.

E And so building from that really allowed us to to create this pipeline of such, and I think we've done a pretty good job with with that. I mean, the students that we we've been able to track and follow are kind of about about that life. You know, they're about, like, we wanna we wanna shift shift the way people think. We want to shift the way that they they view, minority and particularly black designers. We want to shift what we think it means to be a woman designer. We want to shift what it thinks to be a gay transsexual designer. Because, I will say, even from our early days, we already had students that were identifying as being gender neutral before it really came out as a term. You know? And we like, we don't shun that stuff.

E We're we're just like, be who you are because that's how you're actually going to create the best designs. And so we want the students to feel free to be exactly who they are, and our job is to help to cultivate and to be, be able to give them the confidence and hopefully some additional tools to be themselves.

C You know, in my mind, there's this narrative about what this camp was pre pandemic that's really magical. Maybe you can kinda paint that for us, and and then we can talk about how the program shifted during the pandemic and how you guys have been able to respond to make this, virtual.

E Well, you know, in person, was great. And we you know, I I think part of it is that we have been in a great environment. So I wanna thank, California College of the Arts, their San Francisco campus, for allowing us to be hosted in their in their school, and in their studios. So it's great that we're we can immerse the kids actually in architecture studios, so they already start to be able to envision themselves there as a college student. And, you know, we've refined it because, like I said, we've we've been able to to do it over so so many years. And it's it's a weeklong camp that we we run, and it's really based on kind of 3 different phases. It's skills acquisitions, which is the first day and a half, investigation, which is going to the site and kind of then, you know, you know, working together as a big group to kind of ideate and see what the issues are and what the potential is. And then it's it's design.

E You know? And so you basically have give them about 3 days to design, but we spend the first day and a half, you know, focusing on foundational skills where they're we reemphasize their drawing, model making, and the big one, presentation skills, critical thinking, and and collaboration skills because we always ask them to do things together or that they have to question each other about that. And in building their, what we like to call their, critical questioning of each other because we want them to question each other. At least for myself, I always found my most benefit in an academic setting is not the professors, but my other students, especially if you build a rapport that you're not trying to be this beat them down, but really trying to dig into them to to find out what are they really searching for so they can get to the best solution. And so it's interesting to see them on that process as they move along, and it's also that we say that we really ask the design mentors to become invested in each one of the students we're working with as an individual. And so that's why we spend a lot of time, you know, a day and a half teaching them how to ask questions about their designs, but also about them and how to give them compliments and also how to open yourself up so they so you actually have a dialogue because the the program is really built off the relationships, not the not the, you know, nuts and bolts of the of the curriculum. It's really always about the people, much like I think a good practice is based on the people, not not, you know, what your, you know, your technical skills. I mean, that's very important. But, you know, how can everybody speak to each other, and how can you really have those deep conversations? And so creating that at that early on the set of the the project or the camp, really, those first two days is critical for us to be able to have those dialogue over those next 2 days when they're really digging the design so we can really have on on this conversation to more importantly be like, listen.

E I think you're going down the wrong lane or, you know, or is that really what you wanna do? Or, you know, you spoke so much about this, and I'm not seeing this in design. So let's let's step back for a second and really start to think about, you know, what is it that you really wanna do? Let's go back to your priority list and your concept design to make sure, are you checking those same boxes? And so that, to me, is what really, you know, helps our program to be very strong as well as also then we we we generally probably have about 50 to 65% of of returning design mentors. So they've been refining their game on how to engage the young people within the process. And then the last thing I will say is that we take on students that have timed out to become teaching assistants. So they're, you know, they're in high school, and they're working as teaching assistant. And then we do have a couple students who are in college that have, for the last not not this year, but for the last 3 years, were acting as assistant camp directors that were helping to set the framework and create the projects and also teaching a lot of the curriculum so that we can pass this on, but also so that their shared knowledge of what they're learning in college can be passed on to the TAs and to the students. So the pipeline is is is real, and and it's working. So, you know, that is exactly what we envision.

E I mean, for me, personally, I would love to be able to, you know, come back in, hopefully, 5 or 6 years, and there is a student that is running this. That was one of our former students.

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C I do think, you know, the the space that you guys do this program in when it's in person is a really important part of the experience. For those who haven't been to the CCA campus but might be listening to this, the atrium space is, it's not even an atrium space. It's a former bus station space that serves as an atrium space, but it is just a tremendous space to stand in and look at, the architecture of the building and then to look down the galley of where the pent up spaces are and see these students lined up with their work probably on display at the end of the program, getting to stand up there in front of their peers and their family, their family comes to the final critique and then all of the mentors who wanna participate. It just it just had such a memorable, wonderful feeling to the whole experience. And I'm curious, you know, having to shift this through the pandemic, and I'm sure you guys were doing this all virtually as all of us were trying to manage our practices, how did that transition shift the work that you guys are doing?

E That was a collective, you know, shift by all of Project Pipeline nationally. So we put together, a team, and we basically all have representatives from almost every pipeline camp. And we built literally built out the curriculum through, a mural board. And people were kinda taking over. We kinda laid it out and, you know, whiteboarded it first and then started laying out different pieces, and then we went to you know, broke it down into individual pages, and so we had groups of people working on various different things. So it was very much a, a collective and collaborative process nationally. So we we pulled a lot from each one of the, each chapter of what something they did really well. So it really helped to actually round out the curriculum even more, and it was actually really, really great in a way that we designed it that was asynchronous.

E So we actually switched. The camp became 8 days, and we'd work one day together, then off, and then back together again. We curated, online videos that would be able to support the students if they needed to go back to remember something that they so we created a YouTube channel, Project Pipeline YouTube channel, so they could access it there. And it it actually works out really well, because we had those various different touch points, and we, you know, broke down the, students into design pods. So we would have conversations at the beginning of, the morning afternoon that we were online and talked together, and then we'd break down into your groups of, 4 students and usually, you know, 2 and a half mentors, like, one mentor that couldn't be there all the time. And so, you know, you had a rotating group of mentors. And so they really had that that time to build up a relationship. And I I gotta say, some of them, I'm shocked.

E Like, a couple, we had to ask them, like, are your parents helping you? Because they were coming up with some some designs, and other other people started using more digital tools because we we don't use digital tools. We do everything by hand. So they were they were building out things in SketchUp. They were built using roadblocks to design stuff. So it was really interesting to see how they adapted the the program. But they're you know, young people are resilient and adaptable. That's the thing I gotta say about, younger generation. They they know how to pivot like nobody's business.

E And they did a they did a really good job of pivoting and, also being, forgiving with us going through the process since it was our first time too. They didn't they didn't when things didn't work or Zoom would go out or somebody's, Internet would die, you know, or, you know, the design kits that we sent out to them because we curated these these kits that had most of the materials they needed for them and sent them out or dropped them off to them. You know, those things got laid to them. They were, you know, they were just great to be able to work with. And I think they were just appreciated that we figured out some way. For many of them, this was they were coming back for multiple years. So they're like, no. I wanna do this.

E They were just happy that they they had this space, to be in with other like minded students.

D I think that is an amazing testament to the whole, how do we mentor the young people that just graduated from college and our firms in a remote or hybrid environment? And here you are talking about all of these even younger people that have, you know, created something wonderful and and learned from that curriculum. So it's just it's so amazing to me. Oddly, I'm surprised when I see architects, like, adapt and create that new environment. And it it it makes me optimistic, board, the kids, young people. Sorry. I'm thinking of my 4 to 6 year olds. They're not like 4 to 6 year olds. You've you've been teaching them so much.

D But I I also realized that you're the mindset, you know, that you have probably learned so much as an educator yourself along the way and a community leader. So can you highlight any of those the lessons that you might have learned from them?

E I think, you know, I I'm not a parent myself. I'm I'm very close to my nieces and nephews, But patience is definitely a critical component of this process. And I think that works well, especially if you're back in practice, working with a lot of community based organizations or individuals, that, you know, you have to move at the speed of trust. And so, you know, having to constantly do that and balance that out is important. Clarity of being able to take very technical terms and reduce them down into common language is another one that's extremely important. And also concepts in general, you know, being able to really diagram at a pretty high level, back down for students. And also to clarify, I've I've worked and currently do work with elementary school students too. So, you know, it becomes even more that you have to really figure out what is the critical issue that you're trying to teach them and be able to give it back to them in a language that they can understand, and more importantly, a language that they can then talk to others about it.

E And when I say others, I'm always speaking about adults. And so those are the 2 big things. And then my final my final two ones are that we should have and need to have joy in every space that we walk into. And the 4th one is they are they naturally think about who is not in the room. And I say that because most of the time, especially still at middle school age, they they generally are not going places by themselves. Somebody has to take them, you know, at least there. They might not stay with them, but they have to work. So they always they always think about, okay, if I'm going to space, you know, what about my nana, my older cousin, my sibling, my mom, my dad? So they are always thinking about others, which is the best thing we can ever think about in space is thinking about who's missing in this in this discussion.

E So we make sure we are designing for the majority and not the the the minimal. So those are, I would say, you know, always the things I really take away from them. And the one I'm trying to infuse more in my personal practice is the one is, how do we create spaces that are about thriving and joy? And I I speak of that, and I've also done spoken just a little bit about that. But that's also if you look at our requirements from NCARB, it's something that we're supposed to be doing as licensed architects. We're supposed to be designing for spaces of welfare, yet we hardly talk about this as a profession. So that means every space we design, somebody comes in it is supposed to improve their quality of life. This is written in this is written in NCARB, so I'm not making this up. So that's my challenge I'm actually putting out to all licensed architects and those who are aspiring to be, licensed architects is I'm asking you to follow your mandate as being an NCARB architect and to create spaces that improve the quality of life.

E And so what that also means is that we have to get rid of some spaces that do not improve the quality of life.

C I feel like that's a pretty good segue to talk about what your hope for the future of practice is. I mean, you've you've hinted at it a little bit in talking about your business and then just then in speaking about the importance of joy in space. What do you hope the profession will become as we continue to evolve?

E I hope it will come, despite some strange, I hope it will become less professional. I I hope that it it will become, you know, a practice and roles that everybody sees as integral for improving their quality of life and every step of the thing they do, just like they see, you know, like, a good accountant or a tax person that helps them to figure out their financial issues. You know, that's what I really would love for us to be seen, you know, architects, planners, designers, landscape architects, and everybody in the built environment is that we're really seen as critical on making sure that their quality of life is at the highest level and that we're not an, expensive service, you know, that we're something that really is valued and that we help to improve your life and that it's it's normal. Like, everybody should have an architect. It's like, yeah. Hey. You know, I got a I got a I got a hairdresser. I got an architect.

E You know, it's like, hey. I was talking to my architect last week. You know, that's what it should be really ingrained in. But that what that means for our practice means that we have to be more part of our community. We have to show up in spaces that architects don't show up with and just be there so that if something does come up, we'll be like, hey. I might be able to help with that or, you know, I have some ideas or can I you know, can we have a converse side conversation about that? And really being part of the community, we talk about this idea of a citizen architect. My definition as a citizen architect is that, you know, everybody just knows your name. Like I said, you literally are like the guy on the corner or the woman on the corner or the person on the corner that they know.

E And if they have questions, they come to you. And it's not about that, you know, they figure, like, it's about money. But it's just, hey, they want a concern to help to make sure my wife, my quality of life is really good. And that starts with where am I living? Where am I about? What does my space look like? And does my space allow me the opportunity to rest, relax, thrive, and have joy? So if we can think about, you know, positioning ourselves that we're just in everything that's in life, that's awesome. Like, I'd I'd love to see, like, more more reverent architects. You know? Like, why can't you be in the pulpit talking about design? You know, I'm just making this up. But, you know, these would be great things to have that you you're starting to integrate this and everything that talks about people. And then finally, that, you know, we really spend time back in schools, you know, not just for, you know, career days or things like that.

E And when I say spend time in schools, it's that part of our practices are placed into the schools, and we're really working within the schools themselves because we know the built environment and spaces affect people in every part of the way, especially emotionally and physically. So we have to spend those times in there to make sure that students understand how to be able to make those changes that will help to improve their themselves. Like I said, all this comes back to improvement for people. And then the really big issue that praxis need to do is is that we must engage young people on a minimum on all public funded projects. I am still blown away that most schools are designed with no engagement with the students. I I don't get that. They are the user group. They are the true clients, yet we don't talk to them.

E We don't engage them in the process. And I guarantee you, they will improve the quality of your project and push it in directions you never thought of because they understand that school, because they're in there every single day and they notice everything that's bad about it. They also have been visioning and thinking about the way that they would create the ultimate school for themselves. So they're ready, willing, and able to do that, and they have these same ideas for pretty much every public space. Everything that I've worked on with, they've always improved it. Currently, I'm working on redoing a, youth organization's headquarters in San Francisco. And as part of our interview process, we told them that we're going to lead with the young people since you are a youth organization. We're gonna start with them to engage them first to figure out, you know, what are the the issues, values that they wanna make sure are implemented within the space that also tie into the mission values and priorities of the organization, but also the young people.

E And so they created that list, and then the adults had to build off of that. All their ideas are what the foundation are for what the space is because they knew they are what the space is for. And so it's just that same ideology I'd love to bring back into practice, bring back into planning, that we we engage them in those processes. They are citizens. They're way smarter than what you think they are. And they will be able to create ideas that we are blocked up by from our rules and regulations because they don't they don't believe in rules and regulations. They just believe in a good solution. And so it would be our our role to help to remove those roadblocks, to be able to get to those big big ideas and actually take them from ideas to implementation.

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D So, Janine, I didn't realize actually before we started in on this conversation. I actually just you alluded to it, and I just learned 2 minutes ago that you were actually a mentor to Project Pipeline. So why don't you tell us a little bit about what that experience is?

C Mentor feels like a strong word. I feel like I volunteered and, was also a mentee through my experience participating in the program. I I got asked to volunteer through LMS, who was a, you know, sponsor, and several of the staff at our firm volunteered to participate in the program. And so I went over there, which the program is hosted at CCA. So you have to kinda, like, go to the school and you show up, and all of these students are working in this studio environment, very much like architecture school. But they're these, like, little kids, and it's so cool to see, them, you know, spread out on their drawing board tables. And at that point, I think they were starting to work on their models. I really enjoyed watching Prescott step into his role as an educator.

C And there were some other project pipeline NOMA leaders there like June and Nehani and others who were, you know, organized and really rallying behind these kids to deliver, quite the camp. I mean, it's it it runs for a week. So by the time that you get to the end of the week, the students really they know each other and they know the mentors really well. And just helping them go through that last day, you know, to build their models and to, you know, watch them proudly carry these models and drawings out into the pent up space to present to, you know, all the mentors who showed up and their parents and their, you know, family members. It was it was a really special moment and I I really took a lot away from that experience. And I could I just I saw how, you know, it it actually made an impact on the students. So that was really exciting to see and just it felt powerful to be part of.

D Yeah. It's funny that you kinda mentioned I went all the way out to CCA because I think for those who don't know the San Francisco or the city of San Francisco and kind of where everything is located, CCA is, it is a little bit off the beaten path. It's not something that you're going to kinda, like, stop by on your way home, especially if you live in Oakland. So you mentioned I mean, you asked this of Prescott, right, kind of what he takes away from this. And you you obviously left inspired, but you also said that you were a mentee through this process. So can you think of something that you learned throughout the course of the week?

C Honestly, I was surprised how, nervous I was around the kids, around the students. You know, I felt, like, a little intimidated trying to, figure out how am I gonna, you know, help them. And, Ihani actually gave me a hard time. Thought it was really funny. He he was like, come on, Janine. Go talk to them. And finally, like, I I kinda had to find the right student to talk to. And, I think that Prescott alluded to this in the interview, but it's really about the relationship.

C And so, you know, I found a student who I connected with, and I felt like we were able to build a personal relationship through the time that I spent with him. And he was really not interested in finishing his model. He I don't. I patiently sat there with him and tried to encourage him to finish it and, you know, it was kind of painstaking at first, but, you know, I kept encouraging him, and I kinda showed him how to, you know, glue things together and to keep working on it. And he was so happy because he finished his model, and he was able to take it down. And his his family was there, and so when he presented it, like, he had a finished product to show them, and he was so proud. And it was, like, really just kind of an awesome moment to feel like I was like, okay. Cool.

C I I was able to help him in some small way. This is why I was here today.

D Yeah. I, find that incredibly surprising because between the 2 of us, you're you've I mean, you self identify as an extrovert, and I self identify as an introvert. So I don't think I've ever seen you in a situation where you're kind of nervous to insert yourself.

C Yeah. I I don't know. I think kids are a little tough for me. I I'm much better with adults than I am with kids, though I'm learning how to deal with kids. I or, you know, young people, I should say, to Prescott's point. But it's it's such a rewarding experience. And and the reason that I wanted to have this conversation on the show is because I know that youth education and and building the pipeline into architecture is a major conversation that's been ongoing within the AIA and with NOMA. And, I've heard a lot of different groups organizing programs over the past year, especially since 2020, and I just I felt like it was important to talk about what has been happening and what's been successful in this realm because there are a lot of volunteers out there who have been doing this kind of work for many years.

C So there are some great programs and great mentors out there to talk to.

D Yeah. What was most amazing for me, and, I mean, obviously, it's called a project pipeline, and I think the AIA, you know, we've we've made strides to create and expand upon the pipeline. But it's the notion that that they're literally helping some of these students and supporting them for over 21 years through licensure like, that that's actually building the pipeline. Right? And what is also surprising well, it's not surprising to me, but what every smart organization has to do and and project pipeline is is absolutely doing it is is evolve and change and pivot when necessary. So one of the first big pivots, I think, for me, it was this notion of purely being about teaching people about design based in communities. But, really, it felt to me at the beginning, it was more about design and getting people to understand architecture and getting through the licensure. But now they really have this civic design justice formula built into it, leaning heavily on kind of how design affects communities. So that was an incredible pivot for me.

D And then, you know, talk about what they've been able to accomplish over the pandemic. That just it blew my mind. Like, there's so many architecture firms over the last 2 summers that have said, like, we can't deal with interns right now. We don't know how to run a remote program with interns, and here they are running their full program remotely. So talk about just changing up what you need to change and still being able to make an impact.

C Definitely. I think that they've been, resourceful. And Prescott told he didn't mention it in this interview, but as we were planning for this, they actually did multiple, iterations of the camp this year to offer more opportunities. And so I think that you heard it in the conversation, but the students are really resilient. And so I think that their willingness to adapt to the technology and still make it successful like, I can imagine the fact that they're at home and they have access to all of their toys and all of their supplies that they have in their home would make it, you know, actually more accessible to come up with something creative to design because they can pull from things that they know that they've, you know, used in their imagination in the past, and then suddenly they have it at their fingertips to implement in their projects.

D Prescott also talked a little bit about, you know, how he runs his own practice, kulema. Right? And this need to engage, educate, and design because of all of the types of clients that he works with. We all talk about bringing our partners or a client, like or I usually talk about clients when I had clients as an external consultant and I worked as a design strategist about really creating that partnership, kind of making sure you engage them correctly, educate them about the process, you know, and bringing them through as a design partner. So he's very smartly kind of applied that to his own process. But I think that's a lesson that that can be transferred from, like, to to for profit models as well, just in terms of managing and setting expectations, high end expectations, but also really, so much of what we do as architects is bring people along the architecture journey for the first time ever. Right? A lot of people have never worked with architect before. They don't know what it's like. It's very different than, like, going in and seeing your doctor.

D So if you, you know, if you don't want your client bugging you every 2 hours and asking you, you know, how long permitting is gonna take, Like, kinda just educate them on that entire process and and the time it takes to really evolve something to to meaningful design.

C It was also interesting that Prescott has figured out a way to incorporate education into his business model. From an architect standpoint, not only is he thinking about the architecture, but he's thinking about the community service work and now he's figured out how to deliver on the education piece. So that's a unique strategy in terms of, you know, diversifying your services and what you're able to offer clients. I'll be really interested to see what comes out of his portfolio over the next couple years as he continues to grow his business.

D His dedication to community is so amazing. I hearing him talk about his love for Oakland, which is kind of the community, you know, that he's inherited since he's moved to California, it it made me nostalgic for all things Oakland.

C Yeah. He mentioned there are a lot of disruptors that come out of Oakland. That's true. There are quite a few. And, you know, you and I both spent time there, and I think that, the community based in Oakland is really passionate about challenging the status quo. And so I am thankful for the lessons that I took away from my time there.

D We will include show leaks to Kolyma as well as project pipeline and how you can contribute to project pipeline through SFNOMET.

C Yeah. Or, you know, there are so many project pipeline groups across the country. There's also a lot of ACE mentorship groups that are active. And if you're interested in helping build the pipeline into architecture, these are 2 organizations that are great to get involved with. AIA also has resources, and you can either choose to be a volunteer and a mentor, or you could donate your money, which I know that they'd be very appreciative to get sponsors for. And we'll link some of those options down below in the show notes.

D Great. And on that note, join us next week for our season 3 finale where we're bringing back Demetrius who has become somewhat of a season closer for us to talk about what we've learned over the past 19 episodes and what we look forward to next year in 2022. Thanks for listening, and tune in next week.

A Thank you again to our podcast partner, Monograph. Learn how Monograph can help you take control of your firm's financial health. Follow the link in our show notes or visit practice of architecture.com backslash monograph so that Monograph knows that you heard about them from us.

B Thank you to Arc IT for their support of this episode. Don't forget to visit get arcit.com/pd to set up your free 15 minute cybersecurity assessment or custom solutions for your design

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