The Citizen Architect Is Cool Again

By Nicholas Vlattas, AIA, and Deborah Marquardt

Architects across the country are making news these days solving big problems as volunteers within their communities. For example, a group of young architects and professionals calling themselves Re:Vision Norfolk is encouraging the city to make the downtown more attractive to creative young professionals. They’re making Norfolk greener, too, proposing bike paths and urban parks and evaluating the potential of the tired, outdated Waterside Festival Marketplace. When Norfolk’s new Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center lost business, these same volunteers created a summer tourist destination, “Atlantis! A Labyrinth Adventure,” that kept revenues flowing.

Virginia firms support hundreds of other causes as well, such as Habitat for Humanity and CANstruction, which raises funds for local food banks.

Architects who inspire

Nicole Hall, AIA, served on the board of directors for Downtown Roanoke, Inc., and the Greater Roanoke Transit Co. while concurrently working at Clark Nexsen, before recently moving to the firm’s Charlotte office. She has always been passionate about downtowns. One of her projects, “Roanoke Urban Effect,” attracted international submissions to evaluate ideas for Roanoke. Local businesses sponsored the competition, and city officials shared in the results.

Also notable is Baskervill’s Bruce Tyler, AIA, who has served on the Richmond City Council since January 2007. With extensive experience as an architect and on civic association and communit y boards, Tyler has effectively challenged his fellow city leaders and educated them on issues such as school maintenance and ADA compliance.

As problem solvers, architects are uniquely positioned to help people understand master-planning, zoning, and architectural review boards, Tyler says. Those abilities have worked well in concert with his own personal conviction to elevate Richmond from a good place to live and work to a great place, he says.

Firms that aspire

We are also reminded of John Paul C. Hanbury, FAIA, one of Hanbury Evans’ founding principals who died in late April. As a young architect, and throughout his life, he set a consummate example as a citizen architect, saving important historic buildings, sometime at his own expense, and rallying the Hampton Roads community around the arts. Along the way, he grew an enduring practice.

Think of these investments as a way to enhance a firm’s performance. Volunteering teaches leadership and teamwork
skills, raises morale and recruitment potential, and improves a firm’s image. Clark Nexsen encourages employees to get involved, and community involvement often is included in an employee’s annual review. The firm has charged Hall’s time working on the downtown boards to marketing because it builds community relations, especially in a locale with a new office.

Baskervill encourages volunteerism, too, although there is no formal policy. Often, employees are granted time off from work to help with a particular project. “We just get in a room and decide,” says Tyler, who has also served as Baskervill’s president.

Because he knew he would be devoting more than 20 hours a week to his city council job, Tyler didn’t run for office until he knew the company was in good hands with the new president, he says. And, he cautions, be ever-vigilant not to put yourself in a position that might be interpreted as a conflict of interest.

Set your own firm afire

How should employers support our “citizen architects”? It is a tough question, especially in tough times. Although philanthropy can take many forms, including financial donations, there is something about rolling up one’s sleeves, giving personal time, and tapping into every design professional’s inner drive for humanity and advocacy.
A quick Internet scan reveals several approaches a firm might take to support volunteerism. (Remember that these are decisions each firm must consider individually, with appropriate counsel.)
■ Grant employees a certain number of volunteer hours per fiscal year.
■ Stipulate that all volunteer time be during after-work hours.
■ Grant time off without pay for volunteer activities.
■ Stagger work schedules to allow volunteering.
■ Allow employees to use sick, personal, or vacation days for pre-approved activities.
■ Permit employees to use company equipment, such as workstations and copiers, for volunteer activities.
■ Designate a set block of billable hours, say 1 percent, for pro bono projects.

“The best and most cost effective way to educate the public about what architects do is to encourage architects to serve their communities as volunteers,” writes Orlando T. Maione, AIA, in “Citizen Architects: Serving the Community.”

Citizen Architects, a national AIA brochure, concurs when it suggests that architects use their “talents, training, and experience to contribute meaningfully, beyond self, to the improvement of the community and human condition.”

Seems like a win-win to us.