AIANY Calls on American Architects to Stop Designing Unjust Spaces of Incarceration

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The Board of Directors of AIA New York has recently released a statement discouraging the design of criminal justice facilities that uphold the current system. Taking a stand against designing unjust, cruel, and harmful spaces of incarceration, AIA NY solicited architects to reflect on the broader social implications of their work.

Stating that for too long, architects have been complicit in upholding intrinsic racism within the American criminal justice system [] good design alone is not enough to remove or overcome the racism inherent within the criminal justice system, the AIA NY is taking actionable steps to address the current situation. Noting that architects are not responsible to alleviate an unfair structure and that it is beyond their scope of work, the Board of Directors has called upon American professionals of the field to no longer design unjust, cruel or harmful spaces of incarceration within the current United States [] such as prisons, jails, detention centers, and police stations.

We [] urge our members to shift their efforts towards supporting the creation of new systems, processes, and typologies based on prison reform, alternatives to imprisonment, and restorative justice. -- AIA New York.

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The decision, effective until more comprehensive policy changes are made on a national scale, the application of the law occurs without racial bias, is completed with several initiatives by AIA New York. The measures will include examining architectures role in the criminal justice system, limiting construction of new criminal justice facilities, focusing on large-scale justice issues, advocating the cause so that fellow chapters adopt similar positions, etc. Read more on the AIA NYs policy here and discover AIAs code of Ethics and Professional Conduct here.

While we recognize that the United States is not the only country with a flawed justice system and that architects have been complicit in bias and mistreatment abroad as well, we hope these changes in chapter policy will further advance racial justice within our city, state, and country. -- AIA New York.

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AIANY Calls on American Architects to Stop Designing Unjust Spaces of Incarceration - ArchDaily

To look at ways to update and modify La Jollas Planned District Ordinance, or blueprint for development, a La Jolla Community Planning Association ad-hoc committee is joining forces with the PDO review committee, which looks at projects and whether they conform to the PDO.

Potential changes include revising the requirements for ground-floor retail and expanding residential and outdoor dining opportunities, and could be submitted to the city for consideration by spring 2021.

During its Oct. 12 meeting online, LJCPA President Diane Kane explained that the idea for the ad-hoc committee stemmed from her review of the citys Complete Communities proposal, which looks to alter development regulations to create incentives to build homes near transit, provide more mobility choices and enhance opportunities for places to walk, bike, relax and play, according to the city.

The citys [Complete Communities] plan is to add density to areas that were already maxed out, but what flagged my curiosity was they never looked at The Village, she said. If we were going to put additional density anywhere, it would be The Village. I started looking at a counterproposal and set up an ad-hoc committee to see where we can add density in a sensitive way.

The type of development that can be built and its location is regulated by the PDO. For example, the heart of The Village Girard Avenue and Prospect Street is defined as the primary retail and visitor oriented commercial area in the core of La Jolla. This area is characterized by high levels of pedestrian activity. Standards for this zone are designed to maintain that pedestrian scale and continuity, and preserve and enhance the retail development pattern of department stores, and small retail shops and restaurants.

In this area, retail uses are required for 50 percent of the ground floor.

However, Kane said I think some flexibility in those spaces might be helpful to help the businesses and help smaller businesses with rents and could even include residential.

Agreeing, PDO Chairwoman Deborah Marengo said The Village has gone through a lot of changes, and ground floor retail has been hit really hard, noting that high end businesses such as Sur La Table and Kate Spade have recently closed their Village brick-and-mortar locations.

These are good-size spaces, so possibly reducing some of the square footage on the ground floor and making it up by activating our alleys, where we could allow a residential unit or look at some buildings that could be converted to residential would help, she said.

The PDO further limits outdoor dining to fast food establishments, with standards such as Food to take out shall be restricted to minimum packaging and shall include a container or paper sack in which the refuse can be collected to be thrown away.

However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, several Village restaurants have been permitted to move tables and chairs outside and serve patrons at a reduced capacity.

The outdoor experience is going to be more important than the indoor experience, said Marengo, adding that changes could be made to the PDO to ease some of the restrictions on outdoor dining going forward.

Marengo tasked the board members to walk around and see what is positive and what is negative so we can really tackle them, because there is a lot we could be doing better as a community to help our businesses and get a lot more people living in The Village.

She said the discussion will be slated for the next months meeting.

Architects Brian Will, Andy Fotch and Trace Wilson, Realtors John Shannon and Patrick Ahern and engineer Matt Mangano are on the LJCPA ad-hoc committee, which will continue to work with the PDO committee to see if there are code items that need to be modified, and dovetail those with the citys next code revision update.

Kane said the target submission date to get the proposal to the city is between January and March of next year.

At the same meeting, the board discussed the Girard Avenue Lofts project, which calls for a coastal development permit for three connecting two-story buildings at 7606 Girard, currently a vacant lot between Vons and the Tempur-Pedic mattress store. The plans include 1,960 square feet of ground-floor retail, 17 loft-type apartments over parking and one accessory dwelling unit on a pedestrian path at grade level. The apartments would range from 350 to 755 square feet.

A rendering of the Girard Avenue Lofts project (the mural is for illustration purposes).

(Courtesy)

It got the green light at the Development Permit Review Committees Sept. 15 meeting after an extensive preliminary review the week before.

Applicant Pauly de Bartolo, founding principal of De Bartolo and Rimanic Design Studio, touted the Girard Avenue Lofts project as a village within a village and easily walkable to the heart of La Jolla.

He also offered support for the earlier discussion, saying I think micro-retail smaller scale tenants that can afford to pay smaller rents are going to be the thing of the future. So [this project has] a retail/commercial space that can be broken down into smaller tenants if needed. The total square footage of the commercial space is 1,960.

Due to some questions as to whether the project meets the terms of the PDO, the board asked de Bartolo to come back to a future meeting for approval.

The La Jolla Planned District Ordinance review committee next meets at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9, online. Learn more at lajollacpa.org.

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La Jolla planners, architects, Realtors and reviewers to work together to revise development guidelines - La Jolla Light

RUMFORD An architect advised members a Regional School Unit 10 building committee Wednesday that her company is studying several pieces of land on which to build a school for elementary students or elementary and middle school students.

Lisa Sawin of Harriman Associates in Auburn said several parcels of 40 acres or more are being looked at, including the one where Mountain Valley Middle and Meroby Elementary schools stand in Mexico.

The district is considering constructing a school or renovating Rumford Elementary or Meroby Elementary schools, and Mountain Valley Middle School. A new school might house grades pre-kindergarten to eight, or pre-kindergarten to grade five, depending on decisions by the committee and voters in the seven district towns, which also include Buckfield, Hartford, Sumner, Hanover and Roxbury.

Among the criteria set by the Building Advisory Committee are:

The building or buildings be within a three-mile radius of the Red Bridge in Rumford; and

There be nearby access to nature and trails to enrich students educational experiences.

Rumford Elementary School Principal Jill Bartash said another should be property the district already owns to save money.

Sawin said the next phase of planning required by the Maine Department of Education includes looking at existing sites and researching other areas that may be better suited for a building.

The plan is to have new space ready by 2023.

RSU 10 has six schools: Buckfield Junior-Senior High School, Hartford-Sumner Elementary School in Sumner; Mountain Valley High School in Rumford; and Meroby Elementary and Mountain Valley Middle schools, both in Mexico.

Wednesdays meeting had some committee members meeting in person but most attended via the internet.

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Architect reports on land search for new RSU 10 school - The Bethel Citizen

symbiotic house by r.e.a.d. & architects is a minimal residential villa in the area of minami-karuizawa, in nagano, japan, designed for a couples new life after retirement. located on a long site area, the project comprises two buildings, one for the owners and one for guests, topped with two sloping concrete roofs that harmonize with the surrounding mountains. the two buildings are connected via corridor, while all living spaces are surrounded by a rich landscape of seasonal gardens, which are visible from the large windows of the rooms.all images by masaya yoshimura, copist

drawing by r.e.a.d. & architects

what is a life after retirement in the 100-year life?, asks r.e.a.d. & architects. taking inspiration from the ancient japanese way of life of symbiosis, we thought of a house that snuggles up to the couples life. located on a corner site surrounded by fir trees with a view of mount asama, the project makes use of the surrounding environment unique to karuizawa. its two buildings are arranged along the elongated site shape: the main building, where the couple lives; and the guest wing, where guests are invited to stay when they visit. a corridor clad in floor-to-ceiling glass connects the two buildings while offering views of the seasonal gardens that surround the property.

the two buildings are topped with sloping concrete roofs that harmonize with the surrounding mountains, while the same form and material can also be found on the ceiling inside the house. the interior is characterized by spacious rooms with high ceilings, which allow the couple to maintain a proper sense of distance, as r.e.a.d. & architects explains. natural materials that will blend into the surrounding landscape over the years have been used throughout the project, while all hardware is handmade by craftsmen. it is a setting that allows them to feel that you are living with nature and the passage of time in their daily life, concludes the japanese architecture studio.

Link:
read & architects tops 'symbiotic house' with sloping concrete roof in karuizawa, japan - Designboom

Image courtesy of Lesley Lokko

Lesley Lokko, an architect, academic and bestselling author, will present the virtual lecture "Look Back in Anger," on Oct. 26 as part of the fall lecture series in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. Lesley Lokko will present a virtual lecture at 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26, as part of the fall lecture series in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. Lokko is an architect, academic and the author of 11 bestselling novels. She recently stepped down asthe dean at The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at The City College of New York, effective at the end of January 2021.

Lokko is the editor of White Papers, Black Marks: Race, Culture, Architecture (University of Minnesota Press, 2000); editor-in-chief of FOLIO: Journal of Contemporary African Architecture; and is on the editorial board of ARQ (Cambridge University Press).

The Fay Jones School's fall lecture series focuses on issues of equity and justice in the built environment. The series is presented in collaboration with Places Journal, an internationally respected online journal of architecture, landscape architecture and urbanism, and the University of Arkansas Office for Diversity and Inclusion. The series is also made possible in part by a gift from Ken and Liz Allen of Fayetteville, part of an overall set of commitments the Allens have made to the school's programs and initiatives in diversity, equity and inclusion.

Registration for the entire lecture series is available on Zoom.

In her lecture, "Look Back in Anger," Lokko will discuss how the world is reeling in 2020. From environmental catastrophes to bitter political dog fights, the war on terror has morphed into a war on health and there's no end in sight. Collectively, people seem to be the angriest they've ever been and certainly the most vocal.

At one level, a school is a collection of learning spaces and environments. But it is also the place where people learn how to distinguish between their private and public selves, where they practice what it means to be civic and civil. So what will this year teach us? When the curtain comes down on this double-digit year, what will we have learned about ourselves and the capacity of our institutions, like schools, to make sense of what has happened and prepare us for what may come next?

Look Back in Anger is the title of a 1956 play by the British writer John Osbourne, whose real genius lay in the way it liberated theatrical language from its conventions, allowing a new and more accurate interpretation of events to flourish. When we, as architects and educators, look back at 2020, what new languages of place, space, program and form will we have helped emerge during this time?

Before arriving at The City College of New York, Lokko served as the Head of School at the Graduate School of Architecture, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

In 2004, she made the successful transition from academic to novelist with the publication of her first novel, Sundowners (Orion, 2004), a UK-Guardian top 40 bestseller, and has since then followed with 10 further bestsellers, which have been translated into 15 languages.

The school is pursuing continuing education credits for this lecture through the American Institute of Architects and the American Society of Landscape Architects.

This virtual lecture is open to the public. For details on watching the lecture, please visit the Fay Jones School's lecture page. To register for the entire lecture series, complete this form on Zoom.

For more information, contact 479-575-4704 or fayjones.uark.edu.

Read more here:
Architect and Academic Lesley Lokko to Present 'Look Back in Anger' Lecture Online on Oct. 26 - University of Arkansas Newswire

Fred Ortiz talks about his El Paso background Wochit

Fred Ortiz juggled two life goals as a fourth-grader atStanton Elementary Schoolgrowing up in the Lyndon B. Johnsonprojects in Northeast El Paso in 1977.

One was common for boys his age, particularly ones good enough to earn a college football scholarship. Ortiz wanted to play tight end for the Dallas Cowboys.

The other goal was a path less dreamed.

"I remember in fourth grade being asked, 'What do you want to do when you get older?' " Ortiz, 53, recalled from his home in the Dallas area. "I said, 'Well, I want to be one of those guys who draws buildings.' "

El Paso native Fred Ortiz is a director of sports at the HKS Inc. architecture firm.(Photo: HKS Inc.)

Ortiz draws great big buildings now. A director of sports at the HKSInc. architecture firm, one of his newest works, Globe Life Fieldin Arlington, will be in the spotlight this week when it hosts the World Series.

Instead of playing on one of the biggest stages in the world as an athlete, Ortiz designed one of the biggest stages in the world for an architecture firm that has drawn up many of those venues.

"You work so hard on these projects and when they are actually done, serving their purpose, it's a great feeling," Ortiz said.

Ortiz is the embodiment of the American dream, both his and that of his parents, Aniceto and Teresa. The factory workers emigrated from Jurez to El Paso on April 23, 1969, with their son, two years after Fred was born in an El Paso hospital.

The Ortizeswere looking for a better life for a family that would soon grow to five boys, and that began to take shape in 1975 when the LBJ projects opened.

"I was blessed with the right people," Ortiz said. "I've been reflecting a lot on my past and one of the special moments was when my parents had an opportunity to move to the Northeast. We lived in little apartments not far from the border, but they had this opportunity first-come, first-serve to live in these new government-owned projects.

"They got their name on the list and there we were. It was a new beginning. That's where the right people were able to guide me, influence me and mentor me, whether it was working me as hard as they could or educating me in the classroom, it all made the difference."

One of those people Ortiz credits for his success was Irvin High School football coach Tony Shaw, himself an architect of powerhouse Rocket teams in the mid-1980s, who saw how special Ortiz and his family were. Ortiz, the oldest of his parents' five children, is a 1985 Irvin graduate.

"He was dedicated, he was a hard worker.I would give a pep talk and the Ortiz brothers would have tears in their eyes," Shaw said. "They drank the coach's Kool-Aid."

Ortiz agrees.

"We drank the Kool-Aid," he said. "On the wall in the locker room there were words that to this day I can recite: Poise, character, leadership, dedication, attitude. Our motto for everything was, 'What the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve.'

"I took that and I ran with it, not just through high school but into college and to now. If I have a vision and an idea, I work it through my team. I don't hesitate to push ideas out there.

"Now it's my turn to be a mentor. I've taken pride over the years offering to spend one-on-one time with young individuals who are inspired to be in the position I'm in."

Fred Ortiz (in blue jeans) and his four brothers with father Aniceto Ortiz in the LBJ projects in El Paso.(Photo: Courtesy photo)

Although Ortiz didn't know what an architect was in elementary school, he showed a fascination from a young age for the skills that would define his life.

After sharing his dream of drawing buildings,"teachers said, 'OK, when you get to high school, be sure and take drafting,' " Ortiz said. "I get to Irvin and loand behold, I'm taking drafting. I'm learning how to visualize, how to draw in two dimensions. All the while I'm doing my own personal investigations into drawing freehand, drawing anything I can get hold of."

He also was taking a star turn for the Rockets football team, as a tight end, deep snapper and defensive end, and that opened up another door. That's when the dream of becoming an architect took a step forward.

"When it started becoming reality was when my high school coach understood I wanted to go to college, I aspired to be an architect," Ortiz said of Shaw. "He came to me one day and said, 'Here are the list of schools in Texas that offer architecture;this one is coming to see you tomorrow.'

"It was the University of Texas at Arlington. Loand behold, I was offered a full ride and they had a great architecture program. That's how it evolved."

Fred Ortiz is a director of sports at the HKS Inc. architecture firm. He fulfilled his childhood dream of drawing buildings, designing some of the most iconic sports venues in the nation.(Photo: Daryl Shields/HKS Inc.)

That's also where the dream of playing for the Cowboys died. Ortiz wasinjured his freshman year, then UTA killed its football program. One of the UTA coaches got a job at Louisiana Tech and Ortiz had a scholarship offer there.

"I turned to coach Shaw. I was literally crying: 'Coach, what do I do?' " Ortiz said.

Shaw knew what he should do.

"You've got a bum knee, you're one of the best architecture students in the country, Louisiana Tech doesn't even offer architecture," Shaw said. "Get your education."

Ortiz took UTA up on its offer to honor his scholarship, he got his degree and by the early '90s was working his way up through small architecture firms.

In 2007, he moved to the big time, taking a job as director of design at HKS Richmond, Virginia,office, where he began working on sports projects. HKS has built, among many other things, the football stadiums for the Dallas Cowboys, the Minnesota Vikings, the Indianapolis Colts and the Los Angeles Chargers and Rams.

In 2017, HKS was formally awarded the rights to design what has become Globe Life Fieldin Arlington.

"As much as I love being a generalist, working on all kinds of projects, I feel deep down inside athletics were very important to me growing up," said Ortiz, whose current projects include the Socorro Student Activities Center II, set to open in 2023.

"They motivated me, they shaped me, they made me who I am today. Now I love knowing not only was I a player, I became a dad, I coached, I became an architect and I'm able to choreograph incredible experiences for fans around the world."

In fact, one project he did was the athletic facilities at Virginia Military Academy when his oldest son was attending. His two youngest sons, twins Antonio and Marco, are currently third-year deep snappers for the TCU and Florida football teams, respectively. By moving back to the Metroplex two years ago, Ortiz gets to be closer to Antonio.

A general view of Globe Life Field is shown during batting practice before a baseball game between the Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariners in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020.(Photo: Ray Carlin/Associated Press)

In the disappointment that is 2020, the 40,300-capacity Globe Life, which opened this season, didn't host fans through the regular season. Itwill be at 25%capacity for the World Series, like it was for the National League Championship Series it hosted the past week.

On the plus side, it wouldn't have hosted the World Series in a normal year, but Major League Baseball opted for a neutral-field bubble for this year's Fall Classic and baseball's newest stadium was selected.

For Ortiz, getting to see fans come into the park began to make his design visions come true. Ortiz describes his creationin an almost mystical fashion, as if it is aliving thing.

A view of the field is shown as the Atlanta Braves work out at Globe Life Park in Arlington on Oct. 11, 2020.(Photo: Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports)

"Finally, the doors were open, finally, the fans were roaming through the concourses," Ortiz said. "The comments they were making, the selfies they were taking, the game (hot) dog, the nachos in the air, then lo and behold the roof starts to open it was awesome. It was awesome.

"It's the kind of stuff you look forward to. You work so hard, in this case four years, to design and build something, and you want people to look through it, you want them to experience it. It's almost like a form of testing, whether or not all the moves you made were going to happen the way you intended it to.

"And I think in a very serendipitous way it's awesome to find them using it in a way you never thought. As simple as an aperture or view to the field you didn't anticipate. ... Maybe it's lighting, maybe it's an audible aspect to it. It's tapping into a lot of the senses and it can be a simple little platform someone has found and fans will congregate."

When he's describing his creation, Ortiz sounds like a proud father. There is, of course, another proud father to consider. Ortiz was able to give a tour of Globe Life Fieldto his parents early this year, shortly before the COVID-19 shutdowns.

"My father's a very quiet man, but his smile was ear-to-ear, full of pride," Ortiz said.

Aniceto Ortiz said: "I don't have the words. I'm very, very proud of him. 'You're my man.' I almost cried, I'm so happy."

His son created a venue where dreams come true, including the dreams of an El Paso family.

Want more news like this? Click here to subscribe to elpasotimes.com.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at 915-546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

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From Irvin High to Globe Life Field, architect Fred Ortiz lives his life's American dream - El Paso Times

The coronavirus pandemic is already shaping home design trends, with special-function rooms and products that serve needs particular to the pandemic rising in popularity, according to a recent survey by the American Institute of Architects.

Every year, the institute surveys about 425 individual architects or firms in the business of custom-home building or renovation. Participants are asked to indicate whether requests for certain types of rooms and products are increasing, decreasing or stable. Trends are identified by noting the increases and offsetting them by the decreases. This years results were gathered in July.

I wont say it was unexpected, said Kermit Baker, the organizations chief economist and a senior research fellow at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. Id say surprising in the sense that the pandemic response was happening faster than we might have expected.

In this years survey, 68 percent of respondents cited increasing client requests for home offices, and none reported a decrease. Compare that with the 2019 results, which showed a 33 percent increase and 4 percent decrease. A related feature, enhanced or task lighting, also gained popularity.

Specifically, there were more requests for sunrooms or three-season porches (rooms that bring nature indoors) and mud rooms or drop zones (areas to isolate contaminated items from the house at large). Tellingly, in the midst of a pandemic caused by an airborne virus, products for improving indoor air quality were newly popular: 41 percent of respondents cited an increase for such requests, while 2 percent indicated they were on the decline, compared with 27 percent increasing and 2 percent decreasing last year.

Other new trends included exercise or yoga rooms and flexible spaces for home-schooling or other needs. Other special-function rooms (outdoor living spaces among them) maintained their popularity or edged up, as did products that were low maintenance and energy efficient.

This weeks chart shows which home features were the most popular and how requests for them rose or fell in 2019 and 2020.

See the rest here:
Coronavirus and Home Design - The New York Times

The Architect and the Public: On George Baird's Contribution to Architecture

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The event is the first of a series of conversations to launch the recently published book The Architect and the Public: On George Baird's Contribution to Architecture (Quodlibet, 2020). The first group of speakers moderated by Roberto Damiani, the book editor, includes Brigitte Shim as a discussant and the volume contributors Joan Ockman, Richard Sommer, Hans Ibelings, Michael Piper, and Andrew Choptiany.

Discussant: Brigitte Shim (Daniels Faculty)

Moderated by Roberto Damiani (Daniels Faculty)

This event was submitted by an ArchDaily user. If you'd like to submit an event, please use our "Submit a Event" form. The views expressed in announcements submitted by ArchDaily users do not necessarily reflect the views of ArchDaily.

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The Architect and the Public: On George Baird's Contribution to Architecture - ArchDaily

Globe Life Field steps into the brightest spotlight in baseball when the World Series starts tonight in Arlington.

Its also a big moment for an architect with Dallas-based HKS.

Been with the firm for 12 years and very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work on something as significant as Globe Life Field, said Fred Ortiz, principal at HKS.

The latest news from around North Texas.

Ortiz was the lead designer on the billion-dollar ballpark - the largest project to date for a man who grew up wanting to do two things: play football and be an architect.

Ortiz was raised in El Paso, the oldest of five brothers born to parents who immigrated from Mexico. He played baseball with his brothers and other boys in his neighborhood. It was high school football, though, that led to a dream that someday he could be a tight end for the Dallas Cowboys.

He got close. He got to Arlington where the University of Texas at Arlington awarded him a football scholarship. He was in his freshman year when a knee injury sidelined him then the program was sidelined permanently. It was the last year UTA had football.

Ortiz stayed in Arlington and earned a degree in architecture. Now years later, he's the star player on the HKS team that designed the ballpark where the new World Series Champ will be crowned.

A moment of pride, right? Satisfaction. And we tend to put a lot of time and effort into these things. So, once they're built and you see it come to fruition, it is just amazing and more gratifying when you see it being used as it was intended to be used, Ortiz, 53, said.

The architect and design director finally got to see it in use last week and watch a limited number of fans take it all in. As he watched them, his mind also went back to his childhood and an understanding that this accomplishment was not his alone. I thought about how I wasnt just doing this for myself but also for my family, Ortiz told The Dallas Morning News. My dad always pushed us to take pride in our name. Yes, there was personal pride, but it was an overarching family pride.

With coronavirus blowing the big debut of Globe Life Field this season and now capacity limited, most people can along see the ballpark on TV. While there's generous praise, the designer looks forward to the day people can see and appreciate all the work that went into it.

I continue to get notes, texts, 'Wow! It looks great on TV, Ortiz said. Theres so many great things about the project and one of my favorites happens to be the 1,000-foot long, 100-foot high wall that fronts onto Nolan Ryan Expressway. It has a really beautiful plaza and there's these beautiful arches and you get a different vantage point not only into the ballpark but out towards the district and it has these awesome balcony seats that give you great views of the field.

Just as he relied on teammates on the baseball and football fields, Ortiz is quick to credit the players who executed the plans.

Ive been practicing for over 30 years and, it never fails to amaze me, that for me, its so easy to draw things on paper; to come up with ideas, he said, but it's very humbling to see the contractors, right? All those individuals that actually have a hand in building, physically building these structures we create and visualize.

As a designer, Ortiz creates big vision ideas and sketches them all the way down to details. Its a metaphor for his life. His big vision all those years ago growing up in El Paso was to be an architect. His career took him to other firms and in 2007, it brought him back to North Texas and the project just miles away from the university that helped him believe the dreams of a boy drawing in the dirt all those years ago could come true.

I was blessed with an ability to draw, right? And so, I did that quite a bit, he said. Somehow to think over 40 years later, here I am having been a part of a huge team that's doing great things for Major League Baseball. Im thankful for opportunities such as this. Its a blessing. Its not just one guy leading the entire thing. There are several players.

Read more:
Architect Designs Career Connected to Love of Sports - NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

SEATTLE, Washington According to the United Nations, more than 1.6 billion people live in inadequate housing, including slums and informal settlements. Densely packed and increasingly gentrified urban spaces have created a global housing crisis. A 2018 report by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy sampled more than 200 global cities and cited only 10% as being affordable. The cost of accessible housing is directly correlated to povertyboth aggravating and mitigating it. As such, many cities are attempting to stem soaring real estate prices and increase housing accessibility in a myriad of ways. Examples of proposed mitigation have included acquiring more governmentally owned land in the case of Chengdu, China, or encouraging private sectors to finance projects such as the Urban Wealth Fund in Hamburg, Germany. However, architects themselves may play a critical role in solving the global housing crisis.

Although the novel coronavirus has dampened the decade-long trend of moving from suburban or rural areas to citiesoften perceived as the soul of real estate, commerce and culturethe percentage of people residing in cities is predicted to reach 68% by 2050. In addition, some of the fastest-growing mid-sized cities, which the U.N. defines as having fewer than one million inhabitants, are in Asia and Africa.

This may appear to be encouraging news as sub-Saharan Africa is home to 27 of the worlds 28 poorest countries and has an average poverty rate of approximately 41%. Logically, urbanization could act as a catalyst for economic growth, increased job opportunities, higher incomes, access to education and a higher demand for food grown in poverty-stricken rural areas.

However, the number of the urban poor is rising as prices for rent, food, transportation and energy consumption in cities soars. For instance, a 2018 study on urbanization showed that in African cities, 39% of renters are insecure about losing their property. Moreover, urbanization also directly impacts the environment. Air pollution, traffic congestion and higher temperatures are the result of previous urban designs, traditionally employing massive tracts of concrete and steel.

The combined factors of insecure housing and environmental risks exacerbate issues of poverty and can correlate to negative health-related issues. Many experts suggest that the housing crisis, specifically the urban housing, is a result of a century of reactive housing policies instead of proactive policies. Evictions have led to mass human rights violations and current designs are unsustainableboth in a literal and environmental sense.

How can architects and architectural firms play an integral role in addressing this growing crisis?

The role of the architect was previously that of designing and completing infrastructure projects. However, the architects role has evolved over the years and now encompasses different aspects of a project.

Luxury high-rise buildings made for mega-companies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Coca-Cola have ushered in attractive and career-defining contracts for architects and firms, and many have followed suit. Yet, this comes at the cost of a global housing crisis.

While some experts cite that giant corporations and private equity firms primarily drive housing markets, some architects are making a change by embracing social responsibility for the environment and the growing renter population.

Some of the leading architect figures and firms around the globe, including Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena, MVRDV and MASS Design Group, demonstrate that there are innovative ways to build affordable, high-quality and environmentally conscious structures.

Today, urban architects face a hefty challenge. Not only are their designs constrained by the aesthetics of an existing neighborhood and limited budgets, but past failed attempts at creating affordable housing make investors wary.

Architects began to move away from mass affordable housing projects due to criticisms of modernist structures being dense, uniform and dysfunctional structures. As such, architects began favoring aesthetics over residents actual needs. These include public housing projects ranging from Les Bosquets in Paris to Pruitt-Igoe in St. Louis.

Social responsibility as an architect is not a clearly defined role nor is it new. William Mangold, a professor of interior design at Pratt Institute, broadly defines architectural social responsibility as characterized by attitudes that value justice, equality, participation, sharing, sustainability and practices that intentionally engage social issues and recognize the consequences of decisions and actions.

Architects such as Alejandro Aravena are prime examples of the ability to both deliver aesthetics and adopt the role of a socially responsible designer.

Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2016, one of the most prestigious awards in the architectural world. What is unusual about Aravena is that architectural experts respect his aesthetic form but Arvena has also designed more than 2,500 low-cost social housing structures. He also coined the idea of half of a good house which consciously stayed within the limited governmental budget to build half a house where families could reside in and then allowed them to build or invest in the second half at the pace that worked for their budget. This gave families a home while enabling them to expand the space beyond the bare minimum governmental mandate.

MVRDV is a firm based in Denmark that has designed projects for cities in India such as Pune in 2018. Their low-cost high-rise structures accommodated around 5,000 residents and took into account the diverse structures of families. Each unit ranged from 45 to 450 square meters based on resident needs and is part of a larger, communal complex that includes public courtyards and green spaces.

A final example is a U.S.-based firm, MASS Design Group. While the design firms work in Burera, Rwanda was not a housing project but instead a hospital project, the co-founder Michael Murphy succinctly affirms the evolving role of the architect: Architecture is an expansive fieldbut too often it has been narrowly considered, ignoring the social justice inherent in appropriate design.

The growing interest in socially responsible architecture for the environment and residents extends beyond individualistic pursuits. Universities are also beginning to offer increased course offerings in ethical design. Conferences are occurring on levels as large as the 2016 U.N. Conference on Housing and Sustainable Developmental (Habitat III) and between stakeholders, designers and local residents that provide platforms for dialogue. Additionally, institutions such as the Smithsonian are collaborating with design students and highlighting the need for socially responsible architecture.

With a new wave of conscious design and direct collaboration between architects and future residences, addressing the growing housing crisis may not seem so monumental. Creating affordable housing addresses many of the underlying issues of global poverty. Studies have shown that stable and secure home environments vastly increase the mental well-being of a person which can translate into areas such as job stability, curbing homelessness, drug abuse rates and health consequences. The overarching fact is that unless cities radically dissipate or design models change, there will be finite space to house the growing global population. As such architects, architectural firms, global organizations and governments need to work together to address the global housing crisis.

Lily Poppen Photo: Flickr

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How Architects Can Ease the Global Housing Crisis - BORGEN - Borgen Project