“When I talked to the students, both from Cal Poly and from Montana State, what I heard was they had fallen in love with Paradise. It occurred to me that these could be our future residents.” Melissa Schuster, Paradise Town Council, speaking to students Alessandro Zanghi and Zoey Fox. Photo by Joe Johnston. Courtesy Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
This summer brings renewed reminders of the importance of resilience and adaptation as we witness unprecedented flooding in the Midwest and Southeast, wildfires, earthquakes and record temperatures in Alaska and across the globe. On July 8, as the President of the United States delivered a speech on his “environmental record” that failed to mention climate change, Washington DC received a month’s worth of rain in one hour and experienced severe flash flooding. According to NOAA last year the U.S. experienced 14 separate disaster events (in excess of $1 billion each) totaling over $91 billion in economic losses not including tragic human loss, suffering and devastating community impacts. As we focus on future climate impacts and climate action, how can architects take leadership roles in working with our clients, peers, affiliated professionals, and government officials to create resilient and adaptable communities locally, regionally and nationally?
This month we highlight the important work of the AIA’s Resilience and Adaptation Advisory Group with an article by chair Allison Anderson, FAIA, on “Architects as Leaders in Adaptation and Resilience.” There are many inspiring examples of architects across the country making significant contributions to their communities including resilient rebuilding in Houston, equity planning and disaster relief housing in the Rio Grande Valley, integrated parkland and flood control in Tulsa and an inspiring collaboration between architecture students and community members in re-imagining Paradise, California, after it was destroyed by wildfire last year.
Since January I have had the opportunity to be an advisor on the design studio to Re-Imagine Paradise with students from California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) led by Professors Stacey White and Kent Macdonald, in collaboration with Chico State University and Montana State University. This has been a tremendous opportunity for the students to engage with Paradise community members and government officials over two terms to develop planning and zoning options and to imagine together a new concept plan for the community of 30,000 destroyed by the Camp Fire. The studio project culminated in a public presentation in Paradise of the final community plan option and buildings designed by the thirty six students, as well as a meeting with California’s Governor Newsom in Sacramento.
“Projects like these that are rooted in resilient design thinking represent the best of what Cal Poly can do: giving students the chance to learn while they develop solutions to real and meaningful social, economic and environmental problems while also providing a community service” said Margot McDonald, head of Cal Poly’s Architecture Department.
This innovative project positively impacted and empowered both the students and the community members and created an inspiring new vision for the future of Paradise. Following is a link to more information about the Cal Poly Paradise Studio.
The Paradise studio is an excellent example of the positive influence that our architectural schools, educators and students can have upon our communities. As we enter a new era of accelerating climate change, it is critical that architecture schools across the nation train the next generation of architects to address the environmental and societal challenges ahead with technical knowledge, creativity, compassion and innovative design excellence.
The National Architectural Accreditation Board (NAAB) is currently drafting their proposed 2020 Conditions for Architectural Accreditation. AIA COTE has prepared a response and believe it is critical that the NAAB accreditation process address the role of the architect in climate action and the projected impacts. While we appreciate the goals of the task group to promote greater flexibility, innovation and differentiation across accredited schools of architecture, we are concerned that the draft document doesn’t adequately address the most urgent issues of our time – the role of the architect in addressing climate action and projected impacts. COTE has suggested edits and additions to the document for consideration at the NAAB Forum in July including the following comments:
As architects committed to transforming the climate and health impacts of current and future architectural practice, we believe we have a moral, ethical, and urgent obligation to address the accreditation criteria for schools in the U.S., anything less would be a dereliction of our duty as architects and educators. We recognize the influence U.S. schools of architecture have across the globe which makes this opportunity even more important. We strongly recommend that the Conditions include clearly stated accreditation goals and requirements to address climate action. We believe it will foster more creativity across schools while resulting in a next generation of architects who are much more capable of providing innovative solutions using design concepts, tools and resources far beyond our current reality – something that is urgently needed.
We urge you to review and respond to the Draft Conditions and Procedures with your comments and concerns. Following is a link to the NAAB draft Procedures and Conditions. We hope you will add your voice to the accreditation process with NAAB.
In other news: We understand that the AIA Board will review the AIA Urgent Climate Action Resolution overwhelmingly passed by the members at A’19 at their fall board meeting and will propose ratification of the Resolution by the end of the year. Please contact your AIA National Board representatives and urge them to take immediate action on the ratification of the Resolution. Next month members of the COTE Advisory Group will join other members from AIA Knowledge Communities and the AIA Strategic Council for a meeting in Denver Colorado to share information and agendas for the coming year. Thank you to all the COTE members for your many contributions in the first six months of this year. It has been an exciting and productive time with lots more to do together.
Best wishes for an enjoyable summer.
Marsha Maytum, FAIA, LEED AP
2019 Chair
AIA Committee on the Environment.