As a Senior Associate at Arrowstreet, I have spent the last 15 years working with clients on K12 Education and Healthcare projects enhancing clients’ missions, services, and environments. My projects have been recognized in local and national publications, including Architecture Boston magazine’s Case study: Mattapan - How good design can boost a community’s physical and civic health. I have worked to become a leader within the sustainable architecture field, within my firm and throughout the industry, and have had the opportunity to speak on the topic regionally and nationally. Many of these presentations have explored user engagement in achieving net zero energy, specifically through K12 school work, looking at the connection to teaching and learning.
I have worked diligently to advance the profession by bringing together individuals and organizations to develop solutions to common goals, as well as volunteering to help communities improve their environments. I serve as Advocacy Chair at the USGBC Massachusetts, promoting policy that supports sustainable communities and buildings. I am currently working with municipalities in Massachusetts to create net zero energy action plans for their communities.
Architecture plays a significant role in changing lives by creating access to opportunity, inspiring learning, or invoking happiness. With every design challenge I seek to understand what solutions most improve the life for the user and community. My career has focused on K12 projects as they have a direct relationship with improving their communities. One aspect of K12 design that I am exploring is sustainability and health. I am interested in how we can develop buildings as teaching tools creating a connection between building, health, environment, and education. We face an increasing struggle to create social justice while dealing with environmental change, and architects have an opportunity to help overcome these challenges, supporting our industry and aligning it with societal needs. These two things have manifested in the Cambridge Public School I am currently designing that aims to be the first net-zero emissions school in Massachusetts.