Personal Information:
What is your favorite piece of architecture?
BM: I don't have a favorite architectural building; I tend to admire or focus on certain building elements that stand out – like a well detailed limestone façade or clean line or the way the light plays on a façade or created patterns on the interior.
Where did you go to college?
BM: I went to Illinois Central College (a local community college in Peoria, IL) and transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for my Bachelor degree. Currently, I am attending Southern Illinois University full time for my Masters of Architecture while working full time.
What degrees did you earn?
BM: I have a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies and am currently completing my Masters of Architecture, preparing to graduate this December.
When did you first know that you wanted to be an architect?
BM: I loved to draw at an early age and around 8 yrs. old I started drawing houses and floor plans – trying to come up with what I imagined my perfect bedroom could be, often involving an indoor pool and swing in my room! :) I didn't know what an architect was at that point in time. In high school I took drafting and art classes and really enjoyed them, and since I enjoyed math (geometry) my parents suggested taking architecture classes at the local community college once I graduated. The rest is history!
Experience:
What firm do you work for and how long have you been with your current firm?
BM: I work for Dewberry, a full-service professional firm with offices across the nation. I have been in the Peoria, IL office for the last 8 years with some work travel in 2013 & 2014 to Dewberry headquarters in Fairfax, VA.
What is your role within your firm?
BM: I am not licensed yet, however, I am responsible per project within a team setting for quality production, construction documents, material specification coordination, construction administration review, quality control, and project closeout – typically on multiple projects simultaneously. I work on a variety of project types, including criminal justice, higher ed, K-12, mass-transit, and municipal.
How did you become involved in the Justice Market?
BM: When I first started they placed me in the criminal justice studio, working on jails, prisons, detention centers, and courthouses. It was never the building type I envisioned myself working on but the more I learned the more fascinating it was – the planning, function, and details we do are specific and intricate.
What project have you found to be the most rewarding and why?
BM: The most rewarding project I have worked on was a youth detention center incorporating innovative design, education, health, and programs. Working on a project designed with the potential to change young lives for the better is so exciting! Any project that brings positive change or innovation is really rewarding to me.
Why Justice?
What prompted you to begin working within the field of Justice Architecture?
BM: When I was in school studying for my Bachelor degree I never imagined working on jails or courthouses – but when I first started at Dewberry they placed me in the criminal justice studio, working on jails, prisons, detention centers, and courthouses – after working on them, understanding them, envisioning what the future of justice could be – it is an area of architecture that continually pulls at my heart strings.
What motivates you to continue working in this specialty market?
BM: Everyone has experienced criminal justice architecture whether you are visiting a courthouse, police station, or know someone who has been incarcerated... the need for change, the need for reform and restoration, the ability to have architecture support the opportunity for change—the good and the bad—it all motivates me. Justice Architecture gives you the opportunity and responsibility to create a better future within your local communities and across the nation. It's an amazing field to be in.
What do you find most challenging about working in the justice architecture field?
BM: Although at times I still feel new to the field because there is so much to learn, one of the biggest challenges I have noticed is innovative design incorporating more holistic, restorative elements for those incarcerated can too easily be VE'd due to budget cuts, old policies, or politics limiting a project from its fullest potential and impact.
The future of the justice market:
What do you hope to contribute to the Justice Market?
BM: Last November I had the honor of going to the AAJ's annual conference as a Scholar and participating in their Vision Sessions. These sessions envision what the future of Justice Architecture looks like with the help of experts and stakeholders. It was very motivating. I am currently starting my Graduate Thesis focusing on a Net-Zero jail design integrated into the community through innovative, holistic design programs including mixed-use spaces. I hope that through research and teaming with experts and stakeholders, we can create innovative change in energy use, provide restorative, educational environments, and reduce re-incarceration. I want to do my part to help bring change.
As it relates to the justice market, what do you hope to accomplish in the next 10 years?
BM: I will graduate in December with a Masters Degree, start my AREs, and hopefully be licensed by the end of 2017. I want to use my skills in architecture for the social good – meaning all people, both free and incarcerated. I hope to manage a project that breaks barriers and is looked at for best practices, innovation, maximized budget, and sustainability – but most of all – a design that creates positive changes within its users and is supported by the community.
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Brooke has been with Dewberry in their Peoria, IL & Fairfax, VA offices for the last 8 years and is currently pursuing her Master of Architecture graduate degree at Southern Illinois University – Carbondale, anticipating graduating in December 2016. She is tailoring her Master's thesis on architecture's social and energy impact examining the design of a downtown Net-Zero Energy Jail Prototype connected to the courthouse, integrated into the community through innovative, holistic design programs including mixed-use spaces.
Brooke is a skilled architectural designer having worked on a wide variety of projects from K-12 to Higher Ed, museums to criminal justice, mass-transit to airport terminals. She was one of the AIA AAJ's 2015 Justice Scholars last November and is a member of AAJ's National Sustainable Committee where last November she was able to assist with the AAJ visioning events at the conference where the group determined what Justice should look like in the future. She recently joined AAJ's National Emerging Professional Committee.
Brooke is also heavily involved on a local level as Vice President of the AIA Peoria Section component and Board Secretary for Keep Peoria Beautiful (a local non-profit volunteer organization established to improve the environment of the Peoria area through beautification, litter prevention, waste reduction, recycling, and education.) She is a registered Bronze Level Volunteer with the President's Volunteer Service Award Program (PVSA).
(Return to the cover of the 2016 AAJ Journal Q2 issue)