The challenge is the opportunity

By Anna McCorvey

There is no singular community voice

If you remember only one thing from your professional practice class in college, it’s probably the professional responsibility of the architect: protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the public. We know this translates into more than just designing buildings to meet local codes. This includes designing spaces that respect the environments they’re in and respond to the communities they serve. Though we aim to balance all these needs in our practices, it’s not uncommon for the community voice to take a backseat to budgets, schedules, and politics. In the 1950s, community design centers were formed by architects and planners to elevate the community voice in the design and planning processes, and they still operate today across the country. Some operate out of universities, and some were formed by practitioners working in their communities. In 2018, I and four other designers started the River East Design Center (REDC) to provide low-cost design services and educational opportunities to the communities in southeast Washington, D.C. Throughout this process, we’ve encountered complex challenges and promising opportunities that will inform how we continue our work in these neighborhoods.

Histories are complex and past events may have eroded relationships and trust.

Establishing trust is an essential first step in doing any type of community work. This can be complicated in communities with complex histories and strained relationships with decision-makers and governmental or quasi-governmental entities. But for community design centers to do the work they aim to do, relationships must be built, and trust must be established. We have to acknowledge the past not as an act of political correctness, but to learn from it and make better decisions in the future. We have an opportunity to learn more about our community’s history and needs and unveil the sometimes obscure processes that shape our built environment.

Communities are diverse and face many challenges that work together to create the physical, social, and economic environment.

If you ask 10 people how to solve a problem, you may get 11 answers. There is no singular community voice. If these varying and sometimes conflicting views aren’t acknowledged and handled delicately, it could cause difficulty on a project or strain a partnership. In addition to diverse opinions, there are also diverse needs. Just as there’s no singular community voice, there’s no panacea that will solve all the problems a community faces. It’s been important for the REDC to be clear about the work we can do and the issues we can address, though it can be difficult to “stay in our lane.” Our mission is rooted in equity, and it’s difficult to have a conversation about equity without talking about housing cost, education, fresh food access, and jobs, just to name a few. We quickly learned that building relationships with other organizations that do address these other issues would be key to fulfilling our mission as a design-based organization.

For some of the general public, there is confusion about what architects actually do.

We know how influential the built environment is on our health and well-being. We’ve learned to measure the benefits of natural light, clean air, and other tangible elements of building design. Additionally, we are skilled in the more subtle aspects of design that aren’t so easily measured or monetized (like the importance of entry, procession, and wayfinding). We sometimes take these skills for granted. When introducing the design center, I often get asked whether we provide services like basement renovations or home additions. We know architects can handle these things and much more. We know this, but we haven’t done the greatest job at explaining the full breadth of our talents to the public. As I share the mission and vision of the River East Design Center, this challenge has presented an opportunity for us to introduce the profession to individuals who may have never worked with an architect.

Giving voice and agency to communities throughout the design and development process has been the goal of community design centers since their inception in the 1950s. This is not without hard work, but the challenges are followed closely by opportunities to empower communities and strengthen our profession.

Author Bio:

Anna McCorvey, RA, LEED AP BD+C
Anna is a licensed architect in Washington, DC. She is the Executive Director of the River East Design Center and is a project architect at Cox Graae & Spack Architects.