A Change of Heart

Claire Dickey, AIA is Principal at HESTIA design collective, a small architecture and interior design firm in Middleburg, Virginia. Her original intent for her college journey was to pursue a pre-med major, however, because of her exposure to the architecture program, she fell in love with the creative process and pivoted, eventually graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Virginia. At the time of graduation, she was balancing the demands of new motherhood while also navigating the rigorous hours of her internship. She stated, “When I got pregnant young, I really thought my life was over. If there’s a piece of advice I could give, it’s that there is no single “right” path to success. You are only defeated if you believe you are.” 

Through perseverance, she later worked towards her Master of Architecture from the University of Maryland and the steps of acquiring her licensure. During this time, her interest in senior living piqued while working for BeeryRio, which was later acquired by Moseley Architects. She also worked for Sunrise Senior Living in their development and construction group, which gave her experience through all components of a project’s lifecycle. 

In 2015, she passed her last exam for licensure – one of her proudest achievements. Perkins Eastman recruited her out of graduate school to build their Washington DC senior living practice and was there for 10 years before starting her own firm in 2021. Her practice, HESTIA design collective, is focused on exploration of multiple facets of the human experience at all scales of living, seeking to improve the quality of life for everyone. “We are seeing more and more people talking openly about aging in place in their homes and wanting to plan for it in advance, which is an interesting and exciting challenge we love tackling for our clients. I hope eventually universal design becomes the way we just design automatically.” 

She believes significant changes need to happen to support our aging society, ranging from better design to government oversight and policy changes. Her heart weighs on the fundamental societal shift that needs to happen regarding what are basic human rights in terms of aging and dying with dignity. She shares, “We’ve somehow allowed the costs of healthcare and residential care to become unaffordable for almost everyone, and that’s simply unsustainable with the growing number of people who will need those services. I passionately believe it is our obligation as designers and problem solvers to push for a reinvention of our current system to ensure everyone has access to safe and adequate care.” 

Claire’s origin story is one of perseverance. Throughout her journey, from college through experiences as a working professional, her story is parallel to many women early in their careers. For those who may also have roadblocks such as hers, which range from being a young female in an arena of male counterparts to imposter syndrome, she encourages others to be authentic and confident in their own journeys. 

Download white paper Centers for Healthy Living: Providing Whole-Person Wellness to Seniors by Claire Dickey AIA and Emily Chmielewski EDAC 

Collaboration

Megan Crites, Senior Associate, MKM architecture + design, interviewer 

Jenn Storey, Marketing Manager, MKM architecture + design, author  

Part of the Design for Aging Knowledge Community – Women in Architecture Series

What is Design for Aging? And who is designing these spaces? The AIA Design for Aging Knowledge Community shares knowledge in the design community aimed at improving the built environment for those in our society who are aging. That’s the short answer; a lot more research and practice goes into improving the spaces we design. And who is designing these spaces? Over the years, the architecture profession has been male-dominated. However, that fabric is changing. Female architects have been growing in numbers across the board, from technical designers, project managers, project architects, design architects, studio leaders, and business owners.

How does this growth in female design professionals reflect in senior living and care environments? The fabric is also changing in their industry. More females are Executive Directors, CEO’s, COO’s, and CFO’s of senior living campuses and care communities. The impact of this shift creates a transformation in dialogue and who’s voice is being heard.

So, the question came up, how can we highlight the growing voices of female architects who are focusing on Design for Aging? Interviews, for a start, and writing articles that highlight the architects and their work.

Several questions were posed to female architects across the United States. Where did you grow up? Where did you go to college? What does your career path look like? How or when did you start designing spaces for aging? What are you the most excited about in the work you are doing? What are you losing sleep over? What advise do you have for other female architects? And so on.

The experiences and conversations varied from interview to interview. Which is an important piece of the narrative for every Architect to hear. There were also some common threads that should not be ignored. What is our industry doing right? What do we need to stop doing? And more over, how can architects continue to positively impact Design for Aging?