Category: 2019-2020 Sessions

Led by Alisa Giron, AIA, and John Clark, AIA, the final session of the 2019-20 program sought to answer the question “where will we go from here?” The presentations not only challenged where and how the group would grow as future leaders, but also how the future of architectural practice develops in the midst of an industry-altering pandemic.

The opening presentation was delivered by Bruce Gunderson (Technology Director, Hartman+Majewski Design Group), the founder of Albuquerque’s own BIM 505 User’s Group. His practice and research focuses on how BIM is being increasingly integrated into cloud-based work flows and project management, as 2019 saw an increase in the use of Common Data Environments and the Cloud. 

The group will next hear from Evelyn M. Lee, AIA, (founder of Practice of Architecture and Senior Experience Designer at Slack) and Larry Fabbroni, AIA (Associate at Strada, Pittsburgh). This presentation reviewed successful models of innovative practice and explored how their strategies apply to practice moving forward after COVID-19. 

The session concluded with a presentation from Rena M. Klein, FAIA, of Charrette Venture Group. Author of The Architect’s Guide to Small Firm Management, Rena focused on how leaders of today may navigate their firm’s continuity and sustainability through current uncharted waters. This included consideration of conflicting macroeconomic factors impacting current practice. Rena also offered strategies for successful firm leadership during uncertain times.

This session was sponsored by M.A. Architects and RMKM Architecture, P.C.

Led by Marissa Campos, Assoc. AIA and Kyle Trepagnier, AIA, Session 7 explored the ever-developing world of research that is vital to the architecture profession. To complement this information, the session also touched on education as a means of inspiring new ideas. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the state public health order, this was an all virtual session.

The first guest speaker, Z Smith, FAIA, (EskewDumezRipple, New Orleans) spoke to the participants about EDR’s approach to research and innovation. Z’s presentation also included a discussion of how the firm’s Research Fellowhip program and other research initiatives augment EDR’s design and delivery process. CKLDP NM Scholar Marissa Campos was EDR’s research fellow in 2013.

Dale Dekker, AIA, (Dekker/Perich/Sabatini) focuses his research on designing Smart Cities and shared his findings with the scholars. Dale expanded on the convergence of distinct technologies, industries, or devices into a unified whole that will affect how cities are designed and built in the future.

Finally, Tim Castillo and Stephen Mora presented “Finding Rural: Empowering Through Design,” the story of UNM’s Maker Lab. The Maker Lab Express is a community engagement tool centered on the notion of “mobile architecture.” An effort to expand UNM’s educational outreach, the Lab aims to engage communities across New Mexico, providing resources and expertise to inspire kids, and to promote teachers and community members to invest in the knowledge and welfare of New Mexico’s youth.

Continuously adapting, the architecture profession faces challenges in how firms operate, adopt new methodologies and technologies, work towards ambitious sustainable design goals. Led by Theodore Edaakie, AIA, and Brandon Rael, Assoc. AIA, this session will address how firm leaders must consider the changing context of their profession and the tools needed to move their teams into a new era of design.

The session began with a virtual presentation from Atlanta-based author Michael LeFevre, FAIA. LeFevre shared research from his book, Managing Design, and offered an inspirational future imperative about leadership, empathy, and the power of others – valuable lessons for emerging leaders in the design and construction industry.

Lindsay Rasmussen, Assoc. AIA, and Natasha Balwit also joined the group virtually to address the 2030 Challenge and other sustainable design initiatives from Architecture 2030. The two highlighted the adoption of the 2030 Challenge by the AIA and what it means for the future of the built environment. Rasmussen and Balwit also discussed decarbonization through new construction, existing buildings, and embodied carbon.

Trained in architecture, Kameron Baumgardner (Chief Technology Officer, RS21) explored advancements in information technology and communications that are challenging traditional methods in architecture, engineering, urban design, and construction. Baumgardner stressed the importance of designers being aware of such advancements, and shared how some practitioners are already using these tools to explore new ways of making.

Also architecturally trained, Josh Rogers (Director of Development, Titan Development) discussed his unique career path in development and how current collaborations are realized between designers, developers and contractors. He shared local economic trends that their potential impacts private building investment in Albuquerque and New Mexico in the near future.

Session sponsor Century Sign Builders hosted the group and offered a tour of their unique and innovative facility. Arizona Tile also sponsored the session. The group wrapped up the session with a happy hour at nearby Rio Bravo Brewing.

Led by Ashley Hartshorn, AIA, and Parker Sprague, Assoc. AIA, Session 5 – Marketing and Business Development focused on entrepreneurship, communication and proposals, and marketing presence. Marketing and business development are key components of a successful design firm that ensures a firm stays afloat.

The opening presentation was delivered by Drew Tulchin, Founder of UpSpring Associates and Vice President and Business Development Leader of Electric Playhouse. Drew offered an alternative way to approach design thinking and problem solving, with an emphasis on small business and entrepreneurship within the design industry. Drew shared thoughts on relationships, storytelling, building a B-Corp. and finding your “special sauce.”

Next, the group heard from Rachelle Ray (RMR Consulting) who will focused on developing project proposals for public and private clients. Rachelle’s workshop helped participants identify specific requirements within a RFP and how to successfully respond. By developing a “win theme” you can assure your potential client that you are bringing a team and mindset that aligns with your their goals and motivations.

The session concluded with an overview in branding and marketing presence from Franziska Neumann (FZK Franziska). Franziska helped the group explore how a shift in brand and marketing thinking may impact future opportunities of work. By using values, goals, and tools the participants learned how to create a successful online brand.

This session was sponsored by Santa Fe Brewing Co. and White Sands Federal Credit Union.

The fourth Christopher Kelley Leadership Development Program session, Community Engagement, was led by Evan Berger, Associate AIA, and Elias Issacson, AIA, AICP, CBO, LEED AP at the Midtown Campus in Santa Fe.  The session was designed to broaden the scholar’s understanding of what it means to be part of a community and explore opportunities to support and engage in their communities as a person, as professional, and as an entity.

During the first presentation, Alan Webber, Mayor of Santa Fe, walked the scholars through the intricacies and challenges of being a leader and interacting with the community as an elected-official from the governmental standpoint.  As the first full-time mayor in the history of Santa Fe, Mayor Webber explained many of the he faced when he took office.  These included everything from procedural challenges – how to evolve an existing governmental system to achieve certain goals – to issues such as design, growth, and the well-being of a city.  How does design and governmental involvement influence the development of a city?  For example, on the subject of land use, how can you create economic opportunities by geographic location?

Mayor Webber’s growth as mayor did not begin when he started the job, it began well before he was elected.  Big questions he had to ask himself, and ones we should also consider in our own personal lives, are: What do you stand for?  What won’t you stand for?  Who do you stand with?  On whose behalf are you working?  One concept that was reiterated during the presentation was, whether you are a mayor or you are an architect, it is all about people.  Leadership roles are about the well-being of people!

Second keynote delivered by Gus Pedrotty at the question/ answer exercise.

The second guest speaker for the day was Gus Pedrotty, Co-Founder of Qworks and Coordinator for the Department of Applied Complexity at Santa Fe Institute.  In 2017, as an emerging professional in his early-twenties, Gus ran for mayor for the City of Albuquerque.  Although he was not successful in this endeavor, from this experience he obtained a unique point-of-view on government, campaigning, and community engagement.  His presentation started by sharing this experience with the CKLDP scholars and then broadened the topic to volunteerism and personal / communal growth.  A take-away from Gus’s presentation was community engagement is a process and should not be a one-way dialogue.  Many times, professionals talk “at people” because they are considered subject experts; nonetheless, subject experts should use their expertise not to tell other’s how things should be done, but to keep the conversation going.  True community engagement is un-biased and without ulterior incentivization from a market-based society.  

After the second presentation, Glenn Fellows, AIA, who sits on the board of the Albuquerque Community Foundation (ACF), gave a brief presentation where he shared with the CKLDP class information about some of the grants and programs the ACF offers. He also went over some ways for individuals to get involved with the foundation and Albuquerque’s community.

Daniel Hernandez, City of Santa Fe Consultant for the Midtown Campus project and members of the Class of 2019-20.

The session continued with the presentation of Daniel Hernandez, real estate developer, planner and consultant of the Santa Fe City for the Midtown Campus Project. Mr. Hernandez began by sharing with the class his experience as a developer/planner to resolve the affordable housing crisis in New York City. From rezoning neighborhoods to planning neighborhoods with communities. The Housing NY program was a comprehensive plan to build and preserve 200K units of high-quality affordable housing over the next decade. He emphasized the importance of the community engagement with citizens from different neighborhoods to approach these challenges along with creating partnerships with different city departments, entities and even social organizations. Hernandez also went over the different neighborhood planning phases of the Neighborhood Planning Playbook that was developed as part of this project. These phases include: organize, learn, create, finalize and implement. To finalize this experience, Hernandez emphasized how important is to have transparency, clarity and collaboration in a project like this.

After shearing his experience in NYC, Hernandez walked the class through the Request for Engagement and Ideas (RFEI) process for the Midtown Santa Fe project. This project is located in what used to be The University of Art and Design off St. Michael’s Dr. in Santa Fe. These facilities include buildings designed by some well-known architects like Ricardo Legorreta. The City of Santa Fe is looking to repurpose this complex into a place that integrates living, learning and creating, which can be a new district opportunity. This development includes a 3-phased engagement process, economic & urban planning, civic engagement & activation and developers & business entities. Probably, the most important goal of this project is to create a place where people want to be, Hernandez said.

Members of the Class 2019-20 at Meow Wolf with Danika Padilla, Senior Director of Social Impact of the Organization.

For the last presentation of the day, the CKLDP class traveled to the Meow Wolf facilities where Danika Padilla, Senior Director of Social Impact of this organization was in charge. Danika began by mentioning that Meow Wolf has 444 employees and is one of the 3000 certified B Corporations in the country. A B Corp entity is required to meet higher standards around transparency, accountability, and performance. These certified entities share a common value, do well, by supporting and engaging the community. It is always a priority to consider the impact of their decisions on the community and environment and to have the input of the community to know what they want to see from an organization like Meow Wolf. Danika continued with explaining that community engagement it is not about the money, it is about being socially responsible by doing the right thing, while marketing pursues only a financial benefit. She also mentioned that in order to have an internal impact, it is necessary to train the staff.

Another successful and exciting session of the CKLDP finalized with a visit of the Meow Wolf installation and a happy hour in its bar.

Led by Alex Nellos, Assoc. AIA, and Alex Solorzano, Assoc. AIA, Session 3 explored contract types and components, contract negotiations, dispute resolution methods, and typical elements of projects that can lead to claims. The foundation for a successful project is a well-written contract and Gerrie Becker, James Lyons, and Kevin Sexton provided a well-rounded group of perspectives on the dos and don’ts of contract negotiation. In addition to the guest speakers, the class viewed case studies of historical events that helped shaped the specific clauses in the AIA contract documents. Participants were also received a code to access three AIAU courses on contracts and business management for additional knowledge and HSW credit.

Understanding local procurement processes, procedures, and standards are paramount to a successful submission and winning bid. Gerrie Becker, Sr. Director and Chief Procurement Officer at Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) offered detail insight into the state procurement process. This included RFQs and RFPs, how local public bodies like CNM are affected by state legislation, capital funds for projects, and advantages of the CMAR method for procurement officials.

In their first presentation, James Lyons (R.J. Dean and Associates) and Kevin Sexton, Esq. (Resnick and Louis, P.C.M.) will be discussing contract components and how these components can be used to leverage negotiations. This presentation helped the participants understand the importance of having well written contracts. The two also shared how professional liability insurance works when faced with a potential claim. In their second presentation, Mr. Lyons and Mr. Sexton explored the best
practices for writing well-crafted e-mails along that align with ethics and law.

Case Study: Unites States vs. Spearin (1918)

The United States vs. Spearin, the oldest construction law case, was a dispute centered on the Brooklyn Old Navy Yard. It involved an existing sewer line that was under the dry dock yard. This case involved the plans and specifications which the owner provided the general contractor. The general contractor was not held liable to the owner for any loss or damages which resulted from insufficiencies or defects in the owner-provided documents to the contractor. 

Case Study: Perini Corporation vs. Greate Bay Hotel and Casino (1992)

This case addressed consequential damages related to the former Sands Casino in Atlantic city also called Brighton Atlantic City. The construction manager, Perini, knew and agreed to the substantial completion date and understood the ramifications on why owner needed to have the project completed before the summer months. Perini was ordered to pay $1.5 million in consequential damages to the owner for money loss due to not having the casino fully opened by the agreed upon substantial completion date.  It’s important to understand the limit of terms that a contractor and architect can negotiate; a waiver of claims for consequential damages should be looked at not just by contractors, but by architects as well. In 1997, the AIA documents included a clause for consequential damages in the documents (A201-2017, General Conditions and B101-2017, Owner/Architect Agreement).

Case Study: Beacon Residential Community vs. SOM (2014)

At the time architects had a duty of standard of care to only the architect’s client, but the California Supreme Court ruled that this also applied to homeowners associations. The architects were hired by the developers who intended to rent out the units for two years and then sale them as condos. A value engineering decision resulted in deficiencies for the condo owners, who then sued the architects. Although the architect’s contract was with the developer and not the HOA, Beacon HOA referenced product liability law and argued that the condos are like that of a manufacturer. The California Supreme Court found that the architect does have a duty of standard of care to 3^rd party homeowners.

Led by Tamarah Begay, AIA and Laura Anderson, AIA the Professional Practice session of the Christopher Kelley Leadership Development Program featured a wide range of speakers on highly relevant topics. The session focused on the underlying themes that are fundamental to firm productivity, culture, collaboration, and leadership.

The session began with Katie Kangas, AIA (RSP Architects – Minneapolis), presenting on firm culture. Scholars participated in an exercise to help discover their ideal office culture, centered on themes of work-life balance, accountability, collaboration, independence and teamwork. The scholars then scored their current firms on the same scale, to see where alignments or discrepancies were found. By discovering their ideal firm culture, scholars can learn to advocate for values that are important to their lives with their current firm.

Mike Pettengale and Ali Wagner (REDW) presented next on helping participants understand the three main financial statements, in Financial Statement Basics. This presentation introduced important ratios derived from these financial statements so that participants can analyze them in order to understand their business better. Overall, we aim to increase the participants’ understanding of the information in the financial statements and use it more effectively to evaluate financial performance.

Next, Bret Hamilton (Northwestern Mutual) shared thoughts on transition and financial planning. His presentation identified strategies for risk management, employee benefits, exit planning and personal financial security needs.Gary Oppedahl, a serial entrepreneur, spoke about entrepreneurship and his 30+ years of experience with startups, transitions, turnarounds, and acquisitions.

Finally, Sarah Lindenfeld (Payette, Boston) delivered a keynote address on Practice Management. A University of New Mexico graduate, Lindenfeld shared more about her career path and current role as a managing principal at Payette, recipient of the the 2019 AIA Firm Award. While touching on firm culture, risk management, employee relations, finance, and operations, Lindenfeld notes that firm management is “not magic markers and tracing paper,” but instead “doing one’s best to ensure that the firm is around in the next year, in the next decade, and in the next generation.”

This session was sponsored by Cherry/See/Reames and Northwestern Mutual.

The Christopher Kelley Leadership Development Program (CKLDP) launched in New Mexico on Friday, September 13 at the UNM School of Architecture and Planning in Albuquerque. Co-Chair’s John Clark, AIA and Ashley Hartshorn, AIA, led the session and were joined by 2019 AIA New Mexico President, Steve Alano, and other local architectural leaders including Roger Schluntz, FAIA, Glenn Fellows, FAIA, John Padilla, AIA, and Roy Hertweck, AIA.

CKLDP co-founder Sean Stadler, AIA LEED AP, Managing Principal of WDG Architecture in Washington, D.C., spoke to the program’s creation in 2012 and about its namesake, Christopher Kelley. His keynote address inspired the participants to become leaders within the changing profession of architecture and within their respective communities.

The group was able to hear from each scholar through Pechakucha style presentations. Each was asked to present an image that describes them, to describe the type of leader they are now, and to describe the type of leader which they aspire to become.

Following the scholar presentations, the group began its first breakout exercise – strategically planning the eight individual sessions of the program. With the topics ranging from ‘Working Together and Teambuilding’ to ‘The Future of Architectural Practice,’ ideas were generated by groups of four scholars and a more senior facilitator. This exercise allowed the scholars to describe exactly what they would like to get out of the program in order to benefit themselves, their firms, and their communities.

The smaller groups then reconvened to discuss with the larger class, bringing about additional ideas for the sessions. Then, a pair of scholars was assigned to each of the 8 sessions to further refine the topic and begin to plan its agenda, location, and speakers.

The closing keynote address was given by Patrick Panetta, FAIA, the 2018-19 AIA National Treasurer and Director of Project Management for Arizona State University’s Real Estate Development Department. Patrick spoke to his leadership path within the AIA and through civic leadership in the city of Phoenix. By knowing when to say ‘yes’ (and sometimes knowing when to say ‘no’) one can help to find solutions to problems and set up those around them for success.