Over the years, Melissa Wechsler, Principal, has been a frequent guest critic with the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington, where she also teaches a session on Site Feasibility and Yield Studies for the UW Commercial Real Estate Program. “When I was working on my master’s degree at the University of Washington, I thought professors who split their time between practice and teaching had the best of both worlds,” said Melissa. Fast forward to 2024, and Melissa was able to experience the joys of that balance herself as the instructor for Architecture 503, the urban mixed-use design studio for Master of Architecture students at UW. “Teaching a full studio forced me to balance project work and developing lessons, thinking about theory and the ‘why’ of what we do for a full three-month period. It helped me remain more conscious of our work’s impact in a way that simply being an occasional guest critic did not.”
Reflecting on her time in the classroom, she said: “In many ways, having a graduate-level class fully committed to a master’s degree in architecture was much easier than teaching or guest lecturing undergraduate students. Instead of trying to motivate a group or 18- to 21-year-olds to appreciate architecture in general, I was trying to instill the value of multi-family housing in building healthy cities and to inspire the students to embrace the challenges and limitations of zoning and building codes to design buildings that would be thoughtful, appropriate, sustainable, responsible additions to the neighborhood in which they were designing.”
Over the course of the quarter, Melissa’s students studied how to maximize FAR, the impacts of massing configurations on a project site and the street context, the social opportunities afforded by urban living, and how to develop a design concept inherent to a site and its resident population. “We were able to focus on the community aspect of architecture and the responsibility that urban buildings have, not just to their own internal program, but also to their surrounding built environment.”
Melissa leveraged her many connections in the wider architecture community in Seattle and brought in professionals from across the AEC field as guest critics for midterm and final reviews. She ended the term full of inspiration and with a renewed commitment to the work Runberg does: “Teaching this studio was a real confidence builder for me; I knew our firm had a reputation for being experts in mixed-use multifamily design, but teaching others to do this work confirmed that expertise.”
Ana Parke, Principal, spent the past year sharing her deep knowledge and wide experience in local, state, federal building codes as chair of the AIA Seattle Code Committee. “Being chair has challenged me to lean on and expand my network,” said Ana. “I was surprised how willing people were to say yes to volunteering their time or sharing their knowledge. I’ve also found that the people I’ve worked with on seminars are then people I can reach out to for other things professionally. Because of it, I’m more willing and able to advocate for changes that are beneficial to our industry, whether it be land use code changes or interpretations of the building code.”
Along with running the monthly meetings and coordinating with guest speakers, Ana also led several sessions of Code Mode. “I’ve enjoyed getting to steer the committee to look beyond the usual seminar topics; this year we did a session on state and local land use policies,” said Ana. “I also worked to expand our focus beyond Seattle, as AIA Seattle represents the greater Puget Sound region. We’ve had panelists from Bellevue, Shoreline, Tacoma, and beyond.”
In addition to her work with AIA, Ana also served as part of the Building Development Committee (BDC) and the Permitting, Land Use, Sustainability and Housing (PLUSH) Committee for the City of Bellevue. “At the BDC, I’m one of only a few architects in the room. We meet monthly and this gives me a lot of facetime with City of Bellevue staff, making it easier to advocate for changes to the permitting and inspection process where I see room for improvement.”
Speaking about the PLUSH committee, Ana said, “it’s very developer-centric; being a part of the committee has helped me learn more about the perspective of our clients and the challenges they face.” Ana notes that Bellevue planning and transportation staff frequently come to present updates and request feedback from the group, which not only allows Ana to stay on top of upcoming changes in the area but also fosters collaboration between the many different parties involved in urban development. “It’s shown me how a group can lobby for their collective best interests, bringing a lot of knowledge, brain power, and influence together in one place.”
Ana also has been instrumental in getting our own office on track and up to date with the myriad code changes and updates and has been preparing us for the implementation of the 2021 Seattle and Washington Residential Energy Codes.
Also, this past year, Associate Amal Moussa took over for Jennifer Danison as the firm’s representative on the UW Architecture Professionals Advisory Committee (PAC), which is made up of practicing architects, allied design professionals, and faculty members. “The most rewarding part of being involved with the UW PAC is providing support to UW students,” reported Amal. The PAC strengthens the connections between the department and the larger professional community and helps bolster the management and leadership skills of the students in the program. “My current role is focused on planning construction site tours for a variety of different project types to help students gain experience and grow their understanding of the build environment,” Amal explained. “I continue to learn and expand my knowledge from visiting construction sites, so it’s been great to help these students get a chance to do the same.”
Associate Jennifer Danison passed on the PAC torch to Amal and took up another torch herself, joining the ULI Center for Leadership Program. The Center for Leadership is a leadership and professional development course for rising experts urban development. Attendees have the opportunity to engage with industry experts, local executives, and national thought leaders, and leave with a strengthened network and new insights into how to solve real estate and land use challenges in the Pacific Northwest. “I had a fantastic experience,” said Jennifer, “I learned a lot about myself and how to better facilitate a team environment. There are multiple things I learned from this experience that I find myself using daily.”
Jennifer also had the opportunity to serve as a Cultural Design Consultant to the Nunavat community, collaborating with community elders and design teams to understand the community’s goals and visions for developing a new Inuit Heritage Center. “It was fascinating to be a part of an international competition team with very different design approaches and experiences and to witness us all work toward a common goal. It was also very personal to me as an Inupiaq woman to get to learn more about our shared culture from our relatives across the continent,” Jennifer said. “I think the big takeaway from this was instead of approaching the design from a ‘I know what you need’ standpoint, we acknowledged our roles were to learn from and help the Nunavut Inuit materialize their own ideas. They know best out of anyone what will make an Inuit Heritage Center have the most impact. We didn’t ultimately win the project but that is an experience that will always stay with me.”
If there’s one thing we’ve learned, getting involved doesn’t just benefit the design and architecture communities, it also helps us grow as professionals. In the words of Ana: “Being active outside the firm broadens my perspective, making others challenges easier to understand.” Adds Jennifer, “These experiences have shaped the way I approach my work and interact with my team. My hope is that the current and incoming generations of leadership in this industry never stop learning.”