by: admin
Event: Designing Your Alternative
Location: Center for Architecture, 03.27.12
Speakers: Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan, Content Editor and Designer, Architizer.com; Harry Gaveras, AIA Co-Founder, Doodlit, Owner Propylaea Architects; Serena Chen, AIA, LEED AP BD+C Project Manager, Dasny Mechanical Inc.; Calvin Lee, Esq., Assoc. AIA, LEED AP Associate at Zetlin & De Chiara; Jessica Wyman, Owner, Wyman Projects; Annie Ledbury, LEED AP BD+C, Managing Director, Architecture for Humanity New York; Erik Thorson, Platform Engineer, Varick Media Management, Virtual Build Technologies
Moderator: Brynnemarie Lanciotti, Assoc. AIA, Project Manager, Franke, Gottsegen, Cox Architects
Organizers: AIANY Emerging New York Architects (ENYA) Committee
Respondents discuss alternate career paths.
Simon Battisti
The AIANY Emerging New York Architects (ENYA) Committee hosted a discussion about non-traditional career paths for people with architecture degrees. Panelists represented a wide swath of related industries, from graphic design to design journalism, non-profit design consultancy and construction law. But they were united by a common experience: faced with limited options at the height of the recession, and often burdensome student loans, what is a career alternative for someone with a specialized degree?
Moderator Brynnemarie Lanciotti, an intern architect, questioned the panel about what life was like on the other side, and what ultimately justified a departure from the profession. When asked what single thing architecture schools should change, Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan, editor at Architizer.com, an online community for architects, implored universities to make architecture education free of cost. Architects are so deeply handicapped by debt, she argued, that any leverage they may have gained by a name-brand program is nullified immediately upon graduating.
Despite broad agreement on the challenges stacked against young architects today, the tone of the group was hopeful. After all, upstairs the same night, the scene was one of exuberance about design, as young designers celebrated the opening of the “A Plague Remembered: AIDS Memorial Park Design” Exhibition. The competition that was the basis for the show offered young architects an opportunity to pay homage to those lost during the AIDS epidemic, and also imagine the possibility of a new public space for New York City. The juxtaposition between the events was provocative, and a reminder not only of the diversity of the architecture community in the city, but about what makes it rich—a willingness to openly discuss vulnerabilities, and offer advice to the next generation.
Simon Battisti is a designer at 2×4 Inc., in New York City.