COF note: Facing challenges together

An Introduction

I am a founding partner of Kliment Halsband Architects, a leading practice based in New York City and Northampton, Mass. Our clients include public and private organizations with ambitious educational, cultural, and civic goals. I have taught design in many schools, and I was the dean of the architecture school at the Pratt Institute. Additionally, I served as the first female president of AIA NY and have had numerous civic roles including design adviser, landmarks commissioner, and board member of various arts groups. All of these “out of the office” activities have provided insight into how architects fit in the larger cultural context and into how we are perceived by the public. While sometimes humbling, these are always rewarding experiences.

In 2018, I organized a successful campaign to amend the AIA Code of Ethics. I traveled to the A’18 Conference on Architecture with a petition signed by 601 members of the College of Fellows stating that “there can be no place in the Institute for people who abuse their stature, power, or influence in a manner that violates recognized standards of decency” and demanding that members not engage in harassment or discrimination. The new Code of Ethics reflects these concerns.

College of Fellows

As the new member of the Executive Committee of the College of Fellows, I will serve as the 2020 liaison to the YAF. Fellows can be a powerful voice for positive change within the profession and in the community, and mentoring YAF members is one of the many ways that can happen. Many components have strong programs bringing the YAF and COF together. Forming connections between COF regional representatives and Young Architect Regional Directors can facilitate the movement of ideas, advice, experience, and innovation. While the new Align Mentorship Program will strive to create personal linkages at a national level, I welcome dialogue on how to strengthen all these ties.

COF and YAF together

Attending the recent YAF annual meeting, I was delighted to see your emphasis on “getting out of the office” as a benefit to you individually and to the profession. The more we can do to understand and participate in the society around us, the better architects we will be.

As I write this, we are all being drawn into two discussions that challenge fundamental beliefs about the role of our profession in profoundly different ways.

The AIA call for climate action demands that all of us rethink our everyday lives, our professional commitments, and our relationships to our clients to assure that what we do and how we design responds to the goal of reduced energy consumption, minimal use of Earth’s resources, and equity in distribution of resources. There’s been a lot of research, but there’s no rule book with all the answers. It is up to us to think creatively and share how what we do relates to these goals.

The possibility of a federal classical style mandate, described in a recent Architectural Record article, threatens our creativity as designers. The AIA opposes “uniform style mandates and the idea of any official architectural style.” Rethinking the role of design, the nature and meaning of style, and our role as designers, is yet another challenge we must face together.

As we go to press, I am once again "out of the office", working with the dean of a major school of public health, thinking together about how to create more beds for hospitals, quarantined, homeless. Thinking about college residence halls (now vacant) hotels (now vacant) army bases. What are the things that we, as architects, can contribute, in our communities, to this conversation?

I look forward to continuing dialogue and collaboration on these and many more topics.

Author bio:

Frances Halsband, FAIA is the founding principal of Kliment Halsband Architects in New York City, which won the AIA Firm Award in 1997. She will serve a two year term as Secretary on the College of Fellows Executive Committee.