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lightwell filled with dirty puddles, pigeon feathers, and dead leaves, this space is being transformed through selective demolition and a variety of new plazas, gardens, terraces, canopies, bridges, perches, and views that connect students to the district, the campus, and one another. This goes beyond easily quantified measures of performance, like energy and water efficiency, and gets to the social side of sustainability. In a time when we’re all struggling with division and isolation, I can’t think of anything better than drawing students out of their rooms and into opportunities to live, learn, and develop as an inclusive community. TZL: Sustainability is a fundamental driver at VMDO. What are you doing to incorporate that concept on different levels – i.e., project work, culture, and design process? RW: As a former director of sustainability, I’ve spent most of my career working to integrate sustainability into our work, process, and culture. We want all of our projects to be happy, healthy, and high-performing. We want the same for our firm and for our staff. A major trigger for opening a Washington, D.C. office was the Clean Energy D.C. Act of 2018, where D.C. implemented a plan to become a net-zero energy city by 2032. We felt that we had expertise to offer and wanted to be part of leading that transformation. The office is really built around that mission and we have a number of projects underway that are creating a path to a net-zero energy future. It’s late in the game, but the industry has shifted dramatically. The AIA 2030 Commitment and Framework for Design Excellence are two good examples. Sustainability is no longer the “other,” but an integral part of good design. But, our progress is slow and we feel a tremendous sense of urgency to leverage our skills to address the most challenging issues of our time. TZL: Diversity and inclusion are lacking. What steps are you taking to address the issue? RW: As with many firms, we’ve struggled with how to make meaningful change in this area. VMDO was an early adopter of the JUST label, a program of the International Living Future Institute, which was incredibly helpful in aligning our firm operations along a third-party social justice rating system. After the murder of George Floyd, a grassroots movement among our staff helped us to start identifying ways we could take greater action, in terms of broadening the pipeline
to our profession for underrepresented groups, rethinking our hiring and operations and improving our work through the lens of equity and inclusion. We began scholarships at Hampton University and the University of the District of Columbia and we participate in mentoring programs and portfolio reviews. We’ve revamped our hiring process to reduce any unintentional biases, and our staff and leadership have gone through an extensive series of trainings to help us to understand identity and to not only recognize difference, but to leverage it. We’ve also been piloting some new community engagement tools and approaches, expanding our research protocols to better unearth the lesser-known histories of the places we work, and exploring a broadened definition of universal design. Finally, we’ve expanded our standard post- occupancy evaluation and developed with UC Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment to incorporate questions around inclusion. There’s still a lot to do. TZL: Working as a mentor seems important to you. What are some key pieces of information that you always pass on to your mentees? RW: There are a lot of “Robisms” out there. Some are funny and, hopefully, a few are useful. These come with some frequency: 1. Design with love. In my opinion, great design comes from a genuine care for people, purpose, place, and planet. 2. Meet clients where they are, build relationships, and help them move forward. Rarely can you move a client from a two to a 10 in one project. It takes relationship building, time, and trust to do really challenging and aspirational projects. 3. You gotta read to lead. I’m a lifelong learner and VMDO is a learning organization. To continue to lead and innovate, we need to study our craft, explore our world, and continue to learn about issues that affect and shape our clients and industry. I love to travel and have an endless pile of books on my nightstand on a wide variety of subjects – business, design, sustainability, education, brain science, etc. I’m always interested in what other people are reading too. TZL: As a firm, you believe that an emphasis on quality and enduring design can transform a place and elevate the human experience. Can you give me an example of a recent project that has worked to achieve this and explain why? See CREATING OPPORTUNITIES , page 8
HEADQUARTERS: Charlottesville, VA NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 75 YEAR FOUNDED: 1976 OFFICE LOCATIONS: ■ ■ Charlottesville, VA ■ ■ Washington, D.C. MARKETS: ■ ■ K-12 ■ ■ Higher education ■ ■ Athletics ■ ■ Community SERVICES: ■ ■ Architecture ■ ■ Planning ■ ■ Interiors AWARDS: VMDO’s designs have achieved international and national acclaim from a variety of societies and associations, including: ■ ■ The American Institute of Architects’
Committee on Architecture for Education ■ ■ The Society for College and
University Planners
■ ■ The Association
of College Unions International ■ ■ Recipient in 2010 and
2017 of Top Ten AIA Committee on the Environment awards – the industry’s premier accolade for sustainable design
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MAY 30, 2022, ISSUE 1443
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