Date: May 12th, 2023
Location: American Geophysical Union Center
Led by: David Leestma, Keegan Wilson
Session Sponsor: CADD Microsystems, Steelcase, StructureCraft, YKK AP America Inc.
Session Downloads: Session Program

Overview

Session 3 centered around “Tackling Climate Change.” Local professionals presented their respective vantage points and methodologies. The first half of the session addressed perspectives from energy managers, developers, and regulators from within state programs. Following a discussion where panelists addressed hurdles, successes, and opportunities to leverage climate and energy conversations, attendees toured the American Geophysical Union Center with the building operations director and learned about the sustainable design techniques utilized by the facility. The session ended with presentations from building, interior, and landscape architects who shared successful sustainable practices for completed projects.

Presentation #1

Identifying the Issue
Speakers: Tommy Wells

Tommy Wells, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Policy and Legislative Affairs, kicked off the session with a keynote address that highlighted strides that have been taken locally to address climate change. He also identified a number of political hurdles to achieving ambitious climate goals, and shared the political and social influences that pushed him to personally get involved. The Smart Growth and Solar for Everyone programs were some of the success stories Thomas has been involved in during his tenure working for the city of Washington.

Presentation #2

Educating the Client and the Public
Speakers: Kim Pexton, John Lord, Mark Stewart

The panelists included Kim Pexton (Developer, JBG Smith), John Lord (Energy Manager for Virginia Public Schools), and Mark Stewart (Climate Change Leader for Maryland Department of the Environment). Questions ranged from topics such as addressing upfront cost concerns to best practices for reaching the general public with sustainable practices, and panelists had the opportunity to share insights into climate initiatives, as well as moments of success and frustration in reaching their organizations’ climate goals.

Presentation #3

Building Tour of the American Geophysical Union
Speakers: Matthew Boyd

Matt led the scholars on a tour of the American Geographical Union building, where he highlighted the many sustainable design features that are integral to the building. Beginning in the basement, Matt described how construction complications with utility connections were resolved using a water based heat pump and sewer connection. On the upper floors, he highlighted the green wall, radiant panels, and triple-pane electrified/tinted windows that darken in different areas depending on the time of day, to reduce heat gains. These features allow for increased efficiency in mechanical zoning, energy management between floors, and the ability to moderate the indoor building climate. The tour concluded at the roof, where there is a large solar array above a planted green roof, with plants specifically selected to thrive in the shade cast by the solar panels.

Presentation #4

Achieving Sustainability
Speakers: Amy Gardner, Brittany McNairy, Jenna Pye

The session concluded with short presentations from three architects, each with a unique expertise ranging from corporate interiors, to single family residential, to education. Each architect shared a few projects where sustainable practices and higher levels of socially mindful design had been utilized. Following their presentations, there was a roundtable discussion where attendees had the opportunity to inquire about challenges along the way. Some key elements stressed by the panelists included the importance of early energy modeling, simultaneous studies of building systems, and general best practices for client communication on sustainable design.

Date: April 14th, 2023
Location: Steelcase
Led by: Vance Cunningham and Hannah Seigel
Session Sponsor: Davis Construction, HGA, Steelcase
Session Downloads: Session Program

Overview

On Friday, April 14, CKLDP 2023 scholars met at the Steelcase Showroom in DC to discuss the “Art of Negotiation.” After lunch and an icebreaker activity, University of Maryland Professor Vijaya Venkataramani presented on the “Science of Negotiation.” Next up, Chris Bentley, an attorney for HGA architects, applied the science to real-life architectural scenarios. The group enjoyed a roundtable discussion about the presentations and had an opportunity to ask questions of the guest speakers and of each other. One of the biggest takeaways was that negotiation is a learned skill and that open-mindedness and confidence will lead to successful negotiations.

Presentation #1

The Science of Negotiation
Speakers: Professor Vijaya Venkataramani

Professor Venkataramani of the R.H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland brought her 12-14 years of experience teaching the science of negotiation to CKLDP. With bright energy and enthusiasm, she explained that there are three factors that play into a successful negotiation: 1) Believe that negotiation is a skill that can be learned, 2) Develop confidence, and 3) Approach any situation with an open mind that you can negotiate the situation. She also discussed how preparation is absolutely key to a successful negotiation, with only 20% of your total time spent on the negotiation execution. Professor Venkataramani provided us with an excellent toolbox to start learning to become successful negotiators not only in business, but personally as well.

Presentation #2

Negotiation in Architecture (aka “Negotiations for architects who want to negotiate good and do other good things too”)
Speakers: Chris Bentley

Chris Bentley, an attorney for HGA architects used his sense of humor and relaxed presence to encourage everyone to not only not be afraid of contract negotiation but rather run towards it. Through a variety of mediums including a PowerPoint, whiteboard sketches and mock negotiations, he explained that negotiation is not about winning, it is about identifying problems and solving them together. Chris described the best approach to negotiations is to find the middle ground between being aggressive to win and negotiating passively. This middle ground is called the “Assertive Professional:” being soft on people but hard on the problem. Memorable one-liners aside, it was certainly important to hear the opinion of a professional who manages risk within an architecture firm everyday, giving us a dose of confidence to move forward in future negotiations.

Presentation #3

Roundtable Discussion
Speakers: Professor Venkataramani and Chris Bentley

Both Professor Venkataramani and Chris Bentley stayed on to answer questions and participate in a roundtable discussion with the group. Topics ranged from how to
ask for a raise, negotiating client fees, and the importance of relationships in successful negotiations. All in all, it is about flexibility and communication and educating one another on what each other values. The group certainly left the room ready to take on more negotiations!

Date: March 10th, 2023
Location: The National Building Museum Auditorium
Led by: Anne Kopf, AIA, WELL AP and Nicholas Gray, AIA
Session Sponsor: Consigli Construction, Ducharme, Jon Stover & Associates, Sherwin Williams
Session Downloads: Session Program

Overview

The first session of the year “Leading Together” prompted the scholars to look within themselves and explore how their interpersonal and intrapersonal skills can influence and affect not only their peers but the work environment as a whole. Navigating and managing stress, strengthening workplace relationships, exercising emotional intelligence and the importance of clear communication were some of the key skills that were emphasized during the various presentations and discussions.

Presentation #1

LSI – Lifestyles Inventory
Speakers: Cable Clark – President | Clark Consulting

The first presentation for the afternoon was the Lifestyles Inventory conducted
by Cable Clark. As a prerequisite to the session all of the scholars were asked to complete an online self assessment, the results of which were then presented during the session. The highly individualized assessment highlighted the thinking and behavioral styles of each individual which could then be utilized to capitalize on ones strengths while also understanding their shortcomings. It was emphasized how understanding each of the constructive, passive and aggressive behavior / thinking styles can be utilized towards self-improvement and being an effective leader.

Presentation #2

Mental Health in the Workplace
Speakers: Jessica Kennedy – Chief Strategy & Finance Officer | Mental Health America

The pandemic and the resulting volatile economic situation have negatively
affected many people’s mental wellbeing. Through her presentation, Jessica highlighted the importance of emotional intelligence, empathy and effective communication in today’s workplace. With more than 80% of workplace turnover being directly related to unhappy work relationships, specifically with managers, as the next generation of leaders it’s important for us to first identify and manage our own emotions followed by developing awareness and sensibility towards emotions of those around us.

Presentation #3

Roundtable Discussion – Team Building in the Digital Abyss
Speakers: Jessica Kennedy – Chief Strategy & Finance Officer | Mental Health America

The pandemic has transformed the workplace as we know it and for many, a hybrid
work environment is imminent. The third presentation of the session highlighted how the hybrid work environment has impacted firm culture, workplace relationships and team building aspects. While many scholars agreed that the hybrid work environment has brought positive changes into their firm cultures such as effective collaboration, flexibility and effective use of time, they also agreed that more targeted strategies are required in order to maintain firm culture and team building – particularly for those younger staff that never had experienced the upside of in-person work culture.

Presentation #4

WIT @ Work Improv
Speakers: John Windmueller

The final activity for the day was led by John Windmueller who drew parallels between improv and the workplace utilizing a series of interactive games. Improv encourages the team to place trust in each other and often times everyone collectively works towards supporting those on stage at any given moment. Some of the qualities that were highlighted by engaging in simple and low stake games were, “creating now-judgment later”, empathetic listening – “listening to the last word”, awareness of nonverbal dynamics, importance of identifying what’s already working in a situation and positively adding to it – the “yes, and” principal. John also highlighted the importance of low stake, rapid and quantitative idea generation to spark creativity, while emphasizing that creativity is a skill that is improved overtime.

Date:        August 5th, 2022
Location: 1011 K St NW, Washington, DC 20001
Led by:  Danielle Encela and Saakshi Terway
Session Sponsor:   Architectural Record, EYP, Patcraft, Chesapeake Lighting, Federated Lighting, Pella, Pella Mid-Atlantic Windows &Doors Commercial
Session Downloads:  Session Program

Overview

This session explored the importance of advocacy within the AEC profession, and how it shapes our practice. In this session we focused on three different topics that we believe are great examples of the impact of advocacy has on people, place, and policy. The areas of advocacy being discussed during this session are environment justice & resiliency (EJ&R), social justice, and technology. The scholars heard from experts of each area on their approaches to advocacy and how their mission translates in their professional work.

Presentation #1

Environmental Justice & Resiliency
Speakers: Ellen Dunham-Jones, Georgia Institute of Technology; Heather Jauregui, Perkins Eastman; Ryan Hand, District of Columbia Office of Planning

The four speakers, share their experience regarding environmental justice and resiliency. Elizabeth Blasius talked about the resilience of vernacular elements and her advocacy work at preservation futures. Ellen Dunham Jones presented case study as a tool for advocacy.  Her take on disrupting automobile and leveraging social capacity to co create with community sparked conversation amongst the scholars. Heather Jauregui shared Perkins Eastman tools kits on addressing environmental justice. She emphasized on data gathered from pre and post occupancy and leveraging that information for informed design decision. Ryan Hand from DC Office of Planning briefly talked about DC Cultural Plan and various initiative led by them to implement cultural scene in Washington DC.

Presentation #2

Social Justice
Speakers: Dayton Schroeter, SmithGroup; Yiselle Santos Rivera, HKS; Kavitha Matthew, KPF

In this part of the presentation, the speaker shared their personal journey and passion for JEDI initiative and how they navigated in their respective firms to be torch bearer of this important and much needed cause. .

Presentation #3

Panel + Workshop: Technology
Speakers: Ricardo Rodriguez, MBCC Group

The last presentation focused on technology impacts on the future of AEC industry. Ricardo shared a graphic compelling presentation using AI. In his presentation he questions the traditional way/dogmatic approach to architecture. He concludes his presentation by stating that the approach to keep up with technology is to reinvent the wheel using the tools available. It is not about making dramatic change but to add value and opportunity brought to us by technology. The way to move forward in the future of our profession is by increasing our agency, embracing failures, engaging life with meaning and passion.