Ben Arico, AIA
AIA Portland Director-Elect
Cultural Awareness in Architecture
I began my work with AIA Oregon in 2019. At that time, I had 10 years of total professional experience, with just over 4 years of experience working at Bora Architecture & Interiors. My focus up to that point was entirely “heads down” on my project work, and I did not have much interaction or exposure to things happening in the greater architecture community. After some encouragement, I started this journey by taking on the role of coordinator for the AIA Oregon InProcess lecture series. The lecture series is based on architects and trade partners sharing insights and perspectives of their design process with the community. These lectures have robust discussions following the presentations, and I started to register the value of community conversations and public dialogue about design.
My concept of dialogue about design was largely constructed through my upbringing as a film student at the College of Santa Fe and then as an architecture student at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. I learned to examine architecture as sculpture, architecture as abstract expressionism, and architecture as experience. My heroes were Steven Holl, Peter Zumthor, Álvaro Siza, Herzog & de Meuron, and the like. Whenever questions about community and culture came up, my response was to disregard this topic as not very important. My understanding was that architecture is by nature an abstract form of communication, and I was much more interested in a cohesive and beautifully expressed building concept. I focused on how form and light create spatial experiences of their own, glorifying the ability of architecture to express an experience devoid of culture; a walk through an abstract world where colors and shapes only relate to each other - not to the world that we live in or our society’s collective mind and history.
When I started coordinating the AIA InProcess lecture series, I continued to celebrate architecture through this lens. I wanted to bring our community together so that we could examine and appreciate Design with a capital D, and we could all learn from each other about how to do that given all the challenges of making architecture. I did not consider the cultural meaning or cultural messages in any of the work that we celebrated or studied. I did not consider how my own cultural upbringing might influence the way I presented the series, and I did not consider how people with different cultural backgrounds from mine would feel as an audience member.
When I first heard about equity in architecture a few years ago I was completely mystified. I kept hearing people talking about equity and diversity and inclusion and I just did not quite grasp the meaning of what they were talking about. I was aware of our society’s issues with racism, ageism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, etc. As someone who came out as gay at the age of 21, I was used to the idea that dominant culture can be incredibly unfair to people. I had experienced it. I could see how other people experienced it. I just did not understand how any of us could change dominant culture, and I did not understand why this topic was particularly relevant to architects. After several years of being exposed to equity conversations, going through 2 equity training programs, Critical Race Theory workshops, reading articles, and participating in AIA Oregon’s Social Justice Action Plan Committee, it has finally begun to sink in. Architecture inherently engages in a cultural dialogue.
We all share the physical world. Space is not unlimited. It’s not like the internet or digital concepts of space. When we build a building, we affect the entire community that comes into contact with it. The cultural awareness of those who designed and paid for the building is imprinted on the community and affects everyone who views or uses the building. The social and economic power structures that dominate our society are being physically manifested in the built environment. When architects are not aware of the cultural messages that their buildings are communicating, dominant culture manifests itself unchecked. This is the same dominant culture that excludes and oppresses minorities.
It is not a coincidence that most of the architects practicing in Oregon belong to the dominant culture. Architecture is one of the most difficult professions to be successful in. The work is never done. Everything can be improved, re-drawn, or re-designed to work better. It takes decades of experience before an architect may find his or her voice. Young architects need allies in order to survive. Young architects need leaders who will help them learn from their mistakes and celebrate their successes. Are we surprised that there are so few minority architects when we understand how automatic it is for dominant culture to exclude and oppresses those it considers to be different? It makes the road exponentially more difficult for minority architects. I’m very thankful for the allies that I have, but I also acknowledge that there is work to do in this regard. This is something that architects can work towards, because having more diversity in the architecture profession will add more cultural awareness and inclusion to the built environment.
When I started coordinating the InProcess lecture series, my goal was to bring the people together to improve the design of our environment and the connections that we have with each other as members of the design community. It took me a while, but I can see now that social injustice, systemic racism, and the treatment of women and minorities by dominant culture is the most important issue that we face right now. We cannot be a healthy and functioning community when some of us are excluded and oppressed. If one culture is dominating, everybody loses - even members of the dominant culture. Who can really be happy when one person’s success is won at the expense of another person’s suffering? If my goal is to work towards bringing the community together, it starts by acknowledging the inherent cultural dialogue of architecture and addressing the current imbalance in this regard. It is not that Design with a capital D is irrelevant. In fact, quite the opposite, but we must expand our concept of what architecture is to include the cultural implications and messages that the built environment inherently communicates. Once we see the imbalance, we can begin the work to correct it.
I am by no means an expert on this topic. I’m aware that I have much more to learn, and I am only scratching the surface. In some ways I feel inadequate to be writing this message. I have incredibly deep gratitude for those who have been doing this work long before I was aware of this, and I am so thankful for those who have shared their knowledge and stories with me to help me begin to understand. I am looking forward to continuing to listen and engage with an open mind and an intent to create healing. One of my goals for the next year is to incorporate design dialogue with cultural awareness into the InProcess lecture series. The series has the ability to highlight and celebrate those who are doing this work right now in our community. If we center and amplify the voices of those in the margins, we can work to create healing. Architects do have the opportunity to educate clients. We are the experts at making spaces. We can create healing through design.
Today is Earth Day. What better way to celebrate the planet than to celebrate the value of every human and every culture? If we believe that we can change the world, then we can do it. I am proud to say that AIA Oregon supports this mission. To truly create healing and change in our community, we have to find a way to link all of these efforts together, and that is one thing that a membership organization such as ours can help to do. We can work together towards a future where diverse cultures and spaces are in harmony with each other, and all kinds of voices are included in the creation of the built environment.
I hope you will join the AIA Oregon Thursday Roundtable discussion on May 7th, where we will be discussing initiatives that our member architecture firms have taken to create or improve their firm cultures and promote discussion around equity and inclusion.
You can register for the event here: https://www.aiaoregon.org/events/2021/5/6/thursday-roundtable
If you’d like to find out more about this topic or get involved, visit our social justice resources page at: https://www.aiaoregon.org/social-justice-resources or email info@aiaoregon.org.