Krista R. Phillips, AIA
Member since 2003
My name is Krista Phillips, I am licensed in Oregon and Alaska, and I have been an active member of the AIA since 2003. I truly believe it takes all of us to make change. I am an architect, a change maker, a thought leader, a mother, a wife, and a passionate citizen and human being. In 2017, after 25 years of generalist, global experience in architectural practice--8 of those years as a firm owner in an award-winning pacific-rim regional firm--I sharpened my focus on education. A brief stint in the K-12 setting made way to my current position as Managing Architect for Portland Community College, Oregon’s largest higher education institution serving over 70,000 individuals. My responsibilities include overseeing PCC’s $200 million 2017 bond program, as well as providing thought leadership to campus-wide facilities stewardship and planning. I advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion in the profession and for developing the pipeline of future architects. I have served for over 10 years—5 as Chair-- as an AIA practitioner representative to the NAAB on architecture program accreditation visits, for 6 years as Alaska's State IDP (AXP) Coordinator, and for over 8 years as an Architect Licensing Advisor. I have served since 2009 as an AXP Supervisor and 80% of my mentees are now licensed architects. I have mentored some of these individuals for almost 20 years and counting; this truly is one of the most rewarding achievements I can share: a methodical and consistent hand of ‘paying it forward’ is growing our pipeline and supports a more diverse generation of 21st century practitioners.
My Story:
My mother was a lifelong K-12 educator. My father was a self-made entrepreneur in the construction industry. Inspired by their work ethic, creativity and problem-solving abilities, I discovered architecture in 3rd Grade and I have not looked back since. I cannot imagine doing anything else.
Architects have the ability and duty to make a marked difference in our world. I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting into as a young student, but I was a restless artist drawn to this experiment of science and art. My first plane ride anywhere was to Milan, Italy when I was 21. I studied overseas for a year in Berlin, Graz, and Venice—which changed my lens on life and humanity. I graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1993 with a BArch degree. I visited Portland with my husband-to-be as a student and fell in love with this place. Come graduation day, we migrated across the great continental U.S., leaving horse country, college basketball, and the foothills of Appalachia, settling down in NE Portland, intent to forge our careers.
With a handful of years under our belts (my early years were with ZGF and Lee Winn in Portland) we lived and worked in Alaska for a short time, an amazing state and living laboratory to bear witness to our changing climate. Fast forward to early 2000s: living, working, and attending graduate school in Sydney, Australia. Returning to Portland in the immediate post-9/11 era with little work opportunity, we set our sights again on Alaska--the next chapter..
The Programs Committee:
15 years later, our family returned to NE Portland in 2018 with amazing lived experiences. From these places and experiences, I am honored to be leading AIA Oregon’s newest statewide committee: the Programs Committee, and am beginning a term of service as AIA Oregon’s newest At-Large Director. Programs are a pivotal component of our membership experience. We need to feel centered and well-supported as a statewide group of professionals and we can bring this sense of support to AIA Oregon by the types of, quality, and delivery methods of member programming we offer.
The purpose of the Programs Committee is to help hone our identity as a ‘one Chapter, many voices’ organization through programming. This committee’s charge is to support the membership from a statewide perspective by assisting the AIAO board as thought leaders to the overarching membership experience in programming and in assisting members with statewide programs planning. When I returned to Portland last summer and realized that AIA Oregon was newly accredited as one Chapter, I felt compelled to volunteer my time and service to assisting through this transition. AIA Alaska, my former Chapter, is a single Chapter with 3 Sections: Northern, Central, and Southeast. Even though much of Alaska’s population is greatly scattered, there has historically been a robust membership banded together by a few geographic centers (thus the 3 Sections) and supporting each other to advance the profession. They accomplish this through the statewide Chapter’s support of an international design-focused lecture series, a robust Emerging Professionals focus, an annual statewide conference on architecture, as well as an established design awards program tailored to Alaska’s many micro-climates, drawing diverse entries statewide.
Reach Out:
Have you ever thought about ideas for a program, series, or event you’d like to experience as an AIAO member? What could we do to bring us together in learning, fellowship, and change? Our profession is changing and so must we. What are our most pressing areas of concern to be curated into a programming experience? Share your thoughts with me at kristarphillips@hotmail.com and I will reach back. If you would like to join me on the Programs Committee--defining a programming strategy that speaks to ‘one Chapter, many voices’-- email me with interest and I will share a committee overview. To those of you I met and worked with in my early years in Portland and have not seen since I returned last summer, I look forward to seeing you again and I hope it’s at an upcoming AIA Oregon program, event, or committee meeting!
AIA Oregon is on a pathway to promote quality in statewide programming, education, and advocacy in support of our membership experience. I am honored to work with all members statewide to bring us together as ‘one Chapter, many voices’.
