0:00:12.940,0:00:16.414 Hi, I'm Liz, and I'm an architect. 0:00:17.094,0:00:19.484 Whenever I tell people I'm an architect, 0:00:19.593,0:00:21.684 one of the first questions[br]they often ask me 0:00:21.684,0:00:25.724 is whether or not I have read[br]or seen "The Fountainhead." 0:00:26.150,0:00:27.880 And for those of you - 0:00:28.444,0:00:29.879 Clearly, some of you have. 0:00:29.949,0:00:31.897 For those of you who are familiar with it 0:00:31.897,0:00:34.525 and have just now silently[br]asked yourself this question, 0:00:34.525,0:00:36.292 let me just get that out of the way. 0:00:36.292,0:00:38.942 Yes, I have both read the book[br]and seen the movie. 0:00:38.972,0:00:41.382 No, I didn't really like either of them. 0:00:41.446,0:00:43.886 (Laughter) (Applause) 0:00:45.150,0:00:48.013 And yes, this probably should have been[br]some indication to me 0:00:48.013,0:00:50.957 that I was well on my way[br]to an architectural identity crisis, 0:00:51.197,0:00:54.203 which then leads into the second[br]question that I often get, 0:00:54.203,0:00:56.447 "What kind of buildings do you design?" 0:00:56.897,0:00:58.698 And for me, for the longest time, 0:00:58.698,0:01:01.479 this has been a hard question to answer. 0:01:01.479,0:01:04.276 Usually, I hem and haw,[br]and then I often say, 0:01:04.341,0:01:06.121 "Oh, I design community centers." 0:01:06.161,0:01:08.852 Partly because a lot of my work[br]is with communities, 0:01:08.852,0:01:10.320 so it's kind of true, 0:01:10.470,0:01:13.438 and community centers is a typology[br]that people can relate to. 0:01:13.440,0:01:15.394 So they're like, "Oh yeah! Great! Cool!" 0:01:15.394,0:01:17.425 And then we move on with the conversation. 0:01:17.595,0:01:21.053 But the truth of the matter is[br]I actually don't design community centers. 0:01:21.443,0:01:23.543 And so what I wanted[br]to try to do here today 0:01:23.583,0:01:26.980 is to explain to you exactly[br]what it is that I do. 0:01:27.517,0:01:31.544 I'm an architect[br]that doesn't design buildings. 0:01:32.264,0:01:35.047 The things that I design,[br]the things that I build 0:01:35.231,0:01:38.353 are actually opportunities for impact. 0:01:39.163,0:01:42.112 Right now, you're probably[br]asking yourself one of two questions 0:01:42.112,0:01:44.316 which I can safely say[br]that my family, friends, 0:01:44.316,0:01:47.934 and even architecture school professors[br]have asked themselves more than once. 0:01:47.934,0:01:51.386 The first is, "What the heck[br]is designing opportunities for impact?" 0:01:51.507,0:01:52.777 That's a good question. 0:01:53.147,0:01:56.958 The second is, "What kind of architect[br]doesn't design buildings?" 0:01:57.042,0:01:58.273 Also a good question. 0:01:58.273,0:02:00.669 By the way, that second question[br]is often known as, 0:02:00.669,0:02:04.837 "Wow, did she really go $75,000 into debt[br]at a prestigious architecture school 0:02:04.837,0:02:06.918 only to not practice architecture?" 0:02:07.268,0:02:09.464 I'm still trying to work that one out. 0:02:09.884,0:02:11.994 But let me see if I can explain to you 0:02:11.994,0:02:14.659 what it means to design[br]opportunities for impact. 0:02:14.899,0:02:17.732 It often means that I'm wearing[br]one of three hats: 0:02:17.833,0:02:19.223 that of the expert citizen, 0:02:19.223,0:02:20.530 that of the storyteller, 0:02:20.530,0:02:22.516 that of the translator. 0:02:23.226,0:02:25.324 Expert citizen is this great term 0:02:25.324,0:02:28.865 that I came across a couple of years ago[br]in a book called "Spatial Agency," 0:02:28.865,0:02:32.034 and it so perfectly encapsulated[br]part of what I do 0:02:32.162,0:02:34.449 that I have used it religiously since. 0:02:34.819,0:02:38.306 An expert citizen, I imagine,[br]is many of us in this room here today. 0:02:38.340,0:02:40.697 We've been trained[br]in some type of expertise, 0:02:40.697,0:02:42.287 in my case as a designer. 0:02:42.637,0:02:45.266 What I love about this[br]is the pairing with the citizen. 0:02:45.266,0:02:48.458 The idea that we're still humans[br]at the end of the day. 0:02:48.734,0:02:50.934 We have emotions, we have assumptions, 0:02:50.934,0:02:52.282 we have intuition. 0:02:52.352,0:02:54.930 And the idea of expert often means 0:02:54.930,0:02:57.535 people think of it[br]as we're looking at things 0:02:57.535,0:03:00.135 purely in this objective way,[br]almost scientifically. 0:03:00.470,0:03:04.373 But I think it's important to remember[br]that when you combine that human element, 0:03:04.643,0:03:07.045 it's actually a really rich combination. 0:03:07.682,0:03:11.484 Many of the communities that I work with[br]are considered to be citizen experts. 0:03:11.864,0:03:14.504 Whether I'm working in a poor[br]African-American community 0:03:14.504,0:03:15.806 in San Francisco 0:03:15.926,0:03:18.597 or a low-income[br]Kenyan community in Nairobi, 0:03:18.767,0:03:20.822 those people know more[br]about what it is like 0:03:20.822,0:03:23.362 to live in their communities[br]than I ever will. 0:03:23.752,0:03:25.803 They know about their needs[br]and aspirations, 0:03:25.803,0:03:27.925 their successes and their failures. 0:03:27.925,0:03:29.924 And what I need to do[br]as the expert citizen 0:03:29.924,0:03:31.826 is to create space at the table for them 0:03:31.826,0:03:33.907 to be able to come[br]and share that knowledge. 0:03:33.927,0:03:36.137 Because oftentimes[br]they have not been empowered 0:03:36.137,0:03:38.107 to see that knowledge as expertise. 0:03:38.197,0:03:41.829 And so I try, as much as possible,[br]to issue out an invitation 0:03:41.879,0:03:44.074 in which they feel comfortable doing that. 0:03:44.420,0:03:47.448 I can best describe this[br]through the story of Mama Sama. 0:03:47.768,0:03:50.370 Mama Sama and many women[br]throughout the global South 0:03:50.370,0:03:52.699 face a problem when it comes to cooking. 0:03:53.139,0:03:56.715 The traditional technology[br]is actually a three-stone fire. 0:03:56.715,0:03:58.723 And it actually creates a lot of issues 0:03:58.723,0:04:01.324 including health,[br]from the smoke inhalation, 0:04:01.324,0:04:02.341 and environment, 0:04:02.341,0:04:05.063 from the deforestation and air pollution, 0:04:05.073,0:04:08.251 and then also safety,[br]when people go out to fetch wood. 0:04:09.087,0:04:11.381 Cookstoves, particularly[br]improved cookstoves, 0:04:11.381,0:04:13.765 is something that has been around[br]for over 30 years 0:04:13.765,0:04:18.546 as an effort to try and alleviate[br]the issues that come up with the fire. 0:04:18.933,0:04:22.296 And there has been a huge push[br]from many governments and NGOs 0:04:22.296,0:04:25.293 to try and rapidly increase[br]the adoption of the cookstoves 0:04:25.293,0:04:27.208 by the year 2020. 0:04:27.408,0:04:30.829 Last year, when I was a fellow at ido.org,[br]my colleagues and I were hired 0:04:30.829,0:04:32.845 by the Global Alliance[br]for Clean Cookstoves 0:04:32.845,0:04:34.185 to try and investigate a way 0:04:34.185,0:04:36.672 to close that gap[br]between the adoption of the stove 0:04:36.752,0:04:39.906 and the potential[br]that it could still have. 0:04:40.068,0:04:43.813 And so we spent three weeks in Tanzania,[br]which was one of the target countries. 0:04:44.001,0:04:45.163 We went into many homes, 0:04:45.163,0:04:48.436 talked to many citizen experts,[br]like Mama Sama. 0:04:48.976,0:04:50.757 And we even cooked with them. 0:04:51.137,0:04:53.135 And what we found[br]is that many of the women 0:04:53.135,0:04:55.669 actually were familiar[br]with the idea of the cookstove. 0:04:55.669,0:04:57.411 They even understood its benefits. 0:04:57.451,0:05:00.169 The problem was that when it came time 0:05:00.169,0:05:02.659 to cooking a lot of food[br]for their extended family, 0:05:02.909,0:05:05.064 a single cookstove was not enough. 0:05:05.382,0:05:08.232 When they wanted to cook ugali,[br]which is a traditional dish, 0:05:08.363,0:05:11.461 it is just as hard to cook[br]on a cookstove, if not harder, 0:05:11.561,0:05:13.440 than cooking on a woodfire. 0:05:14.016,0:05:17.826 And when it came to the cost of fuel,[br]particularly if they were using charcoal, 0:05:18.396,0:05:20.141 the cost of a month's supply of fuel 0:05:20.141,0:05:22.941 was equal to 10 times[br]the cost of a single stove. 0:05:23.199,0:05:25.926 In that case, the benefits[br]of a cookstove were not enough. 0:05:26.617,0:05:29.300 So we were sent into the field[br]to answer the question of 0:05:29.300,0:05:32.667 "How could we use design to increase[br]the adoption of the cookstove?" 0:05:32.767,0:05:35.703 But what we found was[br]that adoption really wasn't the problem. 0:05:35.731,0:05:37.164 Many of them owned cookstoves, 0:05:37.164,0:05:40.251 they just couldn't afford[br]to be able to use it often. 0:05:40.251,0:05:41.680 And if you don't use it often, 0:05:41.680,0:05:43.769 you actually can't get[br]the benefits from it. 0:05:43.769,0:05:46.261 So by taking the time[br]to listen to Mama Sama 0:05:46.261,0:05:47.689 and the other citizen experts, 0:05:47.689,0:05:51.518 and really understand their needs[br]and aspirations of their daily life, 0:05:51.671,0:05:54.441 what we found is that in order[br]to generate design solutions 0:05:54.441,0:05:55.900 that would be appropriate, 0:05:55.929,0:05:58.261 we had to actually design[br]from this question, 0:05:58.501,0:06:01.392 "How might we design for the cook[br]and not the cookstove?" 0:06:01.930,0:06:05.956 It wasn't about improving[br]the actual technology of the stove, 0:06:06.280,0:06:08.474 it wasn't about increasing[br]access to markets. 0:06:08.594,0:06:10.052 It was about designing things 0:06:10.052,0:06:12.333 that actually responded[br]to the women themselves. 0:06:12.963,0:06:15.822 And so we came up with a bunch[br]of different design solutions, 0:06:15.822,0:06:18.595 everything from implements[br]that could be added to the stove 0:06:18.595,0:06:19.866 to make it easier to cook 0:06:19.866,0:06:22.027 to actually creating[br]fuel-saving initiatives, 0:06:22.027,0:06:25.248 something the Global Alliance[br]had not previously looked at. 0:06:26.098,0:06:28.749 Next, I want to talk to you[br]about being a storyteller. 0:06:29.492,0:06:33.097 And through that, I'm going to tell[br]a little bit about the story of Roberto. 0:06:33.521,0:06:35.600 Roberto and his colleagues[br]are many things: 0:06:35.600,0:06:38.576 they are artisans, they are craftsmen,[br]they are tradesmen. 0:06:39.376,0:06:41.201 They're also day laborers. 0:06:41.541,0:06:44.609 They're some of the over[br]115,000 men and women 0:06:44.609,0:06:45.869 who look for a day’s work 0:06:45.869,0:06:49.066 for a day’s wages[br]in cities across the US every day. 0:06:49.486,0:06:51.966 And the vast majority of the sites[br]that they do it at 0:06:51.966,0:06:53.354 are informal sites, 0:06:53.354,0:06:55.610 meaning that they were[br]designed for other uses. 0:06:55.820,0:06:58.328 They are the street corners,[br]the gas stations, 0:06:58.328,0:07:00.232 the Home Depot parking lot. 0:07:00.532,0:07:05.003 And usually at those sites, they lack[br]even the most basic of human necessities. 0:07:05.177,0:07:06.505 There's no shelter, 0:07:06.685,0:07:09.225 there's no water, there's no toilets. 0:07:09.825,0:07:10.845 A few years ago, 0:07:10.845,0:07:14.166 I was the design director at a non-profit[br]called Public Architecture, 0:07:14.166,0:07:16.665 and my colleagues and I felt[br]that there was something 0:07:16.665,0:07:17.999 that we could do about this. 0:07:17.999,0:07:21.338 But it wasn't like a day laborer[br]was ever going to walk into our office 0:07:21.338,0:07:24.545 and say, "Hi, I'm Roberto,[br]and I'm having a problem at the corner. 0:07:24.545,0:07:26.265 I could really use your help." 0:07:26.570,0:07:29.413 So we actually, had to go[br]out into the streets to them. 0:07:29.503,0:07:32.752 And we treated them[br]both as our clients and our co-designers. 0:07:32.832,0:07:36.262 And the product of those conversations,[br]several years of conversations, 0:07:36.490,0:07:37.817 resulted in this - 0:07:38.007,0:07:39.527 the Day Labour Station. 0:07:39.647,0:07:41.971 This is a prototype,[br]a semi-permanent structure 0:07:41.971,0:07:44.312 that can be deployed[br]at informal hiring sites. 0:07:44.382,0:07:46.299 It's based on an idea of a kit of parts 0:07:46.299,0:07:49.122 so you can reconfigure it[br]to meet the needs of a given site. 0:07:49.212,0:07:52.382 In this case, what you see[br]is a rather large station 0:07:52.391,0:07:55.499 because it was supposed to be[br]a proposal for a site in Los Angeles 0:07:55.499,0:07:57.806 that was going to house over 150 workers. 0:07:58.056,0:08:00.214 But the central elements[br]were always the same: 0:08:00.244,0:08:03.707 a seating area and pods[br]that could house a bathroom, 0:08:03.825,0:08:06.042 an office for a work site coordinator, 0:08:06.072,0:08:09.588 or even a kitchen so that you could have[br]an income-generating food business 0:08:09.588,0:08:11.484 that could help to sustain the station. 0:08:11.484,0:08:12.912 It's flexible in use, 0:08:12.912,0:08:15.302 everything from an employment[br]center to a classroom 0:08:15.302,0:08:18.308 so you could teach[br]additional skills to the workers. 0:08:18.826,0:08:22.223 I often get asked if by building this,[br]was I not making it worse 0:08:22.223,0:08:24.724 for Roberto and others like him. 0:08:25.264,0:08:28.124 But the fact of the matter[br]is that many of these hiring sites 0:08:28.124,0:08:30.319 have been around for years if not decades. 0:08:30.379,0:08:31.759 If you think of most cities 0:08:31.839,0:08:35.202 when you go around and you're looking,[br]there are no giant signs saying, 0:08:35.202,0:08:36.472 "Day laborers here!" 0:08:36.742,0:08:39.642 But if you were to ask anyone,[br]they would be able to tell you, 0:08:39.642,0:08:42.896 "Oh, yeah. You go to that corner,[br]and that's where you pick them up." 0:08:42.896,0:08:44.864 The fact that there is nothing there 0:08:44.864,0:08:47.565 belies the fact that they're[br]actually rather permanent. 0:08:47.565,0:08:50.753 I recall Juan, who was a day laborer[br]that I met in Houston 0:08:50.753,0:08:53.451 when we were looking[br]at building one of these there, 0:08:53.451,0:08:56.609 and he said to me, "I've been coming[br]to this site for many years. 0:08:56.733,0:08:58.714 It is a place in which I earn my living. 0:08:58.714,0:09:00.282 It is sacred to me. 0:09:00.612,0:09:03.878 But because there is nothing here,[br]no one else sees that." 0:09:04.801,0:09:06.802 And so for Juan and others like him, 0:09:06.802,0:09:09.312 building this wasn't[br]about trying to create something 0:09:09.312,0:09:11.504 that would bring[br]unwanted attention to them. 0:09:11.504,0:09:13.362 It was about trying to create something 0:09:13.362,0:09:16.184 that is actually emblematic[br]of the permanence of their site 0:09:16.184,0:09:18.742 and that could help actually[br]bring dignity to them. 0:09:19.488,0:09:23.011 In terms of an architectural project,[br]this was actually a bit of a failure. 0:09:23.011,0:09:25.361 We launched it right before[br]the economic collapse, 0:09:25.361,0:09:28.648 and although I flew all around the country[br]at the invitation of cities 0:09:28.648,0:09:31.221 who were really interested[br]as this is a novel solution, 0:09:31.221,0:09:32.541 when the collapse hit, 0:09:32.541,0:09:34.891 as you're closing schools[br]and cutting services, 0:09:34.891,0:09:38.382 it simply was politically untenable[br]to spend money on illegals. 0:09:39.216,0:09:40.944 But that actually forced us to think 0:09:40.944,0:09:43.995 about what were some of the other[br]outcomes that came out of this. 0:09:43.995,0:09:46.339 We treated this project[br]not as a design exercise 0:09:46.669,0:09:49.106 but as an opportunity[br]to create transformation 0:09:49.106,0:09:52.007 of the way in which people[br]saw a particular type of space 0:09:52.137,0:09:53.886 and saw a particular type of people. 0:09:54.416,0:09:55.689 And to that end, 0:09:55.714,0:10:00.766 we tried to tell the stories of Roberto,[br]Juan, Gabrielle, Leobardo 0:10:00.766,0:10:02.130 and others like them. 0:10:02.130,0:10:05.052 We tried to tell the stories of them[br]and their American dream, 0:10:05.052,0:10:07.774 their desire to come here[br]for a better life for themselves 0:10:07.774,0:10:08.984 and for their families. 0:10:08.984,0:10:11.606 And we tried to tell the stories[br]of their sacred spaces, 0:10:11.646,0:10:15.063 the places in which they earned a living[br]which would support that dream. 0:10:15.223,0:10:17.129 And we took that story far and wide. 0:10:17.129,0:10:19.399 We took it to The Los Angeles Times, 0:10:19.399,0:10:21.527 the Cooper-Hewitt,[br]National Design Museum, 0:10:21.527,0:10:22.943 the Venice Bienalle. 0:10:22.943,0:10:26.505 And what you see here is actually[br]a poster from a big international award 0:10:26.505,0:10:28.180 that we won for this project. 0:10:28.360,0:10:30.925 And on this poster are actually[br]quotes from emails 0:10:30.925,0:10:33.495 that I received over the years[br]from doing this project, 0:10:33.495,0:10:35.363 both good and, actually, a lot bad. 0:10:35.363,0:10:37.844 And the thing that we felt[br]really important 0:10:37.844,0:10:40.191 was that this was a catalyst[br]for a conversation. 0:10:40.591,0:10:42.966 No one was talking[br]about these sites before, 0:10:42.966,0:10:44.693 and by opening up the conversation 0:10:44.693,0:10:46.823 we were talking both[br]about what they are now 0:10:46.823,0:10:48.698 and what they have the potential to be. 0:10:48.898,0:10:52.684 It was also really important to tell[br]the story not only to the wider public 0:10:52.684,0:10:55.394 but also to the workers themselves. 0:10:56.134,0:10:58.230 One of my favorite moments[br]from this project 0:10:58.230,0:10:59.668 was that I had the opportunity 0:10:59.668,0:11:01.880 to present it to a convention[br]of day laborers - 0:11:01.880,0:11:03.487 and yes, there is such a thing. 0:11:03.487,0:11:05.700 And I only spoke[br]for a short period of time, 0:11:05.700,0:11:08.389 but after I did,[br]many people came up to me, 0:11:08.644,0:11:11.485 and I was truly touched[br]by how touched they were 0:11:11.739,0:11:14.298 at being able to see up there[br]on that big screen 0:11:14.298,0:11:17.310 something that acknowledged[br]that they had been seen, 0:11:17.476,0:11:20.223 that they had been heard,[br]and that they had been valued. 0:11:20.753,0:11:23.031 And that's the power[br]of being a storyteller. 0:11:23.551,0:11:26.145 As for the translator hat,[br]you have actually seen that 0:11:26.145,0:11:28.685 over the ten plus minutes[br]that I've been talking. 0:11:28.725,0:11:32.172 It's basically taking the things I hear[br]when I listen at the table 0:11:32.372,0:11:35.566 and the stories that I know[br]that I need to tell to create impact 0:11:35.566,0:11:38.705 and combining them[br]into something that is tangible - 0:11:38.925,0:11:40.801 a reflection of all of that. 0:11:40.911,0:11:44.028 And that allows us to move forward[br]on whatever the social issue is 0:11:44.028,0:11:45.542 that I'm trying to address. 0:11:45.652,0:11:49.537 And so, that is what it means[br]to design opportunities for impact. 0:11:49.927,0:11:51.723 It means that I'm an expert citizen 0:11:51.723,0:11:54.262 who creates space at the table[br]for citizen experts. 0:11:54.682,0:11:57.477 That I'm a storyteller[br]that tries to tell authentic stories 0:11:57.477,0:11:59.610 of the people I meet and design with. 0:11:59.840,0:12:01.561 And that I'm a translator 0:12:01.571,0:12:04.951 who tries to bring tangibility[br]to a vision of places and services 0:12:04.951,0:12:08.463 that speak to the needs and aspirations[br]of the human experience. 0:12:09.263,0:12:12.309 And so I hope that if you take[br]anything away today from my talk, 0:12:12.309,0:12:14.028 well, there is sort of three things. 0:12:14.028,0:12:17.451 The first is never really ask that[br]Fountainhead question to an architect. 0:12:17.451,0:12:18.739 We don't like it. 0:12:19.459,0:12:20.890 The other thing is that I hope 0:12:20.890,0:12:24.172 that you think about architecture[br]and design a little bit differently: 0:12:24.172,0:12:26.897 about what it is and what it has[br]the potential to impact. 0:12:26.897,0:12:29.568 And the third is that the things[br]that I have shown you 0:12:29.568,0:12:32.418 are about the combination[br]of both the hard skills of design 0:12:32.418,0:12:34.394 and the soft skills of humanity. 0:12:34.744,0:12:39.104 But those soft skills are not the domain,[br]the exclusive domain of design. 0:12:39.234,0:12:41.060 They can be used by all of you 0:12:41.060,0:12:44.827 in anything that you are trying to do[br]in your own lives and in your own crafts. 0:12:44.827,0:12:46.988 And so I hope that you move on today 0:12:46.988,0:12:49.173 trying to figure out exactly[br]how to do that. 0:12:49.303,0:12:50.344 Thank you. 0:12:50.344,0:12:53.340 (Applause)