Since graduating from Lawrence Tech this past May (and before), I’ve been asked countless times, “What kind of Architecture do you want to practice?” And unfortunately, I have never had an answer for those inquiring. Since simply saying “I don’t know” seemed lackadaisical, I came up with an answer that seemed to satisfy the inquisitive. My reply went on to recite the short list of architectural experiences that I’ve had, ending with a confident statement about how I’ve learned from those experiences what fields of architecture I DO NOT want to build my career around. While this witty response satisfied the questions of others, it did not, however, satisfy me. I needed to be able to answer this question in order to feel like the work that I am doing with my architecture degree, and the degree itself, is worthwhile.
For our first Challenge, which just wrapped up this past Friday, we partnered with the Detroit Collaborative Design Center (DCDC). The DCDC is, in their own words, “a multi-disciplinary, nonprofit architecture and urban design firm … dedicated to creating sustainable spaces and communities through quality design and the collaborative process.” In working with this organization, my group of fellows was asked to design and build an interactive art installation, which spoke to the idea of accountability. While the process was complicated and required flexibility, it was one filled with rewards to be reaped. Being surrounded by designers whose top priorities include meaningfulness, social responsibility, sustainability, and positive public engagement, I realized, “That’s it! That’s what I want to do!”
Since this epiphany just days ago, I’ve been researching all I can about socially responsible/public interest/ non-profit design and the organizations that provide those types of services. And now that I’ve made this discovery, all I can think is, “Of course this is it!” I’m shocked that it took me this long to realize that this is how I want to use my degree, because it is, after all, what I’m already doing. I am in Detroit and in the Challenge Detroit program in order to use my design skills to help not profits create design solutions that benefit the people of Detroit. I am perfectly poised to continue to explore this newly realized passion of mine for the next year, and I intend to make the most of it. And what better place to explore the opportunities for socially responsible design than in Detroit?
