March 2007
Dear Friend of Public Architecture:
 Last week, John Cary, our executive director, participated in the Pro Bono Institute (PBI) Annual Seminar in Washington, DC. The premier event of its type, the Seminar attracts large law firm pro bono managers, in-house corporate counsel, public interest attorneys, and others. The event included dozens of workshops and seminars as well as remarks by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsberg, all focused on pro bono practice. A similar event, coordinated by the American Bar Association (ABA) Center for Pro Bono, will take place later this month.
These are just two of dozens of formalized resources and opportunities available to legal professionals in an array of practice settings. The architecture and design fields have much to learn from the legal profession's example regarding pro bono, but I strongly believe that we also have much to share and contribute to the conversation as well. In the next two months, with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts and others, Public Architecture will be introducing a series of regularly-requested resources to facilitate pro bono design practice. They are designed as resources for firms, professionals, pro bono clients, the media, and other stakeholders--all aimed at mainstreaming and professionalizing pro bono practice.
John Peterson
Founder & Chair
Contents:
1. 1% Solution Welcomes Nine New Firm Pledges
2. People and Thinking Behind the Pledges
3. Pro Bono Project Profile
4. Gehry Partners Pro Bono Project Announced in LA Times
5. Upcoming Public Architecture Presentations
6. Register Today to Attend Structures for Inclusion 7
7. What You Can Do to Support Public Architecture
1. 1% Solution Welcomes Nine New Firm Pledges
 During the month of February and so far this month, Public Architecture has welcomed nine new firms to our 1% Solution program, bringing to 125 the total number of firms signed on to date. Among the new nine were our second landscape architecture firm as well as our first architectural illustration and interior & architectural photography firms. Just this morning, Pyatok Architects became our 125th firm to pledge. Becker Winston Architects (Philadelphia, PA)
B + O design studio, pllc (Wilmington, NC)
CMG landscape architecture (San Francisco, CA)
Ellis Architects (Tuscaloosa, AL)
Grace PG Design Group LLC (San Antonio, TX)
John Linam Jr., Architect, PLLC (Reston, VA)
Mark Darley Interior & Architectural Photography (Mill Valley, CA)
Pyatok Architects (Oakland, CA)
Tim Hall Architectural Illustration (Fort Worth, TX) Is your firm part of the Solution? Visit www.theonepercent.org/pledge to pledge your 1% today.
2. People and Thinking Behind the Pledges
"Pyatok Architects, Inc. is committed to designing durable, attractive affordable housing for lower income communities that fosters higher density, mixed-used development within inner cities and suburbs. We generally work with nonprofit corporations, and those providing useful service to society. Special attention is paid to projects for populations with extraordinary needs: such as households with lower incomes, seniors, transitional housing residents, people living with HIV, and children's facilities."
--Adrianne Steichen, Pyatok Architects (Oakland, CA)
"As an architectural photographer of 25 years, I am available to photograph not-for-profit projects that would otherwise have either no budget or a very limited budget to photograph and promote the project."
--Mark Darley, Mark Darley Interior & Architectural Photography (Mill Valley, CA)
"We practice in the tradition of those who envision design as a catalyst for social and ecological transformation...Our primary interest in providing pro bono services is to aide communities and institutions in the conceptual and pragmatic issues of improving public open spaces of all types."
--Christopher Guillard, CMG Landscape Architecture (San Francisco, CA)
"As design professionals in a small, growing coastal city, we are committed to our local green building alliance (CFGBA), environmental stewardship projects, and community work in the Cape Fear region."
--Scott Ogden, B + O design studio, pllc (Wilmington, NC)
3. Pro Bono Project Profile
 Another one of the nine aforementioned firms was the first of many referred by the Community Design Collaborative of AIA Philadelphia, which for over 15 years has connected architecture professionals with local nonprofit organizations in need of professional design assistance. Public Architecture has long cited the Collaborative as a model and inspiration, and we have offered the 1% Solution as a venue to them and similar nonprofit design organizations to promote their good work nationally.
 In 2005, the Collaborative provided a service grant valued at $39,516 to Mt. Tabor Community Education & Economic Development Corporation (CEED) to create a conceptual design for a new senior housing complex. Contributors included the firm of Becker Winston Architects; Michael Paul, SE, of Duffield Associates; Joe Matje of Bruce E. Brooks & Associates; and Community Design Collaborative staff. The Mt. Tabor CEED was recently awarded an $11 million Low Income Housing Tax Credit to finance the project. Becker Winston Architects was subsequently commissioned to complete the design for this project that might never have come to fruition without the early investment of the firm and the Collaborative.
Click here for more information on this project and visit www.cdesignc.org for more information about the Community Design Collaborative.
4. Gehry Partners Pro Bono Project Announced in LA Times
As announced in the February 19 edition of the Los Angeles Times newspaper, "Celebrated Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry will begin a two-phase design project for the Pasadena Playhouse that will include a new 300- to 400-seat theater to expand the Playhouse campus, as well as redesigning the interior of the Playhouse's existing balcony performance space, the Carrie Hamilton Theatre.
...
Gehry, designer of downtown's Walt Disney Concert Hall, the interior of Pasadena's Norton Simon Museum and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, will undertake both projects pro bono due to his longtime friendship with [Carol] Burnett. The two met 24 years ago when both served on the board of the Santa Monica-based Hereditary Disease Foundation. Burnett recently joined the Pasadena Playhouse board...."
Click here to read the entire Los Angeles Times article.
Public Architecture would appreciate your assistance in identifying published coverage of pro bono design projects. Email articles, links, or other tips to jcary@publicarchitecture.org.
5. Upcoming Public Architecture Presentations March 9, 2007
Kahler Slater (Milwaukee, WI)
Invited speaker
March 15, 2007
AIA Northeast Illinois (Oak Brook, IL)
Invited speaker
April 4-5, 2007
Residential Design Show (Boston, MA)
Session host
April 5, 2007
AIA Kansas City (Kansas City, MO)
Invited speaker Click here for a complete list of presentations for Spring 2007.
6. Register Today to Attend Structures for Inclusion 7
Last year at this time, Public Architecture was honored to co-host the sixth annual Structures for Inclusion (SFI) conference. This year's conference--Structures for Inclusion 7 (SFI7)--will take place April 13-15, 2007, at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. Addressing the theme "High Impact: Positive Change Through Design/Build," SFI7 will focus on the growing interest in design/build as both an academic and a professional methodology.
Visit www.designcorps.org/sfi7 for complete details, including registration information.
 7. What You Can Do to Support Public Architecture
Click here for 10 ways to contribute to our work.
Established in 2002, Public Architecture identifies and solves practical problems of human interaction in the built environment and acts as a catalyst for public discourse through education, advocacy, and the design of public spaces and amenities. Visit www.publicarchitecture.org for more information.
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