10/25/15
Tough
Questions
Member
Spotlight: Rita Saikali Carter, Assoc.
AIA
By
Lance Bird , FAIA
Principal
LCDG
I
met Rita Carter at the September Chapter Board Meeting. Energetic, well-read and focused, Rita recently
reflected on the challenges our young members face.
To
get to know her, I asked…
Favorite color – “used to be red,
but it’s too aggressive. I’ve changed to
orange.”
Favorite ice cream? Hmmm…put her in the chocolate family.
Favorite car – For Rita a car
provides convenience and should be affordable.
Money
no object, it would be a Toyota Prius.
From
Lebanon , Rita got her
undergraduate degree from Cal Poly Pomona, followed with a Masters from Columbia L.A.
Rita participated in Architecture for Humanity at AIA/
Concerns of Young
People in our Profession – “We often feel left out.” Firm leaders need to be inclusive, and create
opportunities for those on the license track.
As a thoughtful soon-to-be architect, she has many Big Questions. We could devote chapters -- maybe a book to finding
answers to any of these questions. A
diverse, collaborative team would be required.
And with the exponential growth of technology, our answers would be
obsolete when we got there.
#1
– “Why Architecture? (The purpose behind our services and products)”
#2
– “Why is business acumen not taught in design school?”
#3
– “Does empathy belong in Architecture?”
#4
– “How will you survive? (Are you, your family, your firm, your business
prepared to bounce back from disaster?)
Disaster Preparedness
–
Rita intends to lead the charge, crafting a plan for our chapter members. When least expected, disaster can strike. It could be the next earthquake or El
Nino. Contact Rita at rita.saikali.gmail.com,
if you’d like to be a part of this effort.
Why
Architecture? - I attended AIACC’s
Healthcare Facilities Forum October 22nd. The kickoff speaker was Dr. John Mattison,
MD, chief medical information officer at Kaiser-Permanente. He points out the explosion of technology and
the impact on society and healthcare.
Today the world’s largest transportation company is Uber; the largest
hotel chain, Airbnb. Big Data is
reinventing healthcare delivery.
- From 1983, cell phone
ownership has grown to 10 billion.
In remote villages, access to the internet through cell phones may
be more important than water!
- In five years,
Kaiser expects to deliver 50% of their services at home.
- Previously
undreamed of cures are occurring through stem cell therapy.
- Through technologies like OpenNotes, patients will soon have access to their medical files.
The
impact of technology and the corresponding societal changes should be similar
in architectural practice.
Architects
synthesize information to solve problems.
To get ten steps ahead of the technology revolution (or even two steps
ahead), we need to get beyond style, finishes, new materials and project
delivery. Using healthcare as an
example, if healthcare delivery will be in the home, not in billion dollar
medical centers, what should our response be?
Read
Michael Storper’s “How, and why, L.A. L.A. Los Angeles
“It (Southern California )
…must replace isolation and fragmentation with networking and connectivity.
It has to turn away, once and for all, from low-cost, low wage manufacturing. It has to once again live up to its potential
as anything but stodgy.”
In
the above statement, substitute “Architecture” for “Southern
California ”. That’s where
we can begin.
