National Cohousing Open House Day

Last month, the Puget Sound Regional Cohousing Network celebrated National Cohousing Open House Day with a two-part virtual event. In the first half, Grace presented an overview entitled “Cohousing: The New American Dream,” where she spoke to the benefits of cohousing and provided insight on how members of her cohousing community, Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing, navigate their relationships on a day-to-day basis. The event was then followed by virtual tours of both completed and developing cohousing communities throughout the region including the following:

Skagit Commons

Sunnyside Village

Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing

Puget Ridge Cohousing

Quimper Village

Vashon Cohousing

Winslow Cohousing

The Tours were broken up into 15-minute segments so that each participant had the opportunity to “visit” all properties. During the sessions, each community representative presented the layout and amenities associated with their community and answered participants’ questions.

Some of the participant feedback was:

“Informative and enjoyable presentations. Thank you!”

“Thank you to everyone who helped develop, run and host this virtual open house. It is difficult to fit everything into a relatively short time. Although meeting people and seeing places in person is ideal, Zoom allows those of us not in the immediate area an opportunity to at least get a sense of a community.”

“Thanks to all who put this together. It was very helpful. I wish there were more opportunities to move into established communities!”

If you’re interested in getting involved with a forming cohousing community, Sunnyside Village is currently looking for community members. For more information, visit their website by clicking here

If you’re interested in learning more about cohousing in general, visit https://www.cohousing.org/ and note that there is a National Cohousing Conference in Madison, WI this August.

Cohousing: A New American Dream

Grace Kim takes the virtual stage at the Seoul Cohousing Symposium to discuss the new American dream home, cohousing.

As loneliness becomes a growing health concern across the globe, people are looking for creative solutions to solve this often overlooked issue. A common cause in America is the lack of community that comes along with the “American Dream Home”. We see this happen in suburbs where, despite proximity, it can be rare for people to get to know their neighbors. Cohousing is centered around community; a place where residents feel support from family and friends, belonging, security, and a sense of wellbeing. Sounds pretty nice, right?

Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing Featured in The Ideal City

We are excited to announce that Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing is featured in The Ideal City, published by Space10 and Gestalten!

The Ideal City: Exploring Urban Futures, was published through a collaboration between Copenhagen-based research and design lab Space10 and renowned international design and art book publisher Gestalten. Through a series of expert essays and profiles on projects from around the world, including Schemata’s very own Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing, The Ideal City explores “the ambitious actions and initiatives being brought to life across the globe to meet tomorrow’s demand in clever, forward-thinking ways.” The book travels to 53 different cities in 30 countries detailing examples of a truly liveable city for the many.

Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing (CHUC) is a five-story intentional community comprised of nine homes over a street level commercial space, located in the dense urban center of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Designed by Schemata Workshop, the project was led by principals Grace Kim and Michael Mariano, who are also founding members and residents of the community. It is a visionary project - setting a model for dense, resilient, and community-oriented urban housing.

We are honored for CHUC to be featured in The Ideal City alongside boundary-pushing projects from around the globe.

To Pre-Order The Ideal City, click here.

Grace Kim Elevated to American Institute of Architects College of Fellows

Schemata Workshop Founder and Principal Grace Kim has been elevated to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows, in recognition of her national and international leadership in the profession.

AIA Fellows are recognized with the AIA’s highest membership honor for their exceptional and significant work and contributions to architecture and society. Only 3 percent of AIA members have this distinction. 

From her work in the Cohousing movement, to her novel approaches to mentorship, to her tireless efforts both advocating for and designing equitable affordable housing, Grace has displayed a consistent dedication to inclusion through her over twenty five years of practice. Grace’s approach has international reach – inspiring and influencing practitioners, educators, and students alike. The following are excerpts from her application, outlining the three facets of Grace’s leadership.

Advocating for Change from Within the Profession

Grace has framed her professional approach to architecture with inclusion as the core principle. Grace has advocated for underrepresented voices within our profession – whether they be emerging professionals, women, or people of color. She has worked diligently to combat embedded inequities in the practice of architecture by creating an inclusive, mentorship-based model of practice.

For over two decades, Grace has been a vocal advocate for emerging professionals. Her wide-reaching work, from her internationally distributed book, The Survival Guide for Architectural Internship and Career Development, to her development of the innovative Laddership and Speed Mentoring models, has garnered her national recognition and the 2004 AIA Emerging Professionals Mentorship and 2008 Young Architects Awards. Her professional contributions in cohousing, participatory design, and social equity have resulted in Grace being a highly sought-after speaker for national and international conferences and symposia. Her TED Talk on cohousing has reached over 2.4 million viewers worldwide.

Building Bridges between Education and Practice

Creating a more inclusive and equitable architectural profession begins with access. Grace has dedicated herself to removing barriers to entry and providing a path to leadership for women and BIPOC students, beginning in the classroom. By engaging students and youth around the country and the world, Grace provides a model of female minority leadership that makes achievement more tangible.

Women and people of color continue to be underrepresented in architecture, particularly in leadership positions. In 2019, NCARB reported women and minorities respectively comprised 38% and 20% of those finishing core licensure requirements. Grace has experienced this inequity firsthand, and has worked as a critical agent of change. From speaking regularly at regional and national AIAS conferences, to jurying design studios, to providing lectures, tours, and workshops for the Seattle Architecture Foundation (SAF), Grace has built a pipeline for future generations of diverse architects. Grace has inspired and provided a pedagogical influence internationally with courses and studios on cohousing and user-centric design.

Amplifying Underrepresented Voices in the Community

Grace is invested in fostering inclusion in her community as an extension of her service-oriented practice. In Grace’s leadership and advocacy for community-based initiatives, from affordable housing, to anti-displacement efforts, to collective ownership models, she demonstrates an attentiveness to the needs of diverse people, providing them amplification and empowerment.

Over years of service on the Housing Development Consortium Board and as a Seattle Planning Commissioner, Grace has combatted racial disparities, restructured Board recruitment processes, and implemented an equity-based lens for developing planning and policy documents. In industry-wide planning and land-use policy discussions, Grace has been a constant advocate for climate justice and the rights of renters, low income families, and people experiencing homelessness or displacement. Grace has also contributed to the community significantly through her leadership in the global cohousing movement — a collaborative housing model that encourages user-participation through the design and development process.

For more information on the other newly-honored Seattle-based AIA Fellows, click here.

For a full list of the 2021 AIA College of Fellows recipients, click here.

Leadership Tomorrow - Geoff's Reflections on Challenge Day 4: Arts + Culture

Schemata Workshop is excited to announce that Principal Geoff Anderson has been selected as a participant in the Leadership Tomorrow (LT) class of 2021.

LT is an intensive civic leadership program focused on interconnections between elements of Seattle Foundation’s “Healthy Community” framework. The program helps participants further develop their leadership skills and practices, focusing on the goal of creating a healthy, just, and inclusive Puget Sound region. In particular, the program has been actively evolving its approach to racial equity, supporting participants’ development as antiracist civic leaders.

Geoff’s Reflection on Challenge Day 4: Arts + Culture

photo of Public Works Program courtesy of Seattle Repertory Theatre

As a fan of many arts and cultural events and organizations around Seattle, I was looking forward to our Arts & Culture Challenge Day. On any normal year I make a habit of attending several plays at the Seattle Repertory Theatre and the Seattle Children’s Theater with my family, operas at McCaw Hall on date nights with my wife, museum shows with my daughter, and of course, and I love to take advantage of the wonderful food by patronizing restaurants around the city. However, in 2020 this topic was burdened with the additional considerations of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has affected all these cultural institutions, and has disproportionately impacted BIPOC artists and organizations.

For the Challenge Day, we broke into three groups that each had the opportunity to join a conversation with one or two amazing leaders in the Seattle arts and culture community. These included Elishaba Johnson of Wa Na Wari, Tim Lennon of LANGSTON, Brian Carter of 4Culture with Leilani Lewis of the UW, and Angie Kamel of the Seattle Rep’s Public Works program with Becky Witmer of ACT.

I chose the latter because I have a great appreciation for the Rep, and I was curious about their Public Works Program. Angie brought this program to Seattle in the past few years and worked hard to not only explain the program to the Rep’s Board but get them to support it. At the program’s core, it seeks to build diverse relationships throughout the community. They hold workshops with community groups, resulting in a “Grand Play” production with as many as 100 people on stage. Because of the hard work and years of relationship-building, they were able to continue this tradition despite the pandemic, pivoting to a virtual community theater performance of their own musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. This kind of community resilience is inspiring.

We also learned about some of the other amazing creative problem-solving that our local arts organizations have implemented in the past year. According to ArtsFund, 100% of arts organizations are currently offering some sort of digital programming. The Seattle Symphony is broadcasting performances with musicians positioned spread at a safe distance throughout the theater space, including areas normally reserved for the audience. Artists are banding together to create organizations like the Seattle Artists Relief Fund through LANGSTON, and community kitchens are cropping up across the city.  

I particularly enjoyed reading about some of the amazing and diverse restaurateurs who are persevering through the pandemic. It happens that one of the first charitable contributions I made when the pandemic hit was to the Seattle Community Kitchen Collective to support not only the food service workers, but the provision of free meals in the community. My wife and I had been awaiting the opening of Melissa Miranda’s restaurant Musang, and were excited to hear they quickly and innovatively pivoted to this generous concept as soon as the pandemic hit (a stark contrast to the reaction of Tom Douglas). We learned that many other amazing chefs joined the effort, including Chef Kristi Brown of That Brown Girl Cooks and now Communion (who we were lucky enough to have cater our Schemata company holiday party last year!), and Tarik Abdullah who led a grassroots effort to build Feed the People Plaza. These chefs are not only good at their craft but are an inspiration for how to build community and bring people together through arts and culture.

Photo of Feed the People Plaza courtesy of Gabe Guarente / Eater Seattle.

If there is one thing that this pandemic has made me acutely aware of, it’s how much I miss community. Arts and culture organizations are unique endeavors that bring people together to share a collective experience. This is the foundation of building community. I am inspired by the level at which people have rallied to support the arts through this pandemic, but I also worry that it won’t be enough. I believe arts and culture play a role in the health of our community. I am also reminded how important it is to me personally. I write these reflections on Inauguration Day, wondering if a new administration may be willing to support a New Deal-type program that puts an emphasis on saving and restoring arts and cultural programs. What better way to bring unity? I also take it upon myself – what can we each do, professionally and personally, to better support the arts moving forward?

As I finish writing this, I am not only hungry to eat at one of the aforementioned restaurants, but am also feeling like I want to make a better effort at engaging in virtual opportunities to enjoy the arts. I was pleased that our family had kept a tradition of seeing the PNB’s production of the Nutcracker virtually, even dressing up to gather around the TV. It wasn’t quite the same, but I was able to appreciate the close-ups of the costumes in a way I hadn’t been able to from the 3rd balcony.  This piqued my interest – maybe there are added benefits to the virtual format? I am looking forward to engaging in more opportunities in the future that not only support arts and culture and lift my spirits, but also build community across distance. - Geoff Anderson