PVAF 2020

Helen Crettier Wilkes

December 5, 2015

PVAF 2020

You have been on the board for a few years and are proud of the accomplishments of the foundation. What would you like to be able to say to new board members?

• PVAF is the proud owner of LEAFhouse, the winner of the People’s Choice Award and the 2nd place winner overall of the 2007 Solar Decathlon. AIA Potomac Valley and the Foundation are headquartered there.

• We have accomplished much in the years since we occupied this building and are using it increasingly as an educational resource and tool for public outreach. With ongoing improvements to enhance our ability to bring in the public, there is much more we can do to forward our mission.

• We have broadened the reach of our board to ensure that we have a strong cross-section of people who can work together to grow in our ability to serve the profession and the public in advancing the value of good architecture.

December 5, 2015

PVAF 2020

What was your most valuable experience as a student in architecture school or other higher education? How would you like to see such an experience still be offered?

• My most valuable experience as a student of architecture was the opportunity to study abroad in my final year. With the solid knowledge I’d gained in previous semesters, mostly in studio, the added inspiration that came from broadening my horizons in another country with exceptional architectural and artistic values was an enriching experience that informs how I approach design every day.

• I’d like to help enable as many students of architecture as possible to broaden their horizons by studying in a foreign locale that similarly offers intellectual stimulation, depth of architectural history, exposure to structural and technological innovation, and creative inspiration needed to create good architecture, and great architects.

December 5, 2015

PVAF 2020

What educational experiences do you think would be valuable today as the profession has changed?

• The opportunity for extracurricular learning opportunities is important. Experience in the real world outside the studio, whether from working for an architectural firm or in construction, or participating in a solar decathlon, or otherwise gaining from the abundance of knowledge and experience that comes from applying, or testing, knowledge gained in the classroom and studio outside of those milieu is valuable in educating the well-rounded graduate of architecture. There is a feedback loop in the extracurricular experience that empowers the student to return with, and to share with others in the studio environment, new ideas and information about technological innovations, materials of building, creative problem-solving approaches, and other enhancements to their educational experience.

December 5, 2015

PVAF 2020

In terms of promoting architectural research, what are three areas that you feel need to be examined in greater depth in the local area on a county level? On a state wide level? On a global level?

• The growing challenges presented by climate change as well as population growth dictate an urgent priority at all levels: Local/county,, statewide, nationally, and globally. The field of architecture offers the opportunity to innovate and contribute solutions that can help solve many of the problems in today’s built environment as well as offering better ways to provide shelter in the future.

December 5, 2015

PVAF 2020

What recent trends in architecture, fine arts or performing arts have you become more aware of in the past five years? How did you become informed about these shifts/trends. Social media? Advertising? Word of mouth? What else?

• Ever-growing advances in sustainable design offer exciting opportunities for architects. The push to produce designs that are smarter, more efficient, more durable, and more thoughtfully conceived to reduce negative impacts offers huge challenges, and opportunities. But it also offers an the impetus to embrace all relevant technologies and social media as tools to achieve these goals.

• As a digital immigrant, I’ve learned about these trends both through computer and social media and through multiple forms of print media. Continuing education offered through AIA programs and events have also been an important resource.

December 5, 2015

PVAF 2020

If the PVAF should suddenly become endowed with one million dollars, how would you suggest we allocate it?

• A newly-minted millionaire PVAF could do much to enhance educational opportunities for students of architecture as well as to demonstrate the value of good architecture to the public. We should start with LEAFhouse, our most valuable asset in every way: Improve LEAFhouse – the building and its technologies as well as its grounds - and embrace a strong outreach program to maximize its use as a tool for research and learning. Involve students of architecture, engineering and landscape design by offering incentives to assist in forwarding our mission. Provide more scholarships to students of architecture, tying them to some level of participation in promoting our mission to “promote architectural education, training and research and to increase public awareness of the field of architecture. Leverage some of the funds by creating an endowment for PVAF.

December 5, 2015

PVAF 2020

What is the most effective fundraising strategy you have seen  used by a nonprofit you have supported? How could a similar strategy be adapted to help PVAF reach its goals?

• Crowdfunding is an interesting strategy in that it both raises funds and promotes public awareness. But there are other ways to publicize fundraising goals, which are always most effective when there are clear, measurable and attainable goals driving the campaign. “Bricks and mortar” goals, especially, offer opportunities to engage participants in this way.

• Crowdfunding adapted for PVAF might be akin to passing a tin cup among our constituents. Not sure how this would work but it’s worth discussing.

December 5, 2015

PVAF 2020

What’s your one “big idea” for PVAF in 2016-2020?

• Make LEAFhouse and the PVAF more relevant to the members of our chapter, the local architectural community, and to the public.

December 5, 2015