Contract Magazine - December 2018 - 49

PHOTOGRAPHY: COURTESY OF MASS DESIGN GROUP (LEFT) AND TOM HARRIS, COURTESY OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO AND THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO (RIGHT)

The Equal Justice Initiative,
which opened this year, is a powerful
example of this. It recognizes the
damage created by our long history
of slavery, racial terror, lynching,
and segregation, as well as the lack
of discussion about lynching and
its legacy. With this memorial, MASS
Design Group and The Equal Justice
initiative have created a space that
embraces truth and inspires reflection
and change.
-Geno Yun, AIA, Principal, ELS

We need to be seen as
powerful business and design consultants where both roles are not
only considered, but also highly
intertwined. We can no longer tolerate
being only 'receivers' of information
for input, but rather 'originators'
of bottom-line business drivers linked
to design, brand, and cultural goals
of our clients. We need to be bolder
and believe in what we do!
-Scott C. Hierlinger, Vice President-
Interior Design, Managing Principal,

ARCHITECTURE & URBAN DESIGN

Can we leave the world better than
the way we found it?
This year has brought public
discourse surrounding monuments
of our nation's horrific past to the
news headlines. The National Memorial
for Peace and Justice, designed
by MASS Design Group, stands as
a reminder that we can leave a mark
on the world, making it better than
the way that we found it.
-Jane Hallinan, IIDA, Interior Designer,
PERKINS EASTMAN

We, in the interior design industry,
need to elevate ourselves, become
bolder, and believe in what we do.
As we end another year, I am more
aware than ever that as an industry,
interior design has an increasing
external public relations issue.
As an industry filled with highly
educated, articulate, and informed
professionals, we are consistently
not perceived as an elevated resource.
In a world where many of our services
are being taken by others or managed
out of our projects, we are not
transforming and re-negotiating
our path.

NELSON

Set across six acres of
land, The National Memorial
for Peace and Justice is made
up of over 800 corten steel
columns, representing every
county in the United States
that experienced racial
terror. Engraved in the
monuments are the names
of lynching victims.

"Thrival Geographies (In My
Mind I See a Line)" by Amanda
Williams + Andres L. Hernandez
was created in collaboration
with Shani Crowe for the 2018
U.S. Pavilion at the Venice
Architecture Biennale.

discontinuous thinking and action
Architecture and design needs
works. The new members of Congress
to become more inclusive.
represent a vastly greater awareness
'Thrival Geographies (In My Mind
of issues ranging from sustainability to
I See a Line)' is an unassuming braided
gender equality, inclusion, and human
organic structure by Amanda Williams
rights that were gained by specifically
and Andres L. Hernandez with Shani
Crowe for the U.S. Pavilion at the Venice designing a strategy to amplify critical
narratives, from women especially.
Architecture Biennale. It's a piece that
I'm hopeful it portends the beginning
challenges conventional architectural
of a movement embracing the marriage
form. This year's Biennale theme was
of intelligence quotient (IQ) and
how the very shape of architecture is
emotional intelligence (EQ), and will
promoting our societal constructs of
us and them, colonizer and colonized- compel the design industry and beyond
to re-evaluate corrosive values and
leaving large groups of historically
marginalized populations out or behind. methodologies.
-Angie Y. Lee, Principal and Design
Amanda proposes another style of
Director-Interiors, FXCOLLABORATIVE
architecture that is potentially more
inclusive. In this politically and environmentally charged time, everything we
design and build needs to be evaluated
for how it plays into these stories.
-Verda Alexander, Principal and
Co-Founder, STUDIO O+A
The recent midterm elections have
given us hope and will compel our
profession to re-evaluate corrosive
values and methods.
The recent midterm elections, at long
last, is definitive proof that positive,
contract

Contract Magazine - December 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract Magazine - December 2018