I have not spread myself as thin in the realm of community service as I have in most areas. The following four organizations are the ones to which I chiefly devote energy and resources. I support them because they are effective.
Nature Conservancy
Since its founding in 1951, the Nature Conservancy has protected more than 117 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of rivers worldwide.
Southern Poverty Law Center
Located in Montgomery, Alabama–the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement–the Southern Poverty Law Center was founded by Morris Dees and Joe Levin, two local lawyers who shared a commitment to racial equality. Its first president was civil rights activist Julian Bond. Throughout its history, the SPLC has worked to make the nation’s Constitutional ideals a reality. The SPLC legal department fights all forms of discrimination and works to protect society’s most vulnerable members, handling innovative cases that few lawyers are willing to take. Over three decades, it has achieved significant legal victories, including landmark Supreme Court decisions and crushing jury verdicts against hate groups. Of particular interest to architects, SPLC’s headquarters building is one of four case studies in Lisa Findley’s Building Change: Architecture, Politics and Cultural Agency.
Public Architecture
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. Supported by the generosity of foundation, corporate, and individuals grants and donations, Public Architecture works outside the economic constraints of conventional architectural practice, providing a venue where architects can work for the public good.
First Congregational Church of Berkeley
I belong to FCCB–the First Congregational Church of Berkeley–a United Church of Christ congregation led by Rev. Patricia de Jong, who previously served with William Sloan Coffin at New York’s Riverside Church. The UCC is the first main-stream church in North America to have ordained an African-American (1785), a woman (1853) and an openly gay pastor (1972). FCCB is an Open and Affirming congregation: “In the Spirit of love, openness, and inclusiveness we welcome persons of every sexual orientation, race, nationality, ability, age and gender to participate fully in all aspects of our Church’s life and ministry.” Plus, the music is incredible. 11 a.m. Sundays, Dana between Durant and Channing, Berkeley.
Imagining the Back
What this has to do with New Orleans won’t be immediately apparent. But what it illustrates is a fact of architectural design, which is that, when you are looking at a floorplan, it is pretty easy to imagine the front face of the building, but it’s not so easy to imagine the back face, because to do that, you would have to turn it around in your head. Which is why it is a good idea for architects to rotate their drawings on their desktops (actual or virtual) from time to time, to get an all-around understanding of what they’re doing.