(A multipart reflection on fellowship written by Lira Luis)

“The best time to get an award is when you receive it.” 

– Grafton Architects (Shelley McNamara), 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate and 2020 Royal Gold Medallist

Part 2 – The RIBA Fellowship

We live in uncertain times, and I bet you’re a bit like me — you wonder about our world after we emerge from this long darkness of lockdowns.

I’m not sure how you would have reacted, but when I first inquired last year (2019) about the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Fellowship and the uncertain outcomes of a submission to this special recognition for current RIBA Chartered Members, I made an intentional choice to work towards it. Usually when the RIBA Fellow Assessment Panel reaches a decision about your submission, it could receive one of the three following outcomes:

1) Your application is approved and you are elected as an RIBA Fellow Member. (Most people would like this positive outcome.)

2) Your application is not approved, with written feedback provided as to why you do not meet at least 3 of the 5 eligibility criteria.

3) Your application is not approved but you are asked to re-apply, as the panel have been unable to accurately evaluate your application and require further written evidence and/or supporting documentation.

Just imagine, the only thing certain about its outcome is uncertainty. What most people would do in this situation is strongly assess if you’re prepared for this rigorous undertaking. The best time to work towards the Fellowship — regardless of your age, race, citizenship status, national origin, or ethnicity, is when you meet the qualifications as a member, and when you are ready.

In spite of the uncertain outcome, I worked towards it, for the strong vision and democratic process it offered. It’s a platform to impact your present and to provide a brighter future:

“Fellows of the RIBA are ambassadors for the profession and RIBA community, with membership providing a profile and platform to continue to affect change and celebrate architecture.”

You’ll see it expressed in the examples of RIBA Fellows like these, who came before me. I am inspired by their examples to continue, as I come behind them.

I started mulling about the RIBA Fellowship after attending the 16th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Architecture Biennale in October 2018, which was curated by Honorary Fellows of RIBA Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara in Italy. The show created an impact on me, as the body of work I later submitted for the RIBA Fellowship is sympathetic with the “Freespace” architecture agenda on “generosity of spirit and a sense of humanity”. One of those works was the revival of the underutilised System-Built Homes — Frank Lloyd Wright’s foundational project that birthed his “Usonian” Jacobs House (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) — resulting in reduction of blight in a disadvantaged city block of New Jersey.

By February 2019, I had visited the RIBA headquarters in London that had an exhibit on 2019 Royal Gold Medallist Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, RIBA, Hon FAIA. He is a renowned British architect who is also a registered architect in the State of New York, USA. Within the retrospective, he had a project that reminded me of Buckminster Fuller, as well as a picture of him with Bucky himself at his project The Service Tower (also known as the Bathroom Tower). It served as inspiration for my RIBA Fellowship submission on how I would later present the research and development of Leapfrog Project’s “Living Ball” that enabled self-sufficient empowerment of extreme weather survivors through geodesic constructions.

When the application cycle opened on June 10, 2019 for 2020 RIBA Fellowship and after being a continuous RIBA Chartered Member for 11 years, I chose to participate for the process and not for the outcome — particularly when it’s uncertain. It was by choice, not because of a commitment or because I have no other options. I was there for the moment and I wasn’t trapped there with nowhere else to go. And it is with this mindset that I sent my submission which included an application form, signed declaration, and projects that demonstrated how I met 4 of the 5 criteria (3 is minimum) including signatures of decision makers who verified my contributions in those projects.

The gift of inspiration from “Freespace” at the Venice Architecture Biennale came full circle when I flew to London and attended the RIBA Fellowship Ceremony on February 12, 2020 at Florence Hall. I was one of the ten elected as Fellow this year.

In the Royal Gold Medal & Fellowships 2020 booklet for the awards ceremonies, headlined by 2020 Royal Gold Medallist Grafton Architects’ Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, I learned of the “extraordinary spirit of generosity with which they exercise their profession”.

(“For me personally, this RIBA booklet from the RIBA Fellowship Ceremony has taken on another level of meaning and value! It’s great to be in extremely good company with all the people featured in it… particularly its headliner, the 2020 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureates, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects”)

And it’s with that same spirit of generosity I experienced “fellowship” from those who empowered my elevation as Fellow of RIBA, as I described in my acceptance speech:

“I advance work for those impacted by extreme climate and inequities. It demands overcoming preconceptions. (The) RIBA, a professional institute pioneer, understands this. Many empowered my elevation as Fellow: Jason Boyle, FRIBA, FRSA; Dr Wayne Ruga, FAIA, FIIDA, Hon FASID; and others, including (the) RIBA — for electing me as your Fellow. Thank you. You inspire me to pay it forward by your examples.”

(When they told me I had 30 seconds to deliver my speech, which is almost the same amount of time as what Brad Pitt got for his 2020 Oscar speech, I found a creative way to deliver my 1,000-word message in that time frame. With a little help from my friends at London Fashion Week 2020, I wore the rest of my message instead: Defying Gravity, symbolized by a cape for flying. NB: On normal speaking time, RIBA is pronounced as it is spelled: R–I–B–A, and Jason Boyle as well as Dr Wayne Ruga are multiple Fellowship credential recipients.) [Video courtesy of Karl Lenton and Alex Nikjoo]

How would you feel if an uncertainty led to a brighter future? That was how I felt because everything about the process aligned at the right time for me — from submission to ceremony (happened a month before the Covid-19 pandemic would be declared). Through this RIBA Fellowship process I learned, the way to build is with inspiration. When you have that, you have hope for a brighter Future and the promise of better days regardless of uncertainty. In it I find meaning.

You’ll find the meaning of fellowship when working towards it means something for you.

(Read: Part 1 – Taliesin Fellowship)

Lira Luis is a 2020 Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). She is the first and only Taliesin Fellow from the Philippines at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture (FLWSA) since its founding. She is principal architect at ALLL/Leapfrog Project, delivers presentations at national conferences named in the “Gold 100 Listing of the world’s largest and most successful trade shows” for the past 20 years. She organized and led the AIA national Practice Management’s (PMKC) A’19 session “Virtual Architectural Practice: Alternate Realities for the Emerging Gig Economy” and “Virtual Practices: The Impact of Technology and Transience on New Histories in Practice” partner program at the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial, subsequently co-authored a resulting white paper with AIA Trust “An Architect’s Guide to Virtual Practice” that reached more than 30,000 AIA members, and moderated the webinar “Virtual Architectural Practice – An Alternate Reality”. At A’16 Conference on Architecture she shared solutions about the gig economy and potential for Virtual Practices in “Rethinking the Workplace: Co-Working Spaces for Architects”. She brings more than 25 years of architecture experience and is emeritus chair of AIA national PMKC. After graduating from the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture (FLWSA), working in firms in the USA and abroad, earning NCARB certification, she runs a Virtual Practice on Blockchain Technology.

Moving is stressful enough when you only have to think about your family. When you’re considering the needs of an entire business, things become a little more complicated.

When planning an office move, some minor details will inevitably fall through the cracks. You’ve got to get the big stuff out of the way and resolve as many of the potential pitfalls as possible so that when it comes time to go to work in the new space, business runs smoothly.

1. What Does Your Current Lease Look Like?

Hopefully, you haven’t overlooked the terms of your existing agreement. You should be nearing the end of the lease if you’re preparing to leave. Otherwise, you’ll need to investigate any penalties for breaking the contract early.

2. How Big Is the Moving Job?

If you’re expanding out of your home office, you might be able to get everything moved with a little help from your employees. For larger, corporate moves, you’ll need to hire a company. Look for one who has insurance and a strong safety record, as you’ll be moving some incredibly valuable equipment.

3. Appoint a Move Manager

If you’re busy running the company, it might be too much to take on orchestrating the move at the same time. Choose someone reliable to get all the small details worked out.

4. Choose a Good Date

If your entire office is packed up, ready to move when the busiest week of the year hits, you could miss out on a lot of revenue. Instead, think ahead about when the business can afford a few days offline. For larger companies, it might be that different departments move to the new space at staggered times.

5. Will There Be Parking?

Your employees are going to need somewhere to park in the future, and if the business is growing, you probably need space for new people as well. Make sure your new building has plenty of open parking and easy access for employees to keep from having to move again in the next few years.

6. Does the Building Have High-Speed Internet?

These days, a DSL connection isn’t going to cut it if you’re running a high-powered business. A quality building should have a dedicated underground dark-fiber line running to it, providing ample throughput.

7. How Safe Is It in an Emergency?

Make sure your new building includes fast methods of evacuation and backup infrastructure, such as a generator for when things get unpredictable. The design of most modern buildings keeps emergencies in mind, but some older ones can have dangerous layouts or outdated emergency systems.

This list is only a brief overview of things to remember in what is probably a much larger project. Every move is a little different, and you’ll likely overlook a few minor details. If you can get your arms around the large obstacles, those smaller pieces will fall into place eventually.

Every day, at around four pm central time, Donald Trump holds a press briefing. It’s his opportunity to update the nation on the coronavirus crisis. This is the type of content we are getting from the current president of the United States:

“Did you know I was number one on Facebook? I just found out I was number one on Facebook. I thought it was nice. For whatever it means, it represents something.”

Good to know, Don. Most of America is scared shitless right now. We’re doing all we can to stay alive and this is the inane mindless narrative you’re spouting? By the way Don, Obama is still way ahead of you on Facebook. How does that make you feel?

It’s this kind of crap that cause me to stop watching his daily show. Yeah, there’s usually a piece or two of useful information, but it’s tough to sort that out from all the useless information. It’s tough to sort that out from all of his self-aggrandizing chatter. I figured it was easier to get that when I watch the news and they show a recap. You save yourself from a couple of hours of dead brain cells each day.

I hung in as long as possible. Even when we all knew what Donnie was telling us were lies, I stuck around. The lies were nothing new. We’ve been hearing them for more than three years. It’s just more of the same old, same old. I thought the key information we were getting was worth dealing with the lies. I admit to being wrong.

There were a few things that drove me over the edge:

It started when he attacked Peter Alexander of NBC News. Pete asked him a simple question. It was a softball that Trump could have used to assure an anxious nation that we were on the right track and that all would be okay. Trump went in the other direction. He attacked Alexander, the media in general and went into his fake news bit.

Next there’s Mike Pence. This is the guy who is supposedly the leader of the Coronavirus task force. He does have a calm way of speaking that is almost reassuring. He also occasionally gives relevant infomation. But, he loses all credibility because he can’t stop his constant sucking up to Trump. It’s as if he’s programmed to say “at the direction of the President” or because of the leadership of this President.” Hey, Mike…it’s over the top, dude. It’s way too much. You’ve already got the job. Have a little self-respect, although that went down the drain when you attached yourself to Don in 2016.

The worst was when he banished Dr. Anthony Fauci from a couple of the briefings. The one person who stands at the podium who has any expertise on the subject and he’s not there because whenever he speaks,Trump’s ego takes a beating. If Fauci isn’t there, there isn’t a single reason to watch.

So that’s the gist of why I stopped watching. Apparently I’m not the only one. CNN and MSNBC have stopped full coverage of these gabfests. They only broadcast what is relevant and will even break in when Trump tells a blatant lie. Fact checking in real time. Our local stations have also stopped televising the briefings. That must really hurt Trump because the reason he set the time for the late afternoon was to have this shown on those channels instead of the real news.

However, when I decided to write this, I decided to give him one more chance. I have to be fair, right? So I watched Wednesday, until he came up with the Facebook thing. That was enough for one day. But, then I came back the next day. One final chance! It started out fine. Steven Mnuchin gave very important information about the economy and the checks we’re all supposedly going to get in the next two weeks. I’m a bit skeptical about that, but we’ll see. But then Jared Kushner hit the stage. Why? What qualification does he have to be anywhere in this administration other than he sleeps with Ivanka? In a life or death crisis, we’re getting direction from Jared Kushner instead of Dr. Fauci, who was missing in action again?

That was the final straw. I turned off the television and went for a walk.

That’s it for me and the press briefings. I gave Don every possible chance and he failed…again. I suppose it shouldn’t have been a surprise. It’s nothing new. Fool me once, yada, yada, yada. I know there’s something better to occupy my time. One of our local stations has an hour of the Family Feud. Hmmmm…Steve Harvey gushing over ten people he’s never met has to be better than the briefing. At least there will be two good families on stage. That’s much better than the one horrible family pretending to save our lives.

Related Post: Are you surprised Dr. Anthony Fauci hasn’t been fired yet?

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Thank you Illinois Policy Institute

When I heard the news that Chicago was being asked to shelter at home, the first thing I did was check out my home inventory. It comes as a shock to many people but this organizer is bulk shopper. I am fortunate to have quite a bit of space in my condo building. Running a business and being very social leaves me little time to shop and run errands. I make a monthly trek out to Costco and an amazon order each month. And yes, I go to the grocery store once to twice a week.

Instead of running out to the store and blindly buying everything in site(who is hoarding the bisquik?), take a moment and evaluate what you really need. Here are some tips to help your manage your supply.

1. Take a look at your toiletries. What do you use everyday? What do you need to buy? Its a perfect time to use up all those random supplies that you have been stashing away. You know what I am talking about. Put those little samples of lotions and shampoo into rotation. I am using up my hotel soap stash!!

2. Paper supplies. I switched to cleaning rags and cloth napkins years ago. This drastically cut down my paper usage. I do keep quite the stash of TP which is a commodity now.

3. Food- Its the perfect time to use what you have in your pantry. We are all spending more money on groceries since we are eating all our meals at home. I am a big fan of meal planning. I am been trying to make recipes to use up some of the items that I have in stock. I have been stocking up on what I can when the stores refill. I know this can be frustrating. I had to borrow flour and sugar.

4. Share when you can. We all have needs right now that cant be filled. Help each other out when possible!!!

We are all in this together! This is new to all us of. Stay busy stay sane! I am off to make banana bread!!