Elevated Conversations, Yiselle Santos Rivera, AIA

{"version":"0.3.0","atoms":[],"cards":[],"markups":[["i"],["a",["href","https:\/\/www.hksinc.com\/","target","_blank"]],["b"]],"sections":[[1,"p",[[0,[0],0,"AIA\u2019s Elevated Conversations series features architects\nfrom diverse backgrounds and highlights their perspectives on their career\npaths, changes they\u2019ve seen in the profession, the importance of diversity and\ninclusion, and much more. To celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, we spoke\nwith Yiselle Santos Rivera, AIA, Principal and Global Director of Justice,\nEquity, Diversity, and Inclusion at "],[0,[1],1,"HKS"],[0,[],1,". "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[2],1,"What inspired you to become an architect? "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"My parents always imagined I was going to become an\narchitect. I loved taking apart the house and building little spaces, villages,\nand experiences for me and my little brother. My parents saw the things that\nmade me feel comfortable, the things that I liked, and my spatial awareness and\nthought architecture was going to be for me. Every time I ever had to talk\nabout what I wanted to be when I was growing up in school, I always said an\narchitect. In my mind architecture was about building things and being very\ntactile. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"It wasn\u2019t until the very end of school that I became\ninterested in science. I then envisioned that I\u2019d become a geneticist. I\nstarted college in Puerto Rico for general sciences with a focus on genetics.\nWorking in a lab got me disenchanted on that. I was working hours and hours\ninside a lab without access to daylight, it was not a great physical space for\nme. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Later, I started taking more classes in art, science, and\ngeology and specifically I was doing sculpture and metal work. I was working on\nan installation in Puerto Rico with a group of subversive artists and one of my\nprofessors saw the installation and said that I had great spatial awareness and\nshould become an architect, and I thought \u201cOh my god here we go again, everyone\nthinks I should be an architect.\u201d But I fell in love with the idea that you\ncould think of a concept and have that translate into a built work, it was like\nart. It made complete sense to me, so of course I became an architect. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[2],1,"Who was your role model or mentor when you were studying\narchitecture?"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"My mentors and role models were people that taught me things\noutside of architecture that compelled me to apply what I was learning into the\nbuilt environment. My mom is a pediatric dentist, she\u2019s in her late 70\u2019s and\nstill working. Her work with the disenfranchised communities in Puerto Rico\ninspired me. We have immigrant communities in Puerto Rico that tend to be in\nplaces that are flood plains, or are hard to get to. She was part of one of the\ngroups that did clinical work in these neighborhoods."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Hearing her talk about how happy she was to give care to\nthese communities was important to me, it was the first time many of these\nplaces had access to a dentist. It reinforced my love for what the built\nenvironment could do, bringing care to people. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[2],1,"What advice do you have for young people looking to\nbecome architects? "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"If I look back at my own experience, I think about what I\nwish I would\u2019ve done to prepare me to become an architect. I wish that before I\nwent to school, I would have visited architecture offices and studios and asked\na lot of questions about what they do. About what it means to do good\narchitecture and be a good architect. I wish I interned and was a part of that\nculture and understood the culture before I started my career. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"For college, I lucked out because the University of Puerto\nRico, Rio Piedras, was ultimately the right choice for me. It was very rooted\nin history, community, and environmental design. For students who want to\npursue architecture, visit the schools you want to attend. Talk to the\nprofessors, talk to people who may become mentors to you and ask for their\nperspective on what architecture is to them. Make sure you\u2019re comfortable with\nhow architecture will be taught to you in a way that will fill your soul.\nArchitecture programs are hard, go to school somewhere that will give you\neverything you want out of architecture and out of school in general. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[2],1,"Why is diversity especially important in\narchitecture? "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Representation is important in any space, but representation\nfor disenfranchised communities and for communities with the least amount of\naccess and power is essential in architecture. We\u2019re the ones defining how\npeople are living their lives. If we don\u2019t have enough representation of the\npeople who need the most representation, then we are suffering from a lack of\nideas. "]]],[1,"blockquote",[[0,[],0,"Representation is important in any space, but representation\nfor disenfranchised communities and for communities with the least amount of\naccess and power is essential in architecture. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"It\u2019s important to learn what makes people tick, what makes\nthem feel like they belong in a space. It\u2019s better to have someone at the table\nsharing their journey with you than it is to try to walk in their shoes. If we\ndon\u2019t have those voices telling us what makes them feel like they belong or what\nmakes them feel marginalized, then all we\u2019re doing is speculating. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[2],1,"What are some of the biggest changes in the field of architecture\nsince you started your career?"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"People are finally starting to acknowledge that 50% of our\nhealth is tied to our zip code. The social determinants of health are very well\nknown in the public health sector, and architects have historically not had a\nvoice at the table talking about how we can fix that. We haven\u2019t been held\naccountable to how the built environment impacts that. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"We don\u2019t create those zip codes, but we create a lot of what\nfills those zip codes. We can impact zoning with the agency that we have. I\u2019m\nglad to see some progress in the recognition of our responsibility. When we\nthink about being agents of change, we should be active participants in how\ncities are designed and built, how zoning and codes are defined in all the\nspaces that we build in and live in. We\u2019re responsible for our neighbors, and\nif 50% of a person\u2019s health and wellbeing is tied to a zip code, we are\nresponsible to take that into consideration. I hope more architects value the\npower that they do have and don\u2019t constantly say \u201cI can\u2019t do that because of\nthe client, I can\u2019t do that because of politics, I can\u2019t do that because of\npolicy.\u201d Be an architect that embeds him or herself in politics, in\npolicymaking and politics. There\u2019s not only one way to be an architect. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"There\u2019s an opportunity to highlight the inequities in this\nprofession. There\u2019s a complex, elitist, and quite Western way of viewing the\npath to architecture. For some, there\u2019s only one way to be an architect, but I\nthink that viewpoint is starting to shift. I think as a whole architect\u2019s\ndisadvantage some and minimize the talent pool. Our ability to talk about these\nthings openly has grown. I hope that being outspoken about my own experiences\nelevates others experiences through this work. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[2],1,"If you had a magic wand, what would you change or improve\nabout the field of architecture?"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"I wish academia would teach soft skills or embed awareness,\nself-awareness, community awareness, or a cultural competency within their\ncurriculums."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"I\u2019d like academia to acknowledge that there isn\u2019t one way to\ndesign and that there are many ways to achieve an outcome. I want to see that\nrooted in community work, some schools do that better than others, but I want\nevery curriculum to focus on intercultural competency, writing skills, and\nhonestly how to be a good person. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"If I had a magic wand, I\u2019d wish everybody would start every\nmeeting acknowledging who is at the table, who is missing at the table, what\nthe overall goals for a project are and who is advantaged and disadvantaged by\nthese goals. I would hope that the overall goal for what we do as architects\nwould be to think about the legacy we leave behind for everybody who interacts\nwhat we do and that would be our true north. "]]]]}