January Student Member of the Month

Samantha Frantik

Iowa State University

Architecture Student

1. Why did you choose the design/construction field?

I chose the design field because it presents the challenge of not having one correct answer and requires you to take a stance and put your soul into your work.

2. What is the most unusual medium you have used for a model, and what did it represent?

The most unusual medium I have used to model would be felted wool. The wool forms represented changing land mass to change the urban ‘fabric’.

3. What has been your favorite studio trip so far?

My favorite studio trip so far has been New York City. New York has always been one of my favorite cities and to explore it with my friends while viewing it through a new lens of looking for parasitic architecture helped me see a new layer of the city.

4. What is the best advice you have received from a professor or mentor?

“If you get stuck, just draw.” –Shelby Doyle

5. How has Iowa Women in Architecture influenced you?

Iowa Women in Architecture has educated me on current issues of workplace equity and its importance for all, as well as providing me with a community that shares similar values and experiences to myself.

Parasitic Site Concepts

Project created with partner Elizabeth Modra. We sought to illustrate opportunities for a new street level created by adding programs to valuable unused airspace in the city. This poster set the founding principles for our vertical campus project in New York City.

January Professional Member of the Month

Alison Brunn

Substance Architecture

Associate AIA

1. What is the most exciting and energizing aspect of your current position?

For me, it’s to be constantly learning new things. I also like that every day is different and a bit unpredictable.

2. What was the last interesting book you read?

I’m currently reading Teaching to Transgress by bell hooks.

3. What professional accomplishment are you most proud of?

Helping to open up a space at the most recent AIA Iowa convention to talk about sexual harassment, in the form of a bystander intervention workshop. AIA Iowa was able to get the workshop learning units approved for HSW credit, which felt like an important acknowledgement.

4. How do you define success? And measure it?

By honestly asking: do I feel good about the work I’m doing, who it serves, and the material impact it will have on people?

5. We are Iowa Women in Architecture; who were the female role models that inspired you? 

Within my family, I’d say my great aunt, grandmother, and mom. I’m lucky to have many role models among the people I’ve studied with, worked with and organized with.

December Student Member of the Month

Mae Murphy

Iowa State University

3rd Year Architecture Student

1. Why did you choose the design/construction field?

I chose architecture because the field is a great way to not only create things, but also learn how to represent them within a larger scale. I love how architecture is a way of understanding space and exploring how it fits into the context of society.

2. What is the most unusual medium you have used for a model, and what did it represent?

Last year, I used laser-cut acrylic, blue foam, concrete and plaster to create a large conceptual model. I ended up using an entire bag of concrete and it weighed about 75 pounds!

3. What has been your favorite studio trip so far?

During my second year, I went on an architecture trip to Chicago. I really enjoyed the experience because it was the first time I traveled and saw the city through an architectural lens.

4. What is the best advice you have received from a professor or mentor?

When I was initially applying for a spot at ISU’s architecture program, I was worried I would not get in. The best advice I got was from professor Rob Whitehead. He said “just be an interesting person.” That quote stuck with me these past few years and reminds me that I need to follow my passions and be myself even in times of doubt and difficulties.

5. How has Iowa Women in Architecture influenced you?

Iowa Women in Architecture has influenced me to reach out and create connections with hardworking women in the design field. It is important to facilitate conversations about topics otherwise not discussed such as the wage gap, maternity leave and respect in the office.

Exposing Carcinogenic Building Materials: Concept Collage and Section

Often times we find ourselves using architecture as a form of shelter and relief, however the very walls we build to protect ourselves are often the ones causing harm. This project explores carcinogenic building materials such as Phthalates, VOCS, formaldehyde, and spray foam insulation and how we can educate and eliminate these toxic chemicals within the very infrastructure used to care for us. Project created with partner Run-Qian Lin.

December Professional Member of the Month

Becky Hansel

INVISION

Principal, Architect

1. What is the most exciting and energizing aspect of your current position?

At INVISION, there is a sincere dedication to develop people in parallel with outstanding projects. My favorite moments during the day are those spent helping others find and develop their unique skills and talents and then providing or finding opportunities for them and our teams to succeed.

2. What was the last interesting book you read?

“Wolfpack” by Abby Wambach was my most recent read. Wambach led the United States women’s soccer team to a World Cup championship in 2015 and shares lessons of teamwork, failures and successes. Her motivation is to empower women to lead in new and different ways. She does this by identifying eight new rules, all of which resonated with me as I think about where I have been and where I want to go.

3. What professional accomplishment are you most proud of?

I am most proud of my ability to professionally differentiate myself. Throughout my career I have built knowledge, experience and passion for healthcare planning and design. This coupled with strengths in futuristic and strategic thinking and skills in facilitation and consensus building have allowed me to offer unique value to INVISION, our clients and our community.

4. How do you define success? And measure it?

Over the past few years, I have been working on redefining my personal framework for success. I started by making sure that I was asking myself the right question. What really matters to me? This is a different question than I had asked myself in the past and helped me understand I have my own diverse set of values. Now, I’m working on consistently spending my days aligned with those values. When I’m successful, it creates a feeling of well-being making me happier and healthier as a whole person.

5. We are Iowa Women in Architecture; who were the female role models that inspired you? 

I have been inspired and influenced by many talented women in so many ways…my mother, daughter, professors at Iowa State, past and present co-workers, clients, GDMLI CLP classmates and professional connections. The list goes on and on. My most cherished role models though are women who have chosen their own way in life with confidence not rooted solely in career or status, but in seeing the value in herself.

6. Do you volunteer your time outside of work? If so, where and how?

I serve as a volunteer at several community organizations including the Youth Emergency Shelter and Services, Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute and Iowa State University. I am most engaged as the Vice Chair at the YMCA Supportive Housing Campus. The Y-SHC fills a unique role in our community, offering affordable permanent housing with wrap around support services for 140 residents who were formerly homeless or at risk of homelessness. They are hands-down one of the most impactful organizations in Des Moines and I couldn’t be prouder to be a part of the great work they’re doing.

November Professional Member of the Month

Ulrike Passe

Iowa State University

Associate Professor of Architecture and Director of the Center for Building Energy Research

1. What is the most exciting and energizing aspect of your current position?

In my current position at Iowa State University I am energized by the work with my students, I teach a graduate sustainable design studio and I select a new site every year. I always learn a lot myself by discovering the site and its challenges together with the students. This year we are working on a location in Memphis TN. Well, I had not been to Memphis, a great discovery. Of course also my research excites me. Currently, my work with the ISU Sustainable Cities Group is very exciting. We are currently working on developing energy models for urban trees, a collaboration between an urban ecologist, a computational fluid dynamics expert and myself. We all know, that trees reduce building cooling loads, but there is no real good design tool to connect trees with building performance. We hope to change that soon.

2. What was the last interesting book you read?

The last really good book I read was Salman Rushdie’s Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights. I had picked it up at a bookstore at the airport in Mumbai India and started immediately on the flight back via Europe last winter, it is a crazy story, a fairy tale explaining our current world turmoil with the lifted veil between humans and jinns (spirits). The number of months in the title can be translated to ‘one thousand and one night’ and there are many parallels to Scheherazade. Rushdie is a great story teller, fascinating.

3. What professional accomplishment are you most proud of?

I think I am most proud of my book “Designing Spaces for Natural Ventilation”, that it was published and is read and used all across the world. That does make me proud. The book was published 4 years ago and I am receiving great feedback when I attend international conferences. Researchers, students actually use it. I also started the Iowa State University Sustainable Cities Research Group four years ago with funding from the ISU presidential interdisciplinary research initiative (PIRI) and that team is now starting to win large federal grants. But I am also proud when I see my former students get licensed as architects.

4. How do you define success? And measure it?

That is a hard question. Yes, how do I define success? That is a very good question, as an academic my work is always evaluated by peers (for journal publication, conference papers etc) and I get evaluated by the students every semester, thus I am constantly measured. But success starts, when I am satisfied and happy with my work. When a paper gets accepted in a highly competitive journal, that is success, when a grant gets funded, that is success, but my best work, the grants I put the most work in, sometimes get rejected multiple times at first. Thus, the measuring of success is even more complicated. Being persistent is also success, not giving up is success. I cannot just measure success in ‘number of articles published’ or ‘amount of dollars won in external grants’, but when I hear from a PhD student at an international conference, that she is using my book in her research, that is success.

5. We are Iowa Women in Architecture; who were the female role models that inspired you? 

There were some great women in my family, some of my aunts were pretty independent women, which was still not the norm in their generation. But I am not sure, I took them as ‘role models’ in that sense, that I wanted to become like them. But watching them probably told me that I could pretty much do what I wanted, if I were persistent and good at something. The first architect I worked for after graduating in Berlin was a woman, I think she showed me, that it was not a problem to run my own firm, if I wanted and I did for about 10 years.

November Student Member of the Month

Brenna Fransen

Iowa State University

3rd Year Architecture Student

1. Why did you choose the design/construction field?

I chose design because I like to look at things holistically and piece all aspects and angles of a design into a single project.

2. What is the most unusual medium you have used for a model, and what did it represent?

I tend to get caught looking through the dumpster at the College of Design for inspiration in my models, so using broken ceramics and old ceiling tiles has been a cheap way to make site models with unique textures.

3. What has been your favorite studio trip so far?

The studio trip to Chicago was the first time I had visited a city after beginning in architecture school and it was a great experience to view architecture from a different mindset.

4. What is the best advice you have received from a professor or mentor?

The advice that has influenced me the most in school is to take a break. Architecture school can get me attached to my work but it’s important to be engaged with the world and find new experiences which often evoke innovation.

5. How has Iowa Women in Architecture influenced you?

By meeting and connecting with other women in architecture, I’ve felt more empowered and motivated to work towards a degree and ultimately a license in architecture.

Quarry Restoration - Plan and Section

By law, all quarries must be reclaimed when excavation is complete, but quarries existing prior to this regulation are often left untouched. By using these abandoned quarries as sites for engagement and future in-habitation, we can both replenish the land and resolve hidden dangers that arise after their abandonment.