social impact design initiative

The Social Impact Design Initiative (SIDI) has evolved into a platform for developing new ideas and collaborating across studios. The collective conscience of the group encourages critical thinking about intentions and outcomes in our projects. It offers a platform for exchanging ideas between like-minded peers and reinforces the importance of socially responsible thinking in the design process. As we continue to grow, new opportunities and untapped potential begin to surface. Developing SIDI as an active, firm-wide practice component that facilitates project involvement at all levels for interested staff is a priority. Aside from documenting and sharing the social impact design projects we engage, we are discussing opportunities for collaborating and creating large impact through our combined energy and resources.

Social impact design is characterized by a wide range of innovative project types. The SIDI group at SWA embraces the explorative nature of this work, engaging diverse communities with varying needs. Last spring we conducted an in-house survey to better understand the trends and opportunities we are cultivating and to help determine directions to pursue while working as a group collaboratively. Here are some of the results.

An introspective look at SIDI revealed both common topics and exciting new threads. After a group-wide Web-Ex meeting to determine interests, survey respondents were asked to rate the following project theme possibilities according to their top priorities: City Resiliency, Homelessness, Income Disparity, Eco-Justice, Food Deserts, Schoolyard Greening, Pedestrian infrastructure, Pop-up Design Build, and Community Charette. Of these, City Resiliency and Pedestrian Infrastructure garnered the most interest. City resiliency is a broad subject but is a particularly relevant way of framing the challenges our communities face in the 21st century. Considering new technology, climate change, and growing urban populations, continuing to seek out ways for our cities to adapt to uncertain futures is vital. Pedestrian infrastructure plays a large role in this equation, as does providing equitable, environmentally sensitive transportation for all. Additional categories of interest include Low-income Housing, Wildlife Habitat Creation, and Drought Response and Resilience. Each of these are ongoing issues currently being addressed via various SWA projects and studies.

As SIDI continues to evolve, it is vital to take a critical look at the opportunities at hand. There is consensus that raising awareness both within SWA and the general public of the relevance and importance of SIDI projects is a top priority. This can be achieved through various efforts, including a firm-wide project of significant magnitude, deeper integration of the organization into SWA culture, and continuing to share our work and engage in creative dialogue. Integrating SIDI into the overall design practice at SWA will fortify our contribution to society and the places we live, and also help to keep the firm relevant.

Trent Matthias is a designer in the Sausalito studio and a member of SIDI.

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Posted by Trent Matthias
in Community
on 2 December, 2015

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Designing in the public interest is often challenging–and controversial. How do you know when to do public interest work and when pro-bono efforts are going towards greater good? In our office with the recent launch of our pro-bono Social Impact Design Initiative and partnership with the 1% Program at Public Architecture, we continue to learn from our work… Read more »

Chris Hardy, a designer with our San Francisco office, gave a lecture at ASLA’s Northern California Chapter this Spring to talk about the benefits and challenges of pro-bono work. In the lecture, he mentions six ways that pro-bono work makes us better designers:

New and otherwise unavailable projects help us broaden our experience and train young and intermediate designers in on-the-ground project work;
Each project makes us better designers, particularly (and often) locally;
Younger staff can take ownership over the process in ways that might not be available yet in big office-wide projects within the firm and demonstrate leadership and project management skills;
The project is often an opportunity for mentorship and learning between staff and new contacts within the field;
Strategic volunteering–when a project is pro-bono at first but beneficial to the firm in the long-term–can bring projects that are otherwise unavailable to the firm. For example, when a community has a need for an amenity that’s very strong, but there’s no visioning documents or initial support, a landscape architect can assist with the visual and preliminary documents needed to get a project up and running to later phases;
Inter-office collaboration: with quick charrettes and idea brainstorming, you can meet people within the office and collaborate on a quick project with a tight timeframe and generate new ideas quickly.

Additionally, Chris noted that pro-bono and local projects are “often small enough to get your hands dirty” and they are also discrete–in that you can finish them–so that designers can participate in local design-build projects they can point to fairly quickly. These projects, in turn, serve as a model to help us do more work in the field in the future and act as a catalyst for creating a new market or niche area of expertise within your firm.

As he concludes in his lecture, “pro-bono work is often the beginning of a longer process, and we can learn a lot while doing it and capitalize on our experiences to share and grow.”

“As long as we’re passionate, that’s all that matters.”

Chris Hardy is a designer with SWA’s San Francisco office; he holds an MLA from Cornell University and a B.S. In Conservation Biology from Duke University. He is part of the Social Impact Design Initiative at SWA and spearheads projects focused on ecological design and collaborative community infrastructure.

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Posted by Sarah Peck
in Community, Social Impact
on 12 June, 2013

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Over the past year, a group of designers from all of our offices have been slowly building up a formal library of all of our various pro-bono projects we’ve been a part of over the years. While doing projects above and beyond our client work is nothing new to SWA—our involvement with the Bayous in Houston and investing in our local schools and parks are just a few of many examples—we’re excited to formalize our efforts and officially join the 1% program with Public Architecture. The 1% program is a national movement in partnership with the AIA that promotes pro bono architectural efforts in the public interest.

Public Architecture_Home Page Screen Shot

“The 1% program of Public Architecture connects nonprofit organizations in need of design assistance with architecture and design firms willing to donate their time on a pro bono basis. Launched by Public Architecture in 2005 with the support of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, The 1% is a first-of-its-kind effort to encourage pro bono service within the architecture and design professions.” – Public Architecture

We believe that as designers, we are called to serve for the public good—to do design that benefits our communities, our environments, our global cities, and our world. At SWA, our social impact design initiative, spearheaded by Principal Cinda Gilliland and includes 36 designers from each of our seven offices.

Our Social Impact Design Initiative was born out of our curiosity and eagerness to find ways to continue to contribute design and planning skills locally and globally. As John Cary of Public Interest Design has written, we believe that everyone should have access to good design.

“The landscape architecture, planning and urban design community plays an increasingly necessary and important role in The 1% program,” says Amy Ress, The 1% Program Manager at Public Architecture. “We’re inspired by SWA’s vision and their commitment of more than 700 hours annually to improve communities in need.”

We’re excited about sharing more of our recent projects and chronicling our adventures here on this blog.

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Posted by Sarah Peck
in Community, Social Impact
on 10 April, 2013

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