Interface's New Orleans project

By Liz Switzer
Today’s design professionals — who have widely embraced the message of green design — are starting to move past that focus with the realization that sustainability is part of a larger umbrella of social responsibility that includes people and society as well as the environment.

Bringing good design to the masses is not just an altruistic concept anymore, according to Jennifer Busch, vice president of A&D and market development for InterfaceFlor, who believes “social capital” is becoming a way of doing business. “It’s important for business to have an environmental consciousness, but it’s also really important to have a social consciousness where the goal is to sustain people, sustain lives and high standards of living, and sustain society and address social needs through design.”

Whether it is through large-scale crises management or sensible urban planning, the idea that socially responsible design can make a lasting, positive impact on the human condition is one that is beginning to catch on everywhere.

At Interface, where sustainability is built into the foundation of the company, there has always been a high level of social consciousness. One of the ways it does that is through its annual national Legacy Project, held in conjunction with its annual sales meeting, which this year happened to be in New Orleans.

Interface takes an entire day from the meeting and every person in attendance goes out into the community and works on a project. “That ethos is infused throughout the community where it is not about taking,” Busch said. “It’s about giving back.”

Like Interface, design firm Perkins+Will has institutionalized the concept of social responsibility, making it a corporate goal. Part of the way both firms manifest the idea is through pro bono activities. “Perkins+Will is committed to engage its professional resources and leadership to benefit the social needs in the built environment where design can make a difference,” said Eileen Jones, a principal at the company in Chicago.

The firm puts its considerable resources to work by addressing basic human needs: food, shelter, health, education and empowerment. “We identify significant problems of wide relevance that require innovative research and design,” Jones said. “We seek needs and desires that are palpable, but poorly defined, in circumstances where both client and financing must be imagined in new ways.” That includes community service in local neighborhoods, disaster relief both at home and abroad, and helping to design and build new places where people can feel like people again, she said.

Perkins+Will has been active with projects such as the creation of safe havens for women and children who have been exploited or abused, hands-on re-building in New Orleans post Hurricane Katrina, homeless shelters and community cultural centers.

Employees raised $75,000 for disaster relief in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, which was matched by the firm for a total contribution of $150,000. Perkins+Will also encourages volunteerism from its employees in their local communities who donate 1% of their time and intellect to initiate and execute projects and buildings that serve the broad society, people who would not otherwise have access to those professional services, Jones said.

Perkins+Will participates in the 1% Solution, a program of Public Architecture, launched in 2005, as a way of meeting that 1% goal. Over the course of a traditional 2,080-hour work year, that amounts to just 13 hours per person. “When put in these terms, it makes it easy to contribute,” said Jones, adding if every A&D professional in the U.S. committed 1% of their time to pro bono work, the result would be 5 million hours of service annually.

One organization actively involved in that work is San Francisco-based Architecture for Humanity, a group dedicated to rebuilding after disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Like Doctors Without Borders, the group mobilizes designers to go into those areas and help heal through design, rebuilding communities with shelter.

But social capital is a two-way street, Busch points out. It’s a way for businesses to position themselves in a given community.

“What happens is when designers go into a community and work with nonprofits they are actually developing a network that is going to come back and serve them in business,” she said. “Who is on the boards of non-profits? Business leaders of the community who are going to be looking to hire design firms.”

Seven tips to improve your pro bono experience
Architect and Public Architecture founder John Peterson offers advice on seven things you can do to improve your pro bono experience.

1. Find a non-profit in need of services whose mission you feel deeply passionate about. If you need help, join the 1% program at theonepercent.org.

2. Don’t find a non-profit. Look in your own community for a problem, then develop a solution. “It isn’t the easiest way to realize a project but it is a very valuable service and something designers don’t do enough of,” he says.

3. Understand why you are taking on a pro bono project. The clearer you are about your goals and interests, the more successful a project will be.

4. Once you have your goals clarified, ratify them in a contract. Clear agreements are always valuable even when there is no exchange of money.

5. Think strategically. Some of the most interesting pro bono opportunities involve working with people who have not had an opportunity to engage designers or design thinking. Don’t just solve the problem given to you; help your client think strategically about their needs.

6. Don’t be afraid to mix business and philanthropic interests. If you want to use your pro bono project to expand your network, you might consider hosting a fundraising event for your client and asking him to invite their friends and supporters. But remember when you mix business and philanthropy, be transparent and clear about your intentions.

7. Most importantly, set your expectations high. “The project should be a great experience for you and your client and should be a fantastic outcome,” he said. “If your aims are anything less, you’ve got the wrong project.”