Doing Good: Building and Sustaining an Ethical Practice - 1.25 PDH (LA CES/non-HSW)

Recorded On: 10/08/2024

From early professional development to long-term growth, leading designers are finding success in business models that are focused on a genuine ethos of practice. Each of these renowned speakers will share unique case studies and processes that have resulted in authentic studio structures that aim to strengthen the public realm.

Learning objectives:

Understand the importance of building an ethos in practice through three nationally recognized studios that focus on unique issues in the public realm.
Describe the importance of an authentic track of building a practice to help build effective financial and structural decisions.
Define a long-term educational foundation within the firm and in community partnership that builds an authentic learning process within and beyond the studio.
Understand how an inclusive practice model that moves away from monetized decision-making can provide an authentic ethos that shapes the work selection, growth plans, and research practice.

Mikyoung Kim, FASLA

Founding Principal

Mikyoung Kim

Mikyoung believes that the design of public space has the power to strengthen human health and wellness. From large parks to restorative gardens, her work is focused on strengthening the mind and body. Her studio’s large-scaled work includes the Cheonggye Seoul River Restoration project, the 42- acre Science Hill Wellesley Campus Vision plan, the Helix Park in Houston, and Ford’s Michigan Central Park in Detroit. Mikyoung has received the Cooper Hewitt Design Award, the ASLA Design Medal and the ASLA Firm Award and has been named by Fast Company as one of the most innovative architecture firms in the world.

Sierra L. Bainbridge, ASLA

Senior Principal

uMASS Design Group

Sierra Bainbridge co-founded MASS, a cross-disciplinary, mission driven, non-profit design firm in 2008. She is Senior Principal and Managing Director, architect, licensed landscape architect, and educator, overseeing MASS’s landscape department. Recent projects include various memorial projects including the Memorial to Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama; the Holocaust memorial in London, the Center for Reconciliation in Rwanda; healing landscapes such as the Butaro Hospital campus in Rwanda, the Redemption Campus in Liberia among others; and educational-agricultural campuses including FarmHub in the Hudson Valley, and the Rwanda institute of Coservation Agriculture in Rwanda.

Chelina Odbert, Hon. ASLA

CEO

Kounkuey Design Initiative

Chelina is co-founder and Executive Director of KDI. She believes in the potential of low-cost, high-impact design interventions to improve the physical, economic, and social quality of life in low-income communities. Chelina’s expertise covers a range of topics including leadership, participatory planning, social entrepreneurship, urban development, environmental remediation, and social impact design. She has extensive field experience through her work in Africa, Latin America and the US. Having shaped KDI into an internationally recognized and award-winning design, planning and community development firm, she lectures and speaks around the world and writes about KDI’s community-engaged approach to planning and design.