Erin Sharp-Newton, M. Arch, Assoc. AIA, in Today’s AIA New Jersey Women In Architecture Spotlight
By Stacey Ruhle Kliesch, AIA, AIA NJ Advocacy Consultant | Posted in AIA Central New Jersey, Associates, Women in Architecture
Growing up in my world, the only architects around were on TV, and they were all male.
In High School, I was the only female in mechanical and technical classes. Then I went to study and work in a design firm in Europe. There it appeared to be equally balanced between male and female architects and designers. The field seemed to have more of a gender-neutral perspective.
Coming back to the US, it felt different.The number of men seemed to outweigh those of women, and it was frustrating at times having to answer for my gender in the field. These days, the subject of “woman-ness” is usually interesting or annoying, depending on the perspective.
For example, interestingly, I was lucky to have grown up in an era where a few women had started to pave roads for other women to follow as professionals. My thesis advisors, department chairs at UCLA and at Drexel, some bosses, colleagues, mentors, and even clients, were truly amazing, passionate, and bold women who set an example for me throughout my career. Keeping my eyes on them, they inspired
me to achieve my personal best, lift-up others, and stay the course, regardless of the naysayers and spirit-crushers.
The idea of “belonging” versus “fitting in” is probably one of the reasons why I became involved in so many advocacy areas; I like to see people emancipated from misjudgments, stigmas, etc. This also played a role in pushing me to healthcare and furthered my commitment to mental and behavioral health environment designs. There were so many obvious gaps, not only in terms of accessibility but also in terms of
design quality.
From a young age, I was exposed to a wide array of healthcare projects and realized that well-designed spaces can be extremely uplifting. Planned organization of space, creating the best adjacencies and efficiencies, constructing environments that integrate elements cohesively can all help in the healing process, as well as support the best delivery of services. To experience the design of environments as instruments for the best possible outcomes greatly inspires me.
An amazing aspect of architecture is that it includes so many facets of the human condition. It is one of the most diverse and simultaneously integrated fields of practice. Architecture balances needs that appear to be very different. I think of it as the Paradox of Architecture: we need consistency, safety, and security but also diversity, openness and creativity. The idea that we are dealing with site, context, macro-to-micro, inside/out, structure and space, form and line, flow and order, allows for a complex professional canvas that is infinite in its possibilities. Then, to top it all off, we can tie this back into human-ness, to improve the lived experience in the built environment.
In the same vein, because the profession is important to me, I have become increasingly involved in the AIA, with the Women in Architecture (WIA) and Equity in Architecture Committees. I am a Trustee for the AIA Central New Jersey Section and am excited about our initiatives on “Legacy and Uplift” that are being integrated into programs, webinars, and general discussions. Today there is a strong emphasis on diversity, equity, inclusion, ethics, and integrity, which I really love seeing evolve. It’s great when we can work together to bridge gaps in the profession, in the work we do, and in the environments, we live in.
To top it off I get to do it all from our beautiful Garden State, and in a firm that is currently 68% women.
NOTE: Original article posted by Stacey Ruhle Kliesch, AIA, AIA NJ Advocacy Consultant | Posted in AIA Central New Jersey, Associates, Women in Architecture | can be found here: https://aia-nj.org/blog/2022/0...
View full entry
AIA Design for Health Session | Tuesday, May 3, 2022 (6-7 pm EST) Credits: Overview: This educational session provided an overview of the history (past), current focus & challenges (present) related to creating safety and security. Additionally, this session shared principles &... View full entry
The Architecture of Mental health Video
FOTOFOCUS SYMPOSIUM (4.9.22-4.10.22) "The FotoFocus Symposium returns for its sixth edition this spring, centered around the theme of Telephotography and held across two locations. World-renowned speakers from the fields of architecture, art, fashion, film, psychology, and media will speculate on... View full entry
AIA Central NJ shares their Visioning Outcomes and Forward Focus. Along with the Why + How. In an era of disconnect and undoing of patterns of work, efficiencies, professional practice, and human experience, the AIA Central New Jersey Section aims to help by engaging architectural professionals... View full entry
AIA New Jersey Equity in Architecture Committee Introduces Levitta Gathers-Lawrence, Associate AIA, 2022 AIA Next To Lead Visionary Levitta Gathers-Lawrence, Associate AIA has been selected for AIA Next to Lead, a two-year program developed by AIA National for ethnically diverse women in... View full entry
Moderator Donna Terzano, AIA, a project manager with RWJ Barnabas health and former AIA CNJ President — hosted the virtual education event: “The Architecture of Mental Health – Behavioral Health Design” on Friday, November 19, 2021, from 12:00-1:00 pmOrganized by Erin Sharp-Newton... View full entry
AIA CNJ Behavioral Health Design Video
Lobby Banner (Source: NK Architects + DCC Design Group)Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) Somerset is transforming their nationally recognized Eating Disorders Program into a state-of-the-art inpatient unit. EDU Welcome (Source: NK Architects) - Phase 1 Open When complete, the newly... View full entry
Phase 1 of The Retreat & Recovery at Ramapo Valley for Hackensack Meridian Health | Carrier Clinicopened in New Jersey, after being built and constructed during the height of the pandemic. The design is a state-of-the art treatment center in Mahwah set within a serene, historic landscape in... View full entry
Defragging the space of machines for PT at RWJ Somerset+ Post-Occupancy interview with Deborah Fugaro, Director of Rehab Services.Architectural defragmentation of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset’s Physical Therapy Program improved spatial relationships and allowed for more... View full entry
“Designing a Healing Mental Health Campus to create an Accessible Continuum of Compassionate Care” Presented at the European Healthcare Congress in London, UK Historically patients with long term mental illness have been warehoused away from the local population. Driven by stigma, lack of... View full entry
NK Architects provided professional architectural services for the Nation's first urgent care center that also caters to those with mental health issues and concerns. Now in Neptune, nation’s first urgent care offering mental health services BY Raven Santana, CorrespondentSpearheading and... View full entry
NJTV Online
NJTV News
"Departing from the institutionalized care of the past, architects are designing behavioral health hospitals, clinics, and specialized environments that better reflect the needs of patients and staff." from: www.aia.org/articles/6120749-a-new-era-dawns-in-behavioral-health-desig Photographer: Joe... View full entry
Morristown Case Study Displayed at the Healthy City Design Conference in London (A Press Release by JENNIE AREZZI on TapInto.net) https://www.tapinto.net/towns/morristown/articles/morristown-case-study-displayed-at-the-healthy-city-design-conference-in-London MORRISTOWN, NJ – NK Architects, a... View full entry
Source: The works of Jeremy Bentham vol. IV, 172-3, 1843 (originally 1791); Referenced also by Hunt-SineBEHAVIORAL HEALTH - STRATEGIC FACILITY DESIGN INNOVATIONS THAT IMPROVE TREATMENT OUTCOMES, SAFETY AND THE BOTTOM LINE Following is an excerpt from a synopsis written for the Center for Health... View full entry
Invisible Wounds
AUTHOR: Wellcome Library, London, Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ARCHITECTURE FOR MENTAL HEALTH As an advocate for the best design possible for Behavioral Health Architecture, and as a designer who is... View full entry
La Biennale di Venezia (PREVIEW TO AUGUST ARTICLE)Soon we will be visiting the 2018 Biennale Architecttura 2018 in Venice.... soon we will be wandering through the garden of international pavilions at the Arsenale, where architects, designers, thinkers, and creators from all around the... View full entry
TEDXpordenone Aldo Cibic - Rethinking Happiness
DIVERCITY + BELONGING IN THE CITYExcerpt from the Centre for Urban Design & Mental Health "To study the city means analyzing the full 360 degrees of reality that surrounds us through both concrete appearances, as well as its impalpable truths: time, memory, need and sentiment.There are many... View full entry
SETTING THE FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HEALTHSUN Behavioral Health, in partnership with St. Elizabeth Healthcare, opens its newly constructed doors to the community of Northern Kentucky. On President’s Day,February 19, 2018, SUN and St. Elizabeth’s will have a Ribbon Cutting & Dedication... View full entry
A Land-of-the-Lost in NJ My husband was telling me about his human discovery yesterday... While enduring freezing cold on railroad tracks, where he was surveying for a client of his that owns the railway, the words “Kean Sees All” stopped him on those tracks. This part of the railroad is... View full entry
URBAN DESIGN FOR COMMUNITY WELLBEING REDESIGNING TOKYO ____________________________________ TOKYO, August 1, 2017 @urbandesignmh #udmhtokyo “By 2050 two thirds of the global population will live in cities. Urban health and wellbeing is increasingly becoming part of the remit of urban... View full entry
NK Architects' 2nd Annual Knowledge and Networking Event for Atlantic Health Morristown Medical Center was held May 16, 2017 at the Park Avenue Club in Florham Park, NJ. Ben Lee, AIA, CFO and Managing Director, Healthcare Practice, NK Architects, and President of the American Institute of... View full entry
Winter is on the wing, and spring is filtering in with fresh air, fresh thought and sunshine... and Mental Health Awareness Month. This annual opportunity to raise public awareness about mental health was established by the National Association for Mental Health (now Mental Health America) in... View full entry
from: http://www.urbandesignmentalhealth.com/ TODAY Friday 7th April is World Health Day, and this year the World Health Organization has announced the theme, which is: Depression: let's talk http://www.urbandesignmentalhealth.com/blog While the whole world is talking about depression for World... View full entry
http://www.urbandesignmentalhealth.com/blog/world-happiness-report-2017-opportunities-for-designing-social-into-the-environment#comments View full entry
Architecture, Design, Humanity, Mental Health, Behavioral Health, HealthCare Matters
