Following last week’s visit to Los Angeles-based OPEN OFFICE, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series east to Providence, Rhode Island, where we find CIVIC.

Founded by architect Manuel Cordero, and based in Providence’s Innovation District, CIVIC’s work is defined by an inclusive vision of the built environment, and in particular, the public realm. Their portfolio has thus developed to include a collaboration with Arup on a masterplan for public spaces across Providence, as well as ongoing educational and community projects.

The firm now seeks to expand by advertising for a multidisciplinary designer role on Archinect Jobs. For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning more about life as an architect, we spoke with CIVIC founder Manuel Cordero for a behind-the-scenes look at the studio.

How did CIVIC get started?

I am a licensed architect, but have always been interested in expanding the boundaries of traditional practice. Earlier in my career this led me to work at two vastly different scales. First, I founded community design studio, DownCity Design, intended to work with community members to design and build neighborhood improvements. Second, I worked at the Rhode Island Department of Education overseeing school construction for the State’s public schools. CIVIC was born of my desire to connect these two scales of operation - to create a multi-disciplinary practice that could work at the systems scale while also engaging directly with local communities impacted by any proposed work. 

What does the name CIVIC say about your work/ethos?

Our work is primarily concerned with the public realm, and in particular, creating new models and practices for making public spaces / buildings that are healthy, resilient, and inclusive.  Almost all our work includes community engagement, and continually seeks to integrate more and more diverse voices into decision making about our built environment.  The origins of the word ‘civic’ referred to both the city and its inhabitants - and the ambition of CIVIC’s work is to better connect the two.

How big is your team?

Right now there’s 3 of us, and we hope to have a team of 3 to 4 employees.

Is your office one open-plan space, or subdivided?

We work at the CIC in Providence, a shared work environment with a mix of work spaces. We have a small dedicated office which is open plan, and access to a mix of breakout rooms, conference rooms, telephone booths, and collaborative spaces. We also have a shared kitchen, a game room (!), a giant community balcony overlooking the Providence River. and all the spaces are light filled and well ventilated.

Describe the area of town your office is located in.

CIVIC is located in the Innovation District in Providence, which is on the Providence River just south of downtown Providence. We are walking distance from the RISD and Brown campuses, the Kennedy Plaza bus hub, and the Providence train station. This up and coming area is currently undergoing a dramatic transformation, with a mix of housing, offices, and food and entertainment options.

What is your favorite thing about working in Providence?

I love living and working in Providence. It is the perfect size city where everything is easily accessible as a pedestrian or biker, and the city continues to make investments in mobility infrastructure, making it easier and safer to navigate without a car. Home to Brown, RISD, University of Rhode Island, and Providence College - it is a vibrant college town with a great community of artists and creators, as evident during Waterfire, PVD Fest, and many, many other events and institutions. We also have an amazing culinary culture and countless incredible restaurants and food venues. Providence is also a diverse and welcoming community - with a wide variety of organizations that support and celebrate the city’s diverse culture.

If you held a movie night for the team, what movie would you show?

Given all our work in the educational field, and my not-so-secret love of high school coming of age movies, I’ll go with either an old classic - Ferris Bueller’s Day Off or a new classic, Booksmart.

What does your office ‘sound’ like? Do you listen to music or radio at work, can you hear the street life outside, or is it a place of quiet work?

It’s a mix. The office can be very quiet, and sometimes we take turns playing music. We also have access to a mix of workspaces, so if you want a little more background noise, you can go to the shared kitchen, and if you want absolute silence, you can find a soundproof phone booth.

If your firm was given $1M to donate to one charity, which one would that be?

DownCity Design. I am currently working with the organization to build the new headquarters of the organization in the West End of Providence. In addition to supporting the creation of a state of the art workshop, the money would help support programs that help youth and adults actively engage in making improvements to their neighborhoods using the tools of design.  

Where is the most popular lunch spot in or around the office?

Providence is known for its great culinary culture, so this is a hard one to answer. Personally, I’d go with Plant City for lunch - a food hall and marketplace right across the river from our office. For coffee and a snack, I’d sit at the outdoor patio of Seven Stars cafe.

What is the most popular design tool in the office?

We just completed a storyboard that distilled teacher and student feedback into a ‘user journey’ that translates their experiences and aspirations into spatial concepts. We used a mix of Rhino and Illustrator.

Tell us about a completed project you are proud of.

In collaboration with Arup, Ultramoderne, and Stimson, CIVIC worked on the masterplan for the public spaces of Downtown Providence. Our role, as the Public Advocate, was to conduct deep and broad community engagement and to work hand in hand with the design team to integrate feedback into the design process. The project took place during restrictive covid times, so we had to be creative about engagement. The result was a mix of online forums, a digital site navigation tool, surveys, site interviews, and pop-up events. The feedback found meaningful and deep integration into the project options, and included a dramatic reimagination of the center of Providence. The process and the products are all captured at ImagineDowntownPVD.com.

What position(s) are you currently hiring for?

CIVIC is currently seeking a multidisciplinary designer interested in exploring applying design to everything from policy to systems and from cities to benches. Our ideal candidate is an emerging designer (urban, architectural, landscape) with strong drafting and graphic design skills. The candidate should have experience with facilitation (or teaching), and/or an interest in learning to design and run community meetings. This person will be responsible for research, analysis and visualization of data, production of design documents, and graphic design of presentations and documentation.

What project(s) are the new team members likely to be working on?

We are working on educational projects with several communities in Rhode Island (Bristol Warren, Middletown, Central Falls) and Massachusetts (Whitman, Hopkinton). This work is primarily educational facility planning with a lot of community involvement. We are also really excited about a municipal project on the waterfront of Providence. Managed by the City’s Sustainability Office, in collaboration with the Race and Environmental Justice Coalition, this project seeks to reimagine a designated right-of-way to the water from a gritty industrial landscape, to a more welcoming space that provides .

In three words, how would you describe your team’s design ethos?

Participatory. Multi-disciplinary. People-focused.

Meet Your Next Employer is one of a number of ongoing weekly series showcasing the opportunities available on our industry-leading job board. Our Job Highlights series looks at intriguing and topical employment opportunities currently available on Archinect Jobs, while our weekly roundups curate job opportunities by location, career level, and job description.