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Martina Reilly

How long have you been in the Baltimore/DC area? I’ve been in the area my whole life. I grew up in Bowie, MD, and went to school at the University of Maryland, College Park.

How did you get into design? I was always interested in art as a kid. I took a career aptitude test in high school which indicated that I should be an architect. I was good at math and always enjoyed touring old buildings so I thought it would suit me.

How did you first get involved with NDC? I started volunteering with NDC about a year or two after moving to Baltimore to begin my professional career. I wanted to get more involved with community engagement and design, and be more involved in schematic design. In the field of architecture, when you’re starting out and just doing red lines for the majority of the day, volunteering is a good way to gain additional experience. By volunteering I was able to interact directly with clients, manage meetings, and develop the design at a level that was unavailable to me in the workplace early in my career. So, not only was I doing something good, giving back to the community, but I was also helping to further my professional career. I have probably worked on about 10 or 11 different projects with NDC over the years.

What motivates you to volunteer with NDC? You feel like you’re giving back to the community—really helping people out—while also using your talent for design. It’s an opportunity to have more of a managerial role, more of a hands-on role, than you often get in an office setting.

 

What do you find most rewarding about your work with NDC? When you have that conversation with the client and they say, “Wow, you really helped me see something that I had never thought of before.” Helping a client visualize what is in their head, but that they haven’t had the chance to really think through. Helping them grasp that dream, so to speak. A lot of the time, you don’t get that kind of experience professionally; often you hear about client wants and needs second-hand. I think hearing feedback firsthand, from the client, is invaluable to the design process.

I think we should have more of the entire design team involved with those kinds of interactions in a corporate world, too. I think it’s important that all the voices are heard, and the only way for all the voices to be heard is if you have a lot of ears listening.

What is inspiring your work now? I recently went to a great conference called Reclaiming Vacant Properties. It really brought home the struggle with vacant housing in America, particularly in the center of the country. In Baltimore, we have a lot of the same issues of vacancy. It’s important that, as designers, we try to this address in any way we can.

I have also recently been serving on the National Resiliency Education Working Group for AIA National, too. Through the group we have been developing ways we can educate architects to think about resilient design, designing to anticipate shocks and stresses like natural disasters. We’ve also discussed aspects of social resiliency, looking at how we can design ways to make our communities more inclusive, but still safe and secure.

 Has working with NDC changed the way you practice design? Yes, it makes me want fight more for community input in design. I believe that you can develop a project that both satisfies community needs and project-specific goals budgets. It is important to hear what everyone has to say to establish the design and compromise where necessary to create the best solution for the project.

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Photo Story: Riverdale Park Field Of Dreams Community Visioning Workshop

NDC was invited by the Town of Riverdale Park to facilitate a visioning session for an unused grassy space, popularly known as the “Field of Dreams.” Once a ballfield and play area, the park edge has been impacted by a new traffic circle and a recent mixed use development built on the nearby Whole Foods site. The town is hoping to activate the space while remaining sensitive to neighbors’ needs for a simple, quiet place.

20 community members participated in the morning activities, led by NDC’ers Rachel McNamara and Marita Roos. Nearly everyone lived within walking distance of the park. The morning’s icebreaker, “Postcards from the Future,” gave people a chance to freely dream their vision for the future park in a message to a loved one – often enhanced with a colorful and highly personal design. The rest of the morning was spend choosing from a set of images to identify the park character and a set of priorities for the landscape. Nature, trees, and pollinator plants were on virtually everyone’s list. Play spaces for children and quiet areas for adults to relax were also favorites. Importantly, many people noted that they did not want lined sports fields with active sports. Informal, beautiful and accessible space seemed to be on most people’s wish list.

During December, NDC will work on a landscape design concept incorporating the consensus from the workshop and an online survey. The concept design will be presented to Town Council in January. The town expects to implement the plan in phases over the next 3-10 years, depending on cost.

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Photo Story: Darley Park Mural Installation

Darley Park’s Gateway Park has been a labor of love undertaken by community leaders in Darley Park over a 5+year timespan.   The most recent addition is a two story mural adjacent to the park.

In early November, Artist Whitney Frazier with assistant Crystal Micriotti created a mural incorporating a portrait of a young girl paired with poetry by Mr. Abdullah Moaney, whose home the mural adorns.  The mural was made possible through NDC with support from Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, and a team of community members, volunteers and supporters from the Darley Park Community Association and BUILD.

Photo credits: Crystal Micriotti

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Arch Social Club wins Partners in Preservation Funding

Yesterday, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, American Express, and Main Street America announced the winners of the 2018 Partners in Preservation: Main Streets campaign. The 11 winning historic sites will receive a total of $1.6 million in grants to fund their respective preservation projects. At the outset of the campaign, an additional $400,000 was allocated to the 20 Main Street communities that participated in the program to increase public awareness of the importance of these historic places and build grassroots support for the participating Main Street districts.

The 2018 Partners in Preservation: Main Streets winning sites are:

  • The Tabor Opera House, Leadville, CO
  • The Women’s Building, San Francisco, CA
  • City Hall Clock Tower, Biddeford, ME
  • The Church of the Epiphany, Los Angeles, CA
  • Bronzeville Cookin’, Chicago, IL
  • Wah Chong Tai Mercantile, Butte, MT
  • Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, AL
  • Historic First Baptist Church, San Marcos, TX
  • Spring Street, Danville, VA
  • National Women’s Hall of Fame, Seneca Falls, NY
  • The Arch Social Club, Baltimore, MD

Partners in Preservation is a community-based partnership created in 2006 to engage the public in preserving historic places. To-date, it has committed over $22 million in support of more than 200 historic sites across the country. The 2018 Partners in Preservation: Main Street campaign featured 20 sites around the country which celebrate diversity and the struggle for equality. The sites participated in a public voting campaign hosted by media partner National Geographic from September 24 through October 26. “We are pleased that such varied sites won grants for their historic preservation projects,” said Richard Brown, vice president of philanthropy, American Express. “From churches at the center of the Chicano and Civil Rights movements in California and Alabama to the birthplace of Women’s Rights in New York, these historic places located in the heart of America’s Main Streets highlight that our diverse history is deeply embedded in communities from coast to coast.”

“This year’s Partners in Preservation campaign saw a record-level of engagement by both the sites and the public,” said Germonique Ulmer, vice president of public affairs, National Trust for Historic Preservation. “The campaign’s success further demonstrates local communities’ commitment and support for Main Streets and celebrating our diverse history.”

The Arch Social Club intends to use $118,000 to improve facade lighting and update the marquee, leading the way for Baltimore’s Arts and Entertainment District. Founded in 1905, the Arch Social Club is one of the oldest, continuously operating African American men’s clubs in the U.S.

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NDC Selected as Grantee of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Arts Innovation and Management Program

Photo Credit Matt Roth

This month, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced that the Neighborhood Design Center is a grantee recipient of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Arts Innovation and Management (AIM) program. The invitation-only program seeks to strengthen the organizational capacity and programming of small and mid-size cultural organizations within Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Denver, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. Through the $43 million multi-year initiative, Bloomberg Philanthropies will provide unrestricted general operating support as well as arts management training in areas that include fundraising, strategic planning, marketing and board development. 

AIM targets arts non-profits because of the vital role that they play in building communities, driving local economies and supporting artists. “The arts inspire people, provide jobs, and strengthen communities,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies. “This program is aimed at helping some of the country’s most exciting cultural organizations reach new audiences and expand their impact.” 

Bloomberg Philanthropies will develop curricula and conduct seminars for the program in partnership with leading experts, including the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland, led by Institute Chairman Michael M. Kaiser and President Brett Egan. AIM organizations will engage in activities that strengthen their long-term health and goals, and will receive one-on-one consultations and implementation support for organization leaders and their boards. 

Since 2011, AIM has helped more than 500 small and mid-sized organizations in all creative disciplines, including theater, visual arts, music, film, literature and dance. Participating organizations reported significant improvements in board development, fundraising and overall income over the two-year program. 

Watch this video for an overview of the Arts Innovation and Management program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KJy8DgjRDg&feature=youtu.be. 

Media Contacts 

Bloomberg Philanthropies, Rebecca Carriero (212) 205-0182 or rebeccac@bloomberg.org 

NDC, Briony Hynson, (301) 830-5219 or bhynson@ndc-md.org

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New Trees Are Coming to Charles North

Since moving NDC’s Baltimore office to North Ave in 2015, we have been excited to dig in and be a part of our new community. We’ve been working with the North Avenue Stakeholder Group for the past year, assessing strengths and opportunities, developing goals, and finding resources. It’s been a real-time example of how community partners, funders, and City agencies can work together to realize change on the ground. 

This summer, we were awarded a Spruce Up grant, which is generously funded by Johns Hopkins University and Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, to plant 25 street trees in the Charles North Community. Through a block audit, our staff assessed the existing trees and streetscapes in the neighborhood to create a street tree master plan, generously supported by the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation, that responded to the existing tree canopy as well as the local architecture and civic spaces. The community association first reviewed the plan at their July meeting and again at their most recent September meeting. The City’s Forestry Division assessed locations for new tree pits and is in the process of opening the feasible ones.  

Based on our plan, the Baltimore Tree Trust will acquire and install 25 trees, and City Forestry will install the additional trees. Including a few dead trees which can be replaced right now, there will be a total of 44 new trees planted around the 18 blocks that comprise the Charles North community. It’s an exciting development and one that reflects a range of exciting activity happening along the North Avenue corridor. From the TIGER Grant-supported North Avenue Rising project which will expand the area’s transportation infrastructure to the streetscape improvements happening through the Front Door project, positive changes are happening. 

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NDC Travels to…New Orleans!

The Where You At Jazz Band playing at the New Orleans Jazz Museum

From the 16th to the 19th of September, the Sheraton Hotel of New Orleans was home to biking advocates, city planners, designers, community leaders, writers, artists and more—people of all walks of life who care about great public spaces. Presented by Project for Public Spaces and Bike Easy, this convening was the 20th annual WalkBikePlaces Conference. Neighborhood Design Center is proud to have not only attended this international idea exchange, but to have presented our work at two sessions.

The opening Keynote address was given by Tunde Wey, a chef and activist who uses food to challenge people to think about inequity (known for provocative pop-ups such as ‘SAARTJ,’ where diners paid prices in ratio to their demographic’s average income in New Orleans; whites paid $30 while African Americans paid $12). His work set the tone for the rest of the conference: equity is the priority. From all we learned hosting the ACD conference in June, this convening echoed those Reverberations, pushing us to learn more.

Executive Director Jennifer Goold discusses NDC’s Place Matters program with interested conference attendees.

Monday afternoon was the poster session. Over drinks, conference attendees explored poster presentations—one of which was NDC’s! The poster explores our Place Matters program, its basic framework, and how we’re measuring its impact over time.

On Tuesday, Jennifer Goold presented on our Place Matters program in greater depth. Alongside two of our partners, Karim Amin (University of Baltimore) and Nick Mitchel (Noisy Tenants), she shared case studies exploring how Place Matters can build better connected and draw investment to communities. We presented to a packed room and the team received support and questions from an engaged audience.

Karim Amin, a partner working with NDC in West Baltimore, talks about his work leading the University of Baltimore fellows program.

The Crescent City, for all its reputation as a sinner’s paradise, really is a joy for bikers and walkers, too. The flat streets, combined with an increasingly present bike signage/lanes, the functional bike share program, and the relatively relaxed traffic (is it the heat that makes us all slow down?) makes riding easy. And what a joy it was on Tuesday evening, when conference attendees joined Get Up N Ride NOLA on their weekly ride of the city streets. It was a great last night in the Big Easy, and reminded us to enjoy our own city by bike (or bike party!) more often.

Repost of the crowd of lighted bikers before our ride with Get Up N Ride NOLA on Tuesday night.

The closing panel of the conference, “A Different New Orleans Story” with strong words from Hermione Malone, Tom Wooten, and Sue Mobley.

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Vote to Preserve the Historic Arch Social Club

Since 2015, NDC has been collaborating with the Arch Social Club, Baltimore’s oldest African American men’s club, to support the Cub’s efforts to preserve and restore the historic theater that they call home.

Through Place Matters, NDC’s capacity building project, we have worked alongside the Arch leadership, primarily Board President Van Anderson, to partner with the local CDC, the Druid Heights Community Development Corporation, to access two rounds of State of Maryland community development funds totaling about $125,000 to repair the roof and complete an historic structures report and estimates for full, phased, restoration.

Most recently, NDC, with support of Baltimore Main Streets and Pennsylvania Avenue Main Streets, applied for a Partners in Preservation grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. We’re now one of twenty finalists for a portion of $2 million in funding. The grant, if won, will fund recreation of the historic marquee and light the facade. Winners are selected by popular vote, which means you can help by visiting VoteYourMainstreet.org until October 26th.

Read the full story of NDC’s work with Arch here and don’t forget to vote!

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NDC Travels to…New York City!

In June, NDC’s Baltimore Community Design Works Program Manager Laura Wheaton attended the AIA 2018 Conference on Architecture. She shares her experience below. 

The AIA 2018 Conference on Architecture was three weeks after I returned to NDC from maternity leave with my second daughter, Clare. I didn’t want to leave her for more than a night, and scanned the conference schedule for the two-day combination that would maximize learning and networking. I was sold when I realized I could attend the Equity by Design Committee’s fourth hackathon on pre-conference day and stay through Sir David Adjaye’s keynote the next evening before sprinting back home on a late train. 

I’d never participated in a hackathon before, and the four hour timeline—with only two hours of work time—seemed intimidating. In practice, it was freeing. If we came up with a rubbish idea, so what? Not being obligated to carry anything forward beyond that afternoon liberated my group to dream. The result was an idea that we’d all love to see realized and have been emailing and conference calling about since the conference ended. 

Among the six members of our team, architecture was the only common denominator. Architecture and that we were all nice people, of course. Together, we represented a wide range of experiences, backgrounds, types of employment, and employers. It was these differences that lead us to our idea: that compensation, which typically revolves around salary and sometimes a discussion of benefits, is currently too rigid a construct to adapt to all of our individual circumstances and goals. 

How might compensation be viewed more holistically? How might it be more easily understood and communicated during usually private negotiations between employee and firm? If easily communicated, how might public conversations about compensation evolve? Might that improve equity in the architecture profession? Our approach, based on the ubiquity and legibility of nutrition labels, was “Compensation Facts.” 

You can learn more about our idea, including the revised prototype (Who knew the nutrition fact lineweights and font specifications were available online?) at the Equity by Design blog. We’re architects, not lawyers, so we have little understanding of the human resources implications. It’s still just a dream. We are, however, looking into it, and my hope is that baby Clare enters the workforce with a system much more accessible, understandable, and equitable than what’s currently in place today. 

Many thanks to the Equity by Design Committee and the Syracuse University Fisher Center for being supportive of breastfeeding mothers and providing a place for me to pump! I got to first meet Rosa Sheng, an architect I admire, while washing my pump at the office kitchenette. Because that’s how #archimoms roll. 

Make Way for Robots!

‘There is something very welcoming and inclusive about an oval-shaped space. It’s not totally equal, like a circle, so could have small groupings or one larger group. Its more flexible, very comprehensible, accessible.’  -Marita Roos, NDC Programs Director

 

AWS T+T Glenridge_perspec

 

 

The newest Treating & Teaching outdoor classroom at Glenridge Elementary School in Landover Hills will provide a simple oval space to facilitate gathering and learning, protected by shade sails and surrounded by groupings of native plants. A challenging robotics course traverses the classroom space, with mounds, boulders and rock obstacles for the school’s award-winning robot inventors to circumvent. 
This fall, Glenridge students and teachers will spend time in the outdoor classroom planting even more native landscaping with plants from the Arbor Day Every Day and Clean Up Green Up programs… not to mention racing their robotics projects in this enriching learning space!
Facilitated by Anacostia Watershed Society, Treating & Teaching is an innovative collaboration involving public school educators, curriculum planners and environmental designers that provides professional development for faculty and outdoor classroom design and installation at select schools. NDC landscape designers Marita Roos and Laura Kendrick collaborated with Glenridge Elementary School faculty and staff and the Anacostia Watershed Society to create their outdoor classroom space.
This project was made possible by the CBT Stormwater Stewardship Grant, through Prince George’s County Department of the Environment.
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