Get to know Joyce

“We're not always clear about how our education is going to work, whether it's going to be a bachelor of architecture, a bachelor of arts, a four-year degree, then you have to get your master's. And so, I landed in the right place. I got my five-year degree from the University of Notre Dame, so I didn't have to go on and get my master's. I could start right into my internship right after university.
But the most important thing that's ever happened to me in my life is that Notre Dame, because it's the Catholic university in America, you get to go to Rome for 10 months, and you get to live there. You get thrown into the depths. When you're 20 years old and you've never been to another country, it's very eye-opening. But what an honor it was to be in Rome for a year, and that changed everything. Just like it often changes every other architect I've known that has the opportunity to go abroad. It changes your perspective on the world.
Then I started my internship when I did graduate, and then two years into my internship, I got a scholarship to go to London for a year. So that was another opportunity for me to really focus on European design at that point again.
And then I went back for a year, finished my, it was a three-year program at that time, to do my internship. And then I immediately took my test, my exams. And so we did back then, it was once a year, one time, one opportunity in June, and I was very lucky. I took that exam, all nine parts, and I passed the first time. So I was very happy that that was over.”

“I started my practice. I co-founded that practice with another woman. She was Turkish. There was only one other female partnership that I knew of in London. And it was interesting that we were both foreigners. So it gave us the opportunity to leapfrog a lot of the traditional things that maybe another architect that had grown up there would have to go through. Mostly internal ideas that they would have themselves. "I can't do that because in Britain we don't do that." And so I can't tell you how two foreigners coming together that don't know all the rules or all the, the cultural restrictions, is able to just stand, to step in and to just do what they think is best. And so we got a lot of work. We had great clients. We got to work with clients like Alexander McQueen, the former prime minister, Boris Johnson. We were able to work with the V&A Museum, an exhibition for Vivienne Westwood. And so we got into the fashion world. We were working with the hairstylists, the photographers. I mean, it was a great honor to have all these other designers trust us to do the work, whatever their job was, whether it was a commercial project or residential projects. And so I also had the great chance to learn a lot about historic buildings at that time. So I think we did in sort of 10 years what maybe another practice would've taken 20 years to do. So we were very fortunate.”

“In 2004, I came back and I had made the decision not to bring myself back to another big city, but I chose to come back to coastal southwest Florida, which was a surprise to me because I didn't appreciate that coming to a place that was smaller would be more difficult to practice architecture than it was in a big metropolitan city where people just accepted you for who you are. And so it took me a while to get my feet. And I did work for another company. I got to be their design architect, which was a real privilege for me. But in the end, the men in the firm didn't believe that I was able and capable of helping them to do their job. And so that was pretty much the one and only time I really had an adversarial sort of relationship in the workplace that stopped me from actually being an architect. I ended up going off on my own and doing my own thing. So I went to the islands. And it was perfect because the islands needed someone out there at that point. They had been a bit lawless for many years. They were kind of designing, as I always say, for the North and not for the South. And so I had this opportunity to come down and work and learn about how to design architecture that had to respond to heat, humidity, water, salt air, and increasingly, as we've all learned, climate risk. So it's been a privilege to work along the coast, and it's also a huge challenge. Our work in my office, we're now a practice of 12, and we focus on resilient coastal structures. Whether they're homes, resorts, or commercial projects, these buildings that we're trying to design are built for resiliency, and I always say they are built to or designed to respect nature rather than resist it.”

“A lot of people had struggled with their homes, and in some instances, it was just necessary to tear them down. I had the amazing fortune of when I first came back from England, I went through Hurricane Charlie in 2004. All of a sudden, I was put in a position that I had to go out and survey existing buildings so that we could fix them. So the opportunity to go out and survey 75 buildings was such an eye-opener because it gave me the expertise to understand what had happened in the 20 years before that didn't work. And all of the mistakes that they had made and they had tried to fix, when the hurricane came, it tore off all the bandages, and you could see right down to the core what was wrong with these buildings. So I got this massive education. That began my interest and expertise in understanding coastal buildings and how we had to learn and build differently. I also understood that hurricanes were real because we had just been through a big hurricane. They were real, and our buildings needed to address them. So when I started designing houses out there, when clients came to me, I knew that building wood wasn't gonna be the best answer. And so that's when we began to reconsider the design of the foundations of our building, where we started putting concrete pilings in below grade, tying them together with grade beams, and then building up with shear walls. And so all of a sudden we were giving a base to our buildings that would work. So we just continued up the building using concrete masonry units. And so that, using CMU as we go up, made the whole building strong, tight. You know, it became a monolithic structure”

“And then I'd say, "Well, what do you think architects do?" And I'd get the answers, "Oh, well, you make blueprints," or, "You draw, you draw houses or cool models." And, and I would try to say right then and there, "Actually, we do a lot more than that. We actually... Architects shape how people live in their communities, and we solve very complicated problems that have to do with climate, with safety, with culture, with resiliency, and the quality of life. So architects, we're not even just about buildings. It's about how our communities will function, how they can grow, how they can thrive, and then after a hurricane, how they can recover. We can help with that as well." So I think unless the public understands that much more about what we do, our ability to move within the community and be an influence is always gonna be limited until we can c- communicate the value of what we actually do”

“Service to my profession has... It's been central to my career. And so I have served the AIA at the local level, and at the state level, and at the national level. So why now? I believe we must speak clearly and concisely about architecture. I think that we must advocate for ourselves on every level. And as I said before, it has to be in plain language. It can't be in architecture speak. And this is really a responsibility that each of us has. It's our responsibility to tell our story, or we will not become leaders in our community. So I am running for AIA president-elect because I feel that architects are uniquely positioned to be able to help our communities. And the person that I am, who's very passionate about my work and what I do, I want all of us to shout it from the rooftops. I don't want us to sit behind computers anymore and say, "Woe is me. Why am I not getting work? Why am I not getting paid?" I want us to share that knowledge and that expertise that each one of us owns in our own way to be valued and then paid for what we are bringing to our society. We do more than just make blueprints and draw houses. We do so much more than that, but our communities don't know that. And so I think that I want to lead because I want, I want that to happen. I want the AIA as an organization to communicate that value of architects. I want them to be able to advocate for us, to have the tools, and then to lead us confidently into the future. So I'm very grateful for all the opportunities I've had working with the AIA in the past. I've learned so many lessons about service, but I would cherish that chance to continue serving that profession that I really genuinely care about.”

“Education, education, education. I mean, at every level. Whether it's you sitting down with your young intern, whether it's you talking to a client, whether you're talking to a bank, your local authorities, whoever you're talking, you must educate whoever it is you're talking because you can't assume they know what we know. As a small firm, you need to be visible in your community. You need to speak out, you need to reach out, and you need to share your story. It's about showing up as a citizen and as an architect to volunteer, to engage local leaders, and to educate all of these people. So it's not about hiding behind our drawing boards, it's about getting out and talking about it”

“Why do I feel it's my turn and my time to become the next leader of the AIA? I had the privilege of meeting the other candidates. Amazing people. Each one of them, in their own way, brings something to the table that's really special and very unique to them. When I wrote down what are my strengths and why should I be doing this, I felt like what each one of those people have, I have all of it. I'm the whole package. I've run two practices, both incredibly successful. I am now financially successful, as well as successful in making buildings that are resilient and able to suit my clients' needs. So I have practice experience. I also have international experience. I'm also very involved with the World Architecture Festival, and I have the great opportunity to see what's happening outside of my own small world here in southwest Florida. It's incredible. So I have a global perspective on the world. I've seen how the AIA works. I know the people. I know the players. I have community leadership. Resiliency is the core of my practice. Because of my climate and the way we have to build here, it's essential that I know what I'm doing. That expertise has given me empathy and the ability to see that other people have to do it other ways. I've been recognized for decades for the leadership that I have brought, both by my peers and by the press. So I feel like I have the whole package. And so if you are going to select a leader to represent you in your profession, wouldn't you want someone that can not only be empathetic to the small practitioner that's been through the struggles of trying to become a valued professional, as well as the ability to talk with anybody at any level? Why not me, right? Why not give me a chance?”