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QUIET REVOLUTIONARY
ON WHETHER SHE ALWAYS DREAMT OF THE
LIFE SHE HAS NOW: No! I was absolutely not one

of those kids playing with blocks and wanting to be
an architect. I got a fine art degree, but soon realized
I was making a living bartending, not painting. Not
wanting to become a career bartender, I applied to
an interior design program, but was told it would be
faster to get my architecture degree (due to the way
University of Texas' programs are structured), since I
already had a bachelor's. I also applied to the Peace
Corps, deciding to take whichever option came
through first. I became a licensed architect, but I've
always had a passion for humanitarian work.
WHAT EVERY MAVERICK NEEDS TO KNOW:

Anybody can change the world. You wouldn't know
it when I speak or present, but I'm an incredible
introvert. I turned my vision into action because I
did my homework, found a way for it to make sense
for the bottom line as well as the good of humanity,
and it worked. Also, don't go it alone-Citizen HKS
is what it is because I have a small group of
committee members who evaluate projects, ground
one another and make it possible.
WHAT PROMPTED HER SUPERHERO MOMENT:

I was at a Greenbuild conference in Canada in 2013
and saw this video of an orphanage that was
proposed in Haiti. My first thought was, "Why am I
not doing this type of work?" My second thought
was, "What can HKS do to make social impact initiatives like this happen?" I started asking around in
our company and found out that our then-outgoing
ceo had already pledged 1% of employee hours to
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nonprofit work. Great start, but the work was piecemeal-a kitchen for a nonprofit here, a small redo for
a charity that a board member supported there-
and it wasn't having the impact I wanted to see.
HOW SHE MADE HUMANITARIAN WORK BUSINESS AS USUAL: First off, doing good truly will do

your company good in return. We launched Citizen
HKS in 2014, and now we're hearing from hiring
managers that the program is a draw for candidates, especially at the much-needed project architect level. We're also hearing through the grapevine
that clients are interested in learning more about
Citizen HKS project work. This was what I hoped
for when I presented the idea, but it was hypothetical four years ago, and I'm so glad to see that come
true. The second key is to make absolutely sure
you're treating all your not-for-profit/humanitarian
work with the same level of service you would a job
for any client. It helps both the architects on our
team and our nonprofit partners understand the
value of our work. We create a budget for this work,
and have our architects bill hours. We can then
write a 100% discount for the client, but we want to
establish that this is a job, not volunteerism. We
also figure the Citizen HKS workload into our
employees' time. We definitely aren't asking them
to do this pro bono.
HER BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT SO FAR: Opening

a maternity unit in Kachumbala (shown), a rural
community in Eastern Uganda. Our London design
director, Dan Flower, brought this opportunity to
our attention. His father Ian founded Engineers for

Overseas Development (EFOD) and both have built
projects in Uganda. This particular region had one
two-room maternity unit, where nurses were delivering babies by the light of their phones, as just
closing a door for privacy shut out daylight. They
were turning away nearly half the women who
needed their help due to lack of space. This region
had a high infant mortality rate. We designed a
completely passive building (no electrical or water
either in construction or operation), using allnatural, local materials. EFOD took over the
construction, while we spearheaded the design. We
also hired 40 local workers to build it, helping them
gain skills for future jobs. Now, the region has a
facility that can accommodate every patient who
needs their care.
HER TAKEAWAYS FOR THE PRACTICE'S FORPROFIT WORK: Take a few minutes at the start of

each project to think about how you might design
it if you couldn't rely on tech, HVAC etc. Think
about how you can maximize everything from light
to climate control without those aids. Obviously,
you can't take that approach through a whole
project, but it's a fantastic mental exercise.
WHAT'S NEXT FOR CITIZEN HKS: We're in the
very early stages of a neonatal unit in Mbale,
another city in Uganda. We have a different
nonprofit partner, Born to the Edge, and look
forward to bringing our skills to a new location.
We're looking to become a 501 c3 nonprofit within
HKS to leverage our ability to more deeply engage
in public interest design work.

C O U R T E S Y O F H K S I N C . ( M I T C H E L L - KOZ AC K ) ; C O U R T E S Y O F H K S I N C . / P E T E R L A N D E R S P H O T O G R A P H Y ( K AC H U M B A L A )

ELLEN MITCHELL- KOZACK | DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABILITY, HKS INC.; COFOUNDER, CITIZEN HKS

http://www.boutiquedesign.com

Boutique Design - June 2018

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