08 - Weaving Compelling Stories with Sarah Weber
“It sounds like you weave compelling stories as a tool to get the client rooted into the process of a project.” - Elizabeth Lockwood
“Exactly. It's about them, and we want the space to be reflective of them and for them to feel fully engaged and proud of their space. From the initial planning down to the pillows, we have found it is a way to make decisions through a project. It is something the clients can participate in and give meaningful feedback on throughout the project. ” - Sarah Weber
Overview
We take a deep dive into the schematic design process with Sarah Weber. You will hear firsthand how she weaves compelling stories into her work to create a sense of engagement with the end user.
In this episode Sarah is:
Forthcoming with her ability to be resilient and strategic to grow her practice.
Offers professional practice tips that helped her advance her career.
Provides tools she uses to be innovative during the schematic design phase.
Describes how she creates a sense of engagement with her clients by weaving compelling stories throughout her design process.
Guest Summary
Sarah is the Senior Interior Design and youngest to be appointed to Associate Principal at BORA Architects in Portland, Oregon.
Inspired strategic thinker that excels in ideation, execution and leadership.
She enjoys telling compelling stories through the spaces she designs.
She focuses on intuitive and human focused solutions to complex programs.
As a design leader she strives to support an inquisitive design culture that empowers and encourages teams to bring the design story to life.
She has received IIDA awards for Best in Category & Juror’s Choice for the Meier & Frank Redevelopment, IIDA Oregon Legacy Award Winner for her accomplishments and contributions to the commercial interior design profession, IIDA Best in Category, Archtizer A+Awards Jury Winner, and Cannes Lions Awards of Silver Lion for branded environment for Airbnb Customer Experience Hub.
She has worked on projects that span across the world enriching the worksplace, hospitality, educational, performing arts and government agencies.
Show Notes
Question #1: What initially attracted you to the profession of interior design?
Sarah: I had no idea what I wanted to do when I got to college. I tried on three- or four-degree paths from economics to international relations to outdoor tourism. I felt like I was not inherently motivated to connect with the content that I was being exposed to. Honestly, it had not occurred to me that interior design was an option. It was not something that was ever presented or identified as a profession when I was growing up. At the time I lived in a sorority and a few of the other women that lived there, we're studying architecture or interior design or landscape architecture. I would often see them working on their projects in the study room at the house. It was compelling to see how they were creating, solving problems and collaborating. I started to view interior design as a concept of using, space and form as an artistic medium to help tell stories. And now I enjoy the opportunity to live with that intention each day at work.
Question #2: When you started, what did you think interior designers did?
Sarah: In my initial exposure to interior design I thought it was decorating. What I practice now is what I thought an architect did. There is a whole spectrum of possibilities in between that one can practice in.
Question #3: What aspect fills your bucket about your day to day process?
Sarah: I thrive at the crossroads of thinking strategically and inspirationaly. The creative thinking from that synergy throughout the process is my sweet spot. At the beginning of the project I enjoy the creative planning through using a material in a unique way.
Question #4: What was your path to where you are at today?
Sarah: I moved to Portland the day after I graduated college to work at YGH Architecture. I knew that I wanted to stay in the northwest and close to home. Portland felt like the right city for me. I was really interested in getting a job right out of school and transitioning right into practicing. At YGH I focused on absorbing as much as I could from their extremely talented interiors team and to do my best to support their work. I really sought to try it all on and they supported me in that role. One thing I learned along the way is that there are so many different ways that you can be an interior designer. For me, that step was really important in navigating my career by starting to build the skills to set me on a course for a long-term role in a firm.
Elizabeth: Some times you have to step into the profession before you fully understand it. There are also times that someone sees something in you that you didn’t see in yourself. Like you said there are so many roles in the profession such as space planning or the material development sector or the project management sector. There are so many facets in these complex, larger projects that we work on that it really has room for a variety of skills and it sounds like you learned a lot in your role at YGH.
Sarah: I'm really grateful that they invested in me and gave me so many opportunities to help me figure out where I would thrive.
Question #5: How did you land at Bora Architects?
Sarah: Unfortunately, I graduated in 2007 and was eventually laid off during the recession. During that time, hardly anyone in town was hiring. It was common knowledge. I knew it and I tried to not let it loom over my head and get me down. I wanted to stay optimistic about my possibilities. So, I pulled my cover letter, resume work sample portfolio together and I started asking firms around town for informational interviews. I wanted to get to know them. I also knew that one day they would need to hire somebody again. I wanted to be at the top of their list. That strategy paid off when I was hired 4 months later to support their growing workplace market sector.
Elizabeth: That was smart. I think we are seeing a theme here. The industry is volatile and you are living proof that if you can be resilient and creative you will come out even stronger after a recession. In your case you are now a senior interior designer and associate principal at BORA.
Question #6: Can you describe your role as an Associate Principle?
Sarah: As an Associate Principal I am responsible for advancing the initiatives of the company: Upholding our values, ensuring the quality and intention in our work. In addition to being a face for the firm publicly and supporting business development efforts. I have been involved in our strategic planning effort firm wide and I have focused on strengthening our firms’ culture and brand.
Elizabeth: Those are all elements that are outside of the description of what we are trained in as interior designers. It sounds like you are talking about organizational development and business skills.
Sarah: Yes, exactly. I mean, one thing that you aren't thinking about when you start your career is how to advance your career through leadership skills and involvement in collaboration with the other people. If you can develop yourself as leader as well as a design professional you will go a long way.
Question #7: Can you share your involvement with IIDA?
Sarah: I started serving on the board to grow my skills, to extend my peer base and to serve the profession. I really felt like IIDA was an opportunity to have that impact. When I joined the board the only role that was available was President Elect. I am humbled and grateful for the opportunity to explore my leadership skills in a safe space. In my role I worked to establish a Western Region Student Designed Charette. This platform provides students the opportunity to practice collaborating as a team, starting with a competition at the chapter level. Then the winning teams move on to the Western Regional Charette and that winning team moves on to compete at the IIDA National Competition at Neocon each year.
Elizabeth: Yeah, it's such a great opportunity for students. It is so exciting to see the students that are emerging from a practitioner side. From a student side they get to connect with professionals during the event, then to get to go to Neocon, that is so awesome.
Meier & Frank Redevelopment - Screen Diagram
Question #8: You have the ability to take materials and uniquely apply them, can you share some examples of your schematic design process and the tools you use?
Sarah: In schematic design we combine our concept or a story with the functional needs of the project. We start out by understanding both of these elements equally. We try to understand what the underlying story is that will connect the client to their brand. We also balance that with what they need in order for the space to function. We look for those opportunities to unite inspiration, story and brand mission with the functional operation of the group. During this time, we develop a plan and consider opportunity for each space to contribute to the story. We will use sketches to create a parti then take it into Revit and Enscape to mass out the space. At this point nothing is precious and we continue to manipulate the spaces. Through this process we begin to imagine the essentials of the client’s story.
Meier & Frank Redevelopment - Elevator Lobby
Question #9: Let's dive into that schematic design process, can you share some more of the tools you use during the schematic design phase?
Sarah: We really feel like our clients, their goals and the site are never the same. We feel like it's really important to be able to provide a certain level of identity and expression of the individual client’s stories. We look for strategies that are outside of the box. With this we use a lot of different tools such as parametric design software such as Grasshopper or Rhino. We can translate that to a 3D printer or a laser cutter to test out a certain tile pattern (such as in the Meier & Frank project). We also use VR tools such as Enscape to envision spaces.
Microsoft B40 & B41 Lobby
Question #10: You do a lot of prototyping as well. I recall in the Airbnb Portland office when we toured you did some stain mock ups. It seems you are not afraid to get your hands dirty. I think at times we feel like we need to wait for the contractor to provide us those mock ups. But sometimes that iteration has to happen sooner than when the contractor is on board. Can you tell us about your design lab at Bora and give us some examples of how you prototype?
Sarah: I feel grateful to work in an office with a shop. This allows us to be able to take different substrates and explore them to see how a stain will react or how the CNC machine can create a texture. We also sometimes come up with a concept or design that we're not quite sure how to accomplish. In this case, we will engage outside fabricators to help. There are different people with different expertise and we really appreciate and invite the knowledge that trades bring to the table. For example, on the Microsoft project, there was a cloud feature that was hung through a double height space in the lobby that was composed of 2,000 plus suspended dowels. We were able to work with a local fabricator called Super Fab to conceive how to install the dowels.
AirAirbnb Portland Office
Question #11: Can you tell us a little bit more about how you guys weave stories into your projects?
Sarah: We really believe that expressing the story of our clients through space is an opportunity to better connect people in place. It really has the opportunity for people to feel like they're invested in and they own their space. Something that's beyond the obvious, “Wow, this space is cool.” It's something that maybe they're not able to pinpoint, but it surrounds them. We really see it as an opportunity to connect people together. In order to identify what that story is, we start by taking the time to listen to the client about their goals and aspirations. We do this to understand a little bit more about the client and the expression of their brand. We research the site as well as understanding the relationship between the client and the site. Then using all of that information we reflect on what we heard. This is something that's a little bit hard to put into words about the next step in this process. But I really try to weed through all of that to find the emotions that are surrounding the brand, the culture of the site and the client. Beyond something that's obvious. It goes beyond their brand colors or their value statement. It is how we take that feeling and turn it into a space. It requires me to stay open and curious in search of something that will resonate with the client while also inspiring the process.
Elizabeth: It sounds like storytelling is a tool you use during the schematic design process to engage clients and make that space theirs. When I first graduated from school it was hard for me to understand this concept. In school it is all about your ideas and in practice it is the clients space and especially in corporate office environments or residential spaces or anywhere where people are very intimately engaged with the space for multiple hours a day. It needs to work and function for them and their culture is part of that, right? Not just the aesthetic, but the finer points of how they engage with the environment, from space planning to materiality, too. It sounds like you guys weave compelling stories as a tool to get the client rooted into the process of a project.
Sarah: Exactly. It's about them, and we want the space to be reflective of them and for them to feel fully engaged and proud of their space. Something that's unseen in the final design that we encountered recently was an expansion project we're working on for Airbnb in Seattle. There was a standard that had already been created on the lower floors and we wanted to build upon that to unite the expansion floors. Through the process, we understood that Airbnb wanted to enhance their sustainability approach. simultaneously the people in the Seattle office loved the orca’s in the Puget Sound. As a result, we helped to develop a sustainability approach that was seeking to eliminate persistent bio accumulative and aquatic toxic chemicals from a majority of the finishes we were putting into the space. This is something that when you walk into the space you are not necessarily seeing but it is something that all the employees know and will be able to feel proud of. Not just for their own health, but for the health of the environment around them.
Elizabeth: I love the connection to the culture of the orcas. How does this translate to The Airbnb in Portland office? Did you use the context of the surroundings to engage this user group?
Sarah: At The Airbnb Portland project a lot of the staff had side hobbies. It is a heavy maker culture. They really resonated with materials that were approachable as part of the design, such as OSB and plywood. There was some comfort in that honesty of materiality as part of the space. We exposed a lot of the craft and joinery. This helped them feel connected to that space.
Elizabeth: I love, that you have given us an example of the same client and yet you guys have been so creative and innovative to come up with a different story for each space. One that works for the culture of the Seattle office versus the Portland office. What I'm really hearing from you is that you guys use storytelling as a design tool in order to engage the clients and to make it about them. Client engagement is a tool from schematic design on, as your driver or your DNA as we relate it back to one of the beginning episodes I launched where we talk about design, process and concept, and what's the DNA of a project. For you it sounds like it is rooted in the weaving of stories and drawing out from the client what that story is, then using that as the backbone to be innovative on your projects.
Sarah: Yeah, I think that's absolutely correct. And we have found it as a way to make decisions through the project. From the initial planning down to the pillows. It is something that the clients can participate in and give meaningful feedback on throughout the project.
Closing: If you were to describe your design process as an outdoor adventure, which one would it be and why?
Sarah: I would have to say that my processes is like charting a new trial run for the first time, I might have a trail mapped out and as I head down the trail, even though I might have GPS map, I'm going to encounter a down tree or lots of mud or find a trail that's closed or I'm going to be caught in a downpour or maybe even discover that I missed a turn because I was so in the zone. But in the end, I have to stay the course to get back to my car, to get home. All the redirections along the way are just part of the story of the journey and that becomes what I talk about when I reminisce. It is specific to that one day and it will never be repeated. Just like the process of design is specific to just that one client.
Elizabeth: Even those painful moments when you are out in wilderness or in the design process are the ones that you tell stories about. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right? We can use that to shape our experiences and to inform how we approach working with clients, how we approach going out into nature and enjoying it, or even how we practice design.
Credit
Branding & Graphic Design work by Andrea Schwoebel https://www.andreaschwoebel.com/
Content provided by Sarah Weber with Bora Architects
Meier & Frank Imagery by Brian Lee
Microsoft Imagery by Aaron Locke
Airbnb Imagery by Bittermann