Gail Bouvrie, AIA, DBIA, is a Design Principal in our Los Angeles office, where she focuses on arts, higher education, and healthcare work. She has extensive experience directing design, master planning, and programming for leading clients nationally. Her work centers on a basic core value—design with empathy.
In the following, Gail highlights how architecture has the power to impact communities in a positive way and tell a meaningful story.
What inspired you to be an architect?
My inspiration was my father, an architect who designed modernist homes as I was growing up. I have fond memories of visiting project sites from the first excavations to right before the owners moved in. I think I was most influenced by the quality of light and materials my Dad insisted on. These homes are still architecturally relevant and provide the current owners a special place to live. I often find I have his voice in my head when I am faced with especially challenging situations. That voice reminds me that the decisions we make today will be impactful for a long time.
What opportunities do you see in your role as Design Principal?
I’m excited to build on the culture of design excellence at HGA. I am encouraged by the firm’s core values of curiosity, empathy, hard work, originality and legacy, as they align with my own. There is a deep understanding here that we have a responsibility to leave the world a better place. HGA always has held that we are stewards of the planet and the communities we work in. I hope to reinforce those core beliefs through my design work. I am also looking forward to acting as a mentor to the considerable talent that exists at HGA so that we can expand those core values.
Tell us about your design approach.
Architecture can inspire and transform environments. I believe that architecture has the power to impact people and communities in a positive way and elevate experiences for all.
My goal is to look beyond the program to convey meaning through architecture. That might be something that connects directly to a community, the history of a site or organization, or the function of a building. My collaborative approach involves the entire team to inform the most sustainable, sensitive, and creative response.
You have experience in arts, education, and healthcare. How does this influence your design approach?
Design is about solving challenges. I always ask, “How can we design a building or spaces that enable users to work better, whether in a campus classroom or a hospital emergency department? How can we design so that everyone feels welcome? How can we reduce stress for individuals, whether arriving at a hospital for a procedure, going to a classroom for a final exam, or giving a presentation in an office?”
Once we know the strategic program, we start the design with empathy, looking at the world through other people’s eyes. It requires research into a specific place. It also means active listening and asking questions to develop a conceptual narrative through architecture that tells a meaningful story.
How does empathy support occupant wellbeing?
It’s important to reflect the unique feelings of those who will use the space, to understand their experiences.
For instance, I am currently working on the expansion of the Emergency Department at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in which I can draw on my own experience. I have visited the emergency department many times as a parent of an accident-prone boy. I recall arriving with my son who had a broken limb and not being able to locate the entry. Once inside, the waiting area was institutional, uncomfortable, and dingy, adding to my already heighten stress level.
This project with Cedars-Sinai is an opportunity to address some of those deficiencies that I have experienced firsthand. We are creating an “outdoor room” entry that is easy to find, clearly identified, and provides a welcoming calm environment. The outdoor room will be furnished with plants and seating to create a garden-like option for those who feel uncomfortable waiting indoors. We also are introducing abundant light and natural materials to establish a sophisticated, inviting environment throughout that will enhance the experience for visitors and caregivers.
Empathy is essential to good design and can come from many sources, from your own personal experience, to research studies, focus groups, or simply talking with individuals and being open to their experiences.
What advice do you have for young people entering the design profession?
Never pass up an opportunity to travel. We can learn a great deal from other cultures: how their surroundings, history, politics, and traditions inform the built environment. I make it a point to visit buildings when I travel and am continually impressed with the countless examples of inventiveness, sustainability, materiality, and outstanding urban design.
On a recent trip to Minneapolis, I visited St. John’s Abbey and University Church, designed by Marcel Breuer in 1961. It is an impressive example of modernist architecture that is truly inspiring. Breuer took the traditional sequence of a church plan and gave it new meaning through his design elements to reflect the progressive views of the Benedictines and their liturgical reform. One must experience the building in person to gain a complete understanding of the brilliance of the work.
Looking forward, do you have an ideal project—real or conceptual?
I see every project as ideal because I enjoy the process of discovery. I enjoy sorting through a program to unearth potential that can enhance a project. I enjoy meeting clients and learning about what they do, and hopefully help them realize their mission. The best clients are experts in their field, love their work, share their stories, and trust us to bring their vision to life through design.
If not an architect, what would you be?
I would be a jewelry designer and operate a gallery that would support other artists and craftspeople.