Interview Q&A: Michele Hill

Congratulations to Michele Hill, who has been elected President-Elect of AIA Seattle and Vice President of the Seattle Design Festival!

Michele brings over a decade of experience navigating Seattle codes with an emphasis on adaptations to existing buildings, including structural, energy, and accessibility improvements. Her goal as an #architect is to realize functional and beautiful spaces that improve people’s daily lives. Michele is overseeing construction administration for our fa?ade restoration project on the State Capitol Campus in Olympia and is leading our intensive renovation of the Seattle Public Library Green Lake Branch.

In this #InterviewSeries, we sat down with Michele for a Q&A to discuss her expertise, the greatest challenges in her role, and some of her favorite projects at BuildingWork and around #Seattle.

What are you most looking forward to in your new role as President-Elect of AIA Seattle?

AIA Seattle has a strong legacy of advocacy and activism. As one of the largest and most engaged chapters in the country, our members, Board, and staff are committed to the effort necessary to better our profession and build a more equitable and sustainable world. As President-Elect, I am excited to facilitate this work and amplify the diverse voices that make our chapter and region special.?

How did you find BuildingWork?

Before I started job searching, I had done a lot of self-reflection to understand what my ideal next role would be, and what kind of firm and work I wanted to be involved with. The BuildingWork job fit that ideal, so I took it as a sign from the universe that this would be my next home! I’m glad Matt Aalfs and Kate Weiland agreed!

What is one of the most exciting parts of being in your field?

Architectural professionals are very well-positioned to lead our society toward solutions to problems like systemic inequity and climate change. We excel in holistic, iterative, collaborative, creative, and practical thinking, which are the very skills needed to make our world a better place. I am continually inspired by the depth of passion and breadth of knowledge demonstrated by my colleagues in our local architectural community.

What is one of the greatest challenges in your area of expertise?

It’s no secret that the built environment is very heavily regulated, especially here in Seattle. Understanding how the regulatory layers overlap on a particular project is often challenging enough for me as an architect, let alone for our clients who are not experts in land use and building code. Figuring out how to leverage code requirements to achieve a client’s goals is a continual challenge.

How do you see your work continuing to evolve over the next ten years?

My pre-BuildingWork career mostly focused on small projects—I look forward to turning my focus to larger projects. BuildingWork has a fantastic collaborative, design-oriented culture that pushes all of us to use our very best design skills in pursuit of architectural excellence. I appreciate the opportunity to weave in my code knowledge with the team’s design expertise for creative solutions.

Looking to see some of Michele’s work at BuildingWork? Click on the link below to check out some of her previous projects.?

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