Ann Rolland of FXCollaborative | Hunter's Point Campus in Long Island City | School as a Sanctuary
Courtesy of FXCollaborative
Schools as a Sanctuary
In today’s episode, we welcome esteemed architect and partner at FXCollaborative, Ann Rolland, to discuss her most recent project, Q404, or The Academy for Careers in TV and Film located in Hunters Point, Queens. We begin with the foundations of Ann’s architectural journey and explore how as architects and designers we can ensure people feel safer returning to schools in a post-Covid landscape. A school designed today helps inspire a student to do great things tomorrow. Listen in to find out more.
“To me, there’s nothing more important than educating the next generation. Schools are places of refuge, physically and psychologically. We’ve got to open up schools again.”
Courtesy of FXCollaborative
About Ann Rolland
Ann is a partner at FXCollaborative where she was instrumental in launching the cultural and educational practice of the firm 23 years ago. Ann and her buildings have won a dazzling array of awards including from the Beverly Willis Architectural Foundation as well as the Center for Architecture Foundation. Anne was also elevated to the College of Fellows of the American Association of Architects, an honor reserved for America’s best architects. Her work embraces the pragmatic and the creative to cultivate new ways to integrate program and design to achieve results that are tangible, enduring, and reflect the culture of each client.
Courtesy of FXCollaborative
Episode Timestamps
6:30 – Could you talk about the role that your mom played in your growth as a designer?
11:58 – Sylvia Smith was an important part of your transition to the firm. Could you talk about that, too?
13:51 – One of the firm’s current projects is Q404. How big is it? What are the key elements? And how did you tie everything together?
22:28 – How do you make five storeys manageable when it comes to things like circulation?
29:29 – Could you talk about some of the really big wins you had on the interior in terms of the specific tiles you used or specific flooring finishes that perhaps our listeners might be able to note for their own renovations to their homes, for example?
31:55 – Could you talk more about the experience of working with the specific people from the School Construction Authority (SCA) and that process beyond the things that they gave you?
38:55 – Could you talk about the specific issues that need to be addressed in order to make school environments safe for people to return to if they have not already gone back full-time?
51:13 – When you work on projects after this one, could you talk about a few of the things that you’ll take away?
54:34 – Are you hiring?
Connect with Ann Rolland:
Instagram
Twitter
LinkedIn (Ann Rolland)
LinkedIn (FXCollaborative)
Courtesy of FXCollaborative
About your host:
Atif Qadir is the Founder & CEO of Commonplace, a technology company making it easy for commercial real estate professionals to find and use the $100B of real estate incentives given out every year in the US.
His work has been covered by Technology Review, The Real Deal, Commercial Observer, and Propmodo. He’s also a frequent speaker on the future of buildings and cities on popular industry podcasts and at conferences, including this past year at the Commercial Observer National DEI Conference, Yale AREA Conference, Columbia Real Estate Symposium, Open Data Week NYC and Austin Design Week.
About Commonplace
Commonplace is a founding sponsor of American Building. It is a 100% minority-owned, real estate technology company founded in 2020 to make financing social impact development projects across the US easier. It is funded by venture capital investors Hometeam Ventures, Park West Asset Management, New York Ventures and Shadow Ventures.
About Michael Graves
The world-famous design firm Michael Graves is also a founding sponsor of American Building. Its namesake, the iconoclastic designer Michael Graves, FAIA was a fierce advocate for people-centric design. His work defines a generation of American architecture and includes the Portland Building, the Humana Building and the Denver Public Library. The 1st season of American Building was filmed live at The Warehouse, his historic home in Princeton, New Jersey:
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