Annalisa
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Name and credentials:
AnnaLisa Meyboom, P.Eng MRAIC
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City and country of birth:
Regina, Canada
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Education:
Bachelor in Civil Engineering (BASc) University of Waterloo, 1993
M.Arch University of British Columbia 2007
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Achievements:
American Institute of Architects Henry Adams Medal (2007)
Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Honour Roll (2007)
Ray Cole Award sponsored by Busby & Associates for Sustainable Design in Architecture (2005)
Architectural Institute of British Columbia Award for Excellence and Progress in Design (2004)
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A few of my favourite things:
Cities
Cars
Bridges
Highways
Good design
Technology
Great food (all genres)
Great music (all genres)
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Tell us about your practice.
I am an assistant professor at UBC’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. As well, I have my own practice called InfrastructureStudio. Both deal with integration of architecture and engineering. My practice deals primarily with transportation infrastructure and alternate ways of approaching design of infrastructure. I teach the structures courses at the university as well as seminars and studio.
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What architectural work are you most proud of?
Theoretical work for competitions and speculation and writings.
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What was it that brought you to architecture?
The lack of design quality in our built environment in North America, especially our transportation infrastructure, which makes up a large amount of our public space.
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How many children (grandchildren) do you have? Ages?
2 children – ages 9 and 11
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How do you manage to practice architecture while raising children and running a household?
This is extremely difficult from a typical job and negotiating this challenge has significantly impacted how I approach my career. When I worked in offices after having children, I set up contract positions and established my own company to allow my schedule to float. Even having full time day care, that was very stressful, trying to meet everyone’s schedule. The childcare is very expensive and with two professional salaries, it is financially burdensome. Luckily I was in UBC daycare, but prior to that, finding daycare was also difficult. While I was an architecture student, we were paying $1250 per month for childcare, and that is subsidized by UBC. As a whole, the cost and availability of daycare is a shockingly bad situation and puts great amounts of stress on families.
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Can you recall an instance where the dual responsibilities of being a parent and an architect came to a head? Please share.
Many times – in architecture school, there were several projects where I just defaulted and said, “No, I cannot finish this.” Also, there are plenty of meetings that I missed because I couldn’t be there past 5 p.m. There are also plenty of events that I missed which have potential impact on career – like after work gatherings, socializing, late project meetings and the list goes on – these are more subtle things but can really impact your career. Our society is not all that supportive to family responsibilities, I find. There is not a recognition that parenting is valuable and that those who are parenting are working for the future good of society.
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Do you think that being a parent has actually influenced your approach to architecture?
Yes. It allows you to understand play and the experience of being in the moment and the place that you are in. It also puts many things in life into perspective, which is very beneficial in architecture. If being an architect is interpreting culture into built form, this interpretation can benefit from a child’s perspective and sense of wonder and curiosity.
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“There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall.”
- Cyril Connolly, Enemies of Promise, 1938
What do you think about this quote?
Art and architecture require contemplation and space in the mind to manifest themselves. The pram in the hall could potentially impact this contemplation and space. However, it could also make us value these elements more when we do have the opportunity, which I find to be more the case. Children give us a different perspective and a necessity to step back and look at what our impact is both on what we are doing with our lives and what we are designing for future generations. This gives a critical perspective which is invaluable.
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What is the best piece of advice you would give to a would-be parent/architect?
Set up your job so that you have the freedom to leave when you need to. It will be stressful in the negotiation at the time, but will result in much less stress over the years. If you are respected as a professional, people will understand that you work just as hard, just maybe after the kids go to bed.
15. If you could change public policy that impacts on child-rearing,
what would that be?
I would require that employers of professionals offer split hours over the day and week: for example, people could work 7 hours a day and 1 hour in the evening (clocked by internet or some other methodology) or 3 days of 12 hours. As well, companies would be required to offer 3 years off for maternity and paternity leave (as in some Scandinavian countries) – the job would be protected. As well, inexpensive universal daycare would be available and heavily subsidized by the government. It is my firm belief that if we don’t put our resources into our future – ie our children via childcare and education, then we are not interested in the future of our country.