Julie Nelson

“My architectural career has never really been built on an overarching ambition or plan or even a calling– it has been a series of small steps to add up to a lifetime of work.”

#WomenWhoBuild meet Julie Nelson,

Julia is a partner at BKSK Architects, where she not only leads the design process for a variety of complex commercial and institutional projects, but is also the partner-in charge of sustainability and technology. Julie is a committed educator and a frequent lecturer on issues that pertain to sustainable architecture, design, and construction. Her writing on these topics has been featured in the New York Times and the Washington Post. Julie is also a member of the advisory committee for GPRO Homes, an initiative by the New York chapter of the US Green Building Council, has served on the AIANY’s COTE Policy Committee, as well as served as a Sustainability Design Critic at City College.

ArchNative sat down with Julie (virtually of course) to discuss her path in Architecture, how she has ensured her professional growth all while remaining with the same company for a majority of her career, her own personal project of converting a 19th century Scottish church into an energy efficient residence, and of course her advice for women entering the field.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey in Architecture? What made you decide to pursue it as a career choice?

I have been fortunate to have deep roots in three places, Virginia where I spent my first 30 years, New York where I have lived for the past 25 years, and Scotland which has been part of my life for the last 12 years. My architectural career has never really been built on an overarching ambition or plan or even a calling– it has been a series of small steps to add up to a lifetime of work. It is not the typical narrative for architects, but it is true.

You have been with BKSK Architects for a majority of your career, how have you ensured that you are growing in your position while remaining in the same company? 

I was very fortunate to join BKSK at the time in my work life that I was ready to commit to a place for the long term. I had already worked in two very small firms and two large firms, so I had a variety of office experiences.  I knew I wanted to work in a smaller office that had design ambition.  BKSK was that for me.  What I did not know, but is the most important piece of advice I can give, is to work with and for people who are not only great architects but are also humane and generous.  The partners allowed me to grow, encouraged it, and gave us the opportunities to take the firm in new directions.  I’m not sure that exists in many places in our field.

Photos Above: Center for Fiction

What are your responsibilities as a Partner of the firm/ What does your day to day look like? 

Our firm is unique in that we are all-tool players from partners to interns.  We all do everything.  All partners are responsible for design, project management, marketing, finances, working with staff – the list goes on.  In addition, I work with our business advisors on strategic planning for the firm.  I have also recently started to teach, which I love.  I am learning far more from the students than I teach.  Every day is different from the next and it is never dull.

What has been your favorite project to work on and where do you draw inspiration?

For all of our projects, we look for an underlying narrative that makes a design that can only be in that place, in that context and for that community.  This will look different for each project we work on.  I don’t have a favorite, but two projects that were influential to me were the Queens Botanical Garden Visitors Building and the recently completed Center for Fiction.  Both projects had ambitious clients that were brave and visionary design partners.  Both projects ended in places that were unexpected and we are proud of their impact on the communities they serve.

Photos Above: Queens Botanical Garden Visitors Building

You had worked with your husband on converting a 19th century Scottish church into an energy efficient residence. Can you tell us a little bit about that process? 

My husband and I broke my rules for retrofits – which is to make improvements to support passive performance strategies before bells and whistles.  We were at a farmer’s market and signed up for solar panels on impulse before insulating the buildings.  We went all in on bells and whistles.  But it was a symbolic act to put our stake in the ground for sustainability, to support solar in Scotland, which is important for a country looking to diversify away from North Sea oil.  

Living in Scotland gives you a different perspective on time which influences your mindset.  We live across the street from a bridge that was built in the 15th Century and is still in use.  When we redid our roof, we didn’t think twice about replacing with slate, which allowed us to re-use much of the existing material - which was a resource on site and is over 100 years old - support local craftspeople (our neighbor did the work), and the roof will last long after we are gone.  It is much harder to implement that kind of thinking in the US.  

This summer, I was fortunate to be able to work remotely from Scotland for two months.  Having more time there I was able to get to know our home, the village, and the surroundings in a much deeper way. In planning our garden, I became aware of our property as part of a greater ecology. We are a few hundred yards from the Eden Estuary, a nature reserve which has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. I began to think of our garden, not as a self-contained design project, but as the continuation of an eco-system.  I wondered how we might extend the beneficial qualities of the estuary to our property, and how that might connect to other properties in our village and beyond. This experience inspired me to volunteer for the US Architects Declare Biodiversity Committee.  I’m excited to see how biodiversity and architecture might work together to create larger eco-systems.

Photos Above: Church in Scotland and the it’s future garden

You write about Sustainability on a regular basis and have been featured in publications such as the New York Times and The Washington Post, what do you see for the future of Sustainable design? 

Just as working on our home in Scotland made me realize how our property fit into the larger ecology of our surroundings, I hope that sustainability will continue its evolution from a project-based approach, as best represented by LEED and other building-by-building rating systems, to a cooperative approach based on larger boundaries. We need to move away from siloed design in buildings - particularly with respect to codes andregulation. In New York, we benefit from density – a small physical footprint – but we are also limited by this.  If we could expand our thinking beyond the property lines, we could be much more aggressive with retrofits which will be the path toward carbon reduction.  Even the 4” of zoning relief beyond property lines is not really enough if you are working with a building of historic character with structure in the wrong place.  The use of renewables becomes more feasible when approached from a block-by-block perspective.  I would love to see the State laws related to rent regulation reviewed to make it easier to retrofit buildings with rent regulated tenants without sacrificing tenant protections.

What advice do you have for women entering the field? 

Use your peripheral vision, and keep your eyes open for opportunities to learn, and ask questions.