Tiffany Carlin, M.Arch '14
Tiffany Kimmel Carlin is a licensed architect in New York State with 11 years of experience in multifamily housing, mixed-use projects and schools. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Master of Architecture from CCNY Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture. She has worked with New York City firms Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners as well as Oaklander, Coogan & Vitto Architects. Most recently, Tiffany served as “architect-in-residence” for Brooklyn Laboratory Charter Schools to help prepare their facilities for in-person learning amid the coronavirus pandemic. She finds fulfillment in dedicating her efforts towards socially-minded projects and collaborating with teams to overcome complex design challenges.
How did you become the architect in residence at Brooklyn Lab Charter Schools and what does that job entail?
A couple months into quarantine, I found myself on furlough from my regular job, providing full time childcare for my infant daughter, and questioning what my future career path looks like. I sought advice from a professional mentor of mine from the WX NY Women Executives in Real Estate organization who happened to be the owner’s representative for Brooklyn Laboratory Charter Schools (LAB), a college prep school for grades 6–12 in downtown Brooklyn. She was aware of a unique employment opportunity at the school, and connected me with LAB’s Executive Director who briefed me on the project. At LAB, they were fortunate to have the foresight and resources to begin preparations for the return to school in May 2020, before there was any official guidance. They engaged five esteemed architecture firms to propose their best thinking on back-to-school design for health, safety and equity in a 10-day charette, compiled in a Back to School Facilities Tool Kit. It would be my job to develop, adapt and implement the resulting ideas for the school’s facilities, update the ideas to align with emerging guidance from the CDC and local authorities, and engage stakeholders in the process. Some of the more concrete tasks included: calculating maximum occupancy with social distancing in place, procuring new furniture and equipment, and diagramming student cohorts for contact tracing. I also managed the documentation of our decision making process in the publication: Public Schools Facilities Planning in the Era of Covid-19.
What was your experience like working on an interdisciplinary team, particularly on such a topical issue?
Safeguarding the facilities for the return to school required the collaboration of many parties. There were dozens of consultants involved from the fields of design, communication, education and public health. I worked closely with LAB’s Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer and two project managers from the owner’s representative firm, Urban Projects Collaborative (UPC), to synthesize our findings and reach decisions. The input of the teaching staff was also critical to understanding how their classes typically functioned and what their needs were for a range of issues such as circulation, discipline, and storage. We also needed to socialize our plans with the students’ families to get their feedback. It was our goal that the staff and students feel safe when they return to school, and to do that they must be included in the process and have their voices heard.
Communication was key: we had regular check-ins, presentations, focus groups and feedback sessions, all held virtually. With so many moving parts, we often worked off assumptions and had to be agile, taking changes in stride. It was truly an iterative process, and will continue to be, as conditions change and students and staff inhabit the building throughout the year.