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With a great big smile, Ingallil Wahlroos-Ritter welcomes us into her office. On the wall hangs Julius Shulman photos and work from past students. Wahlroos-Ritter is the Dean of the School of Architecture at Woodbury University. However, when she was an architecture student, she never thought that she would ever teach architecture. She lived in Finland when she was a child and that experience has influenced her design style. She tells us, “When everything is designed with beauty in mind, it brings you joy.” Her favorite spot in the city is her Echo Park garden where she has a view of Los Angeles.
"When everything is designed with beauty in mind, it brings you joy."Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter has a history of working with various firms including, Barton Myers Associates, SOM, Venturi Scott Brown and Associates, and Frank Gehry’s office. Her area of expertise is working with exterior glass facades. Ingalill has been interviewed by LA Times and has been published in Architect Magazine. Recently, she won the 2018 “Educator of the Year” Award from AIA|LA and was named one of the top 25 educators nationally by DesignIntelligence. She continuously inspires Woodbury students, helping to shape the School of Architecture.
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What motivated you to enter the field of architecture?
I’m a licensed architect and graduated from UCLA. I spent time in Finland when I was a child. In Finland everything is beautifully designed - from tableware, houses, to cities. Coming from that environment, I became aware of the value that beautiful design can bring to everyday life.
I’m a licensed architect and graduated from UCLA. I spent time in Finland when I was a child. In Finland everything is beautifully designed - from tableware, houses, to cities. Coming from that environment, I became aware of the value that beautiful design can bring to everyday life.
DoSu Studio architect; Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter facades / Photo Courtesy of Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter
What is your favorite spot in LA?
I live in the hills of Echo Park and have an amazing view of the city from my garden. If you are ever in Echo Park, feel free to knock on my door and enjoy the city view. I’m not a Dodgers fan, (laughing) because they are the cause of homeward bound traffic. But I can hear the sounds of Dodger Stadium from my house. That is the most amazing sound: with our doors open, we can hear the cheers for the homeruns. My second favorite place is here at school, especially around finals week when all of the inspiring student work is made public.
I live in the hills of Echo Park and have an amazing view of the city from my garden. If you are ever in Echo Park, feel free to knock on my door and enjoy the city view. I’m not a Dodgers fan, (laughing) because they are the cause of homeward bound traffic. But I can hear the sounds of Dodger Stadium from my house. That is the most amazing sound: with our doors open, we can hear the cheers for the homeruns. My second favorite place is here at school, especially around finals week when all of the inspiring student work is made public.
"What I’m seeing many of our alumni doing is crafting their own unique career paths. They are non-traditional paths."
WUHO Gallery, Director: Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter
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What is your best advice for students who are about to graduate from Woodbury?
I truly believe that your architecture education (at Woodbury) gives you entrance to so many opportunities. My colleagues and I feel a deep obligation that our students leave Woodbury prepared to enter the marketplace as architects and interior architects, and to understand the power and possibilities of our profession. Get to know your professors. Be curious. Ask them about their work. They are talented designers, committed educators, and your introduction to the many ways that architecture can be practiced. Building on this core education, you can then go on to practice architecture in so many ways. Embrace practice, test boundaries and be open to imagining what the future of practice might be. |
I graduated from UCLA, and let me tell you, it was too big. I did not explore other departments, for example. The beauty of Woodbury is that it is the perfect scale for exploring... We have other wonderful programs, like applied computer science, management, and animation. Many of our alumni are now crafting their own unique, non-traditional career paths; they believe that architecture can be more than designing a building.
It can be designing systems, products and processes that combine many skills and interests: for example, fashion and the physics of building material sciences. So... you are developing a broad range of skill-sets now: visualization and fabrication, writing and thinking and understanding structures and building sciences. Companies outside of architecture too are looking for employees with your skills sets. My advice is to be open and take time to explore. So, stay open.
"My advice is to be open. You just need some time to explore. So, stay open."
In response to your interview with Architecture Magazine, what other micro-actions can we do to resolve the growing homelessness crisis in our city?
Wow. That’s a tough question! A lot of architects look at homelessness and say, "This is not an architectural problem.” But it can be. Architects have the skillsets to be part of the teams addressing these issues. Architects have the power to change policy that can then improve neighborhoods, in terms of density and resources, for example.
I spoke earlier about architecture education introducing students to many different ways of thinking and to multiple disciplines. Architects are synthesizers. We collaborate with multiple disciplines. We weave together multiple systems to create solutions. Homelessness is a complex problem. There are micro-communities within the larger homeless diasporas of our city – downtown LA homeless are predominantly black, the west side has a lot of Veterans, and Hollywood a lot of runaway teens and LGBT youth, other neighborhoods have a homeless families and children - each of these populations are located in different communities, in different cities and environments that need a different set of solutions. Architects can participate by designing permanent shelters, design shelters that adaptively reuse existing buildings, and ensure that their multi-family housing projects include low-income units. They can also work with government agencies to change building ordinances and regulations so that more creative housing options can be built. One example is the California Accessory Dwelling Unit law (AB2299) that was co-authored by architecture educator Dr. Dana Cuff.
Now, imagine if every school of architecture in Southern California would ‘adopt’ a different community and a different homeless population. You would have ten solutions, each one addressing a different type of homelessness community, and city environment.
These are complex problems, and architects can participate in all parts of these multi-pronged approaches to build more low income housing, in addition to homeless shelters. This entails a chain of solutions. It's not a one-size-fits-all solution.
Wow. That’s a tough question! A lot of architects look at homelessness and say, "This is not an architectural problem.” But it can be. Architects have the skillsets to be part of the teams addressing these issues. Architects have the power to change policy that can then improve neighborhoods, in terms of density and resources, for example.
I spoke earlier about architecture education introducing students to many different ways of thinking and to multiple disciplines. Architects are synthesizers. We collaborate with multiple disciplines. We weave together multiple systems to create solutions. Homelessness is a complex problem. There are micro-communities within the larger homeless diasporas of our city – downtown LA homeless are predominantly black, the west side has a lot of Veterans, and Hollywood a lot of runaway teens and LGBT youth, other neighborhoods have a homeless families and children - each of these populations are located in different communities, in different cities and environments that need a different set of solutions. Architects can participate by designing permanent shelters, design shelters that adaptively reuse existing buildings, and ensure that their multi-family housing projects include low-income units. They can also work with government agencies to change building ordinances and regulations so that more creative housing options can be built. One example is the California Accessory Dwelling Unit law (AB2299) that was co-authored by architecture educator Dr. Dana Cuff.
Now, imagine if every school of architecture in Southern California would ‘adopt’ a different community and a different homeless population. You would have ten solutions, each one addressing a different type of homelessness community, and city environment.
These are complex problems, and architects can participate in all parts of these multi-pronged approaches to build more low income housing, in addition to homeless shelters. This entails a chain of solutions. It's not a one-size-fits-all solution.
"These are complex problems, and architects can participate in all parts of these multi-pronged approaches to build more low income housing."
DoSu Studio architect; Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter facades / Photo Courtesy of Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter
What do you think of the cycle from attaining land, to working with a developer, to architecture implementation? Should we reinvent this cycle and have regulations? What do you think of housing spaces being only 10% low income areas?
Your question raises an issue our community has been discussing: should we offer real estate development courses to our School of Architecture students? We have a successful Real Estate Development program in San Diego which is a one-year post-professional graduate program. Here in Burbank, we recently hosted a series of Saturday real estate development seminars, free to our community. They were well attended, although primarily by alumni. Think how empowering it would be for our students to have the rudimentary knowledge of what it takes not just to design but to develop projects – understanding market capacities and land value, financial impacts of design decisions, forming investment teams, financing, understanding building code, and leveraging your architecture degree. Definitely something to explore further.
Now to your question: I am absolutely for more government funding and subsidies for affordable housing units, including requiring a certain percentage of low-income housing in every multifamily project. As history has shown us, affordable housing will otherwise disappear.
I recently learned at AIA|LA’s Powerful conference that 63% of affordable housing organizations are led by executive directors who are women. Men dominate the field of real estate development. I find this distinction very interesting and would like to find out why. Architecture has traditionally been a white, male-dominated field. I think the architectural profession needs different questions and different design approaches that come from diversifying the profession and opening it up to people from different socio-economic backgrounds. Diverse points of view will lead to innovative design solutions. Part of the mission for our School, which opens up pathways to the profession to many outside of this traditionally narrow demographic, addresses a longer-range vision for changing the profession. I am optimistic about the future of architectural practice because of our students.
Your question raises an issue our community has been discussing: should we offer real estate development courses to our School of Architecture students? We have a successful Real Estate Development program in San Diego which is a one-year post-professional graduate program. Here in Burbank, we recently hosted a series of Saturday real estate development seminars, free to our community. They were well attended, although primarily by alumni. Think how empowering it would be for our students to have the rudimentary knowledge of what it takes not just to design but to develop projects – understanding market capacities and land value, financial impacts of design decisions, forming investment teams, financing, understanding building code, and leveraging your architecture degree. Definitely something to explore further.
Now to your question: I am absolutely for more government funding and subsidies for affordable housing units, including requiring a certain percentage of low-income housing in every multifamily project. As history has shown us, affordable housing will otherwise disappear.
I recently learned at AIA|LA’s Powerful conference that 63% of affordable housing organizations are led by executive directors who are women. Men dominate the field of real estate development. I find this distinction very interesting and would like to find out why. Architecture has traditionally been a white, male-dominated field. I think the architectural profession needs different questions and different design approaches that come from diversifying the profession and opening it up to people from different socio-economic backgrounds. Diverse points of view will lead to innovative design solutions. Part of the mission for our School, which opens up pathways to the profession to many outside of this traditionally narrow demographic, addresses a longer-range vision for changing the profession. I am optimistic about the future of architectural practice because of our students.
"It's not a one-size-fits-all solution. It's not Frank Gehry designing a single project. It's a complex tapestry of multiple solutions."
Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter brings insightful ideas to our school and our city, continuously moving forward with inspiring ambition.
WUHO Gallery, Director: Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter
Listen to Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter on Woodbury's Radio Station:
https://www.midnightcharette.com/blog-episode-4/episode82-g35gm-a4fl5
https://www.midnightcharette.com/blog-episode-4/episode82-g35gm-a4fl5
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