A conversation with our beloved architect at MASSDesign
A conversation with our beloved architect at MASSDesign
MASS Design Group was founded on the understanding that architecture’s influence reaches beyond individual buildings. MASS (Model of Architecture Serving Society) believes that architecture has a critical role to play in supporting communities to confront history, shape new narratives, collectively heal and project new possibilities for the future. During a recent conversation between our director Nashira Baril and Amie Shao, Principal at MASS Design, they reflected on what this birth center project means - specifically personally and professionally for Amie as she approaches the work as an architect and parent. Also how the building partnership model is more than just sharing space with other like-minded organizations but creating an ecosystem that requires the reimagination and equitable redistribution of capital for a healthy family to a healthy planet.
Nashira: Thanks for hanging out with me – you know I'm a huge fan of MASS Design and I still pinch myself that we are together in this process to design a birth center in Boston at the heart of a community movement and healing sanctuary.
Amie: I remember meeting you in 2019 and being just blown away by your vision. MASS has always been premised on how buildings can heal and contribute to equity. From healing the body by designing hospitals in Rwanda to acknowledging trauma and inspiring healing by designing the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL.
Nashira: That’s really what initially attracted me to MASS Design. I’ve been working in public health and racial justice a long time and this work always comes with the labor of explaining - explaining that current systems are not working well, explaining that it’s not about individual behavior, explaining that to truly get free we need to radically redesign. Before knowing about MASS, I could not have imagined finding architects who are so clear that space is not neutral, that design creates or inhibits equity. In fact, I am pretty sure those are your words – I’ve learned a lot from you. So, tell me what excites you about Neighborhood Birth Center.
Amie: I’ve spent years as an architect working in general healthcare design at MASS. But when I gave birth to twins, and had an extended stay in the hospital, I got really passionate about childbirth design in particular. I remember being there and thinking to myself, nowhere can spaces of beauty and healing have a more profound impact than during and immediately after childbirth. The mom in me wishes I’d known about birth centers as an option (doulas and everything else too!) And the architect side of me, I remember saying to my partner, also an architect, “if this were designed more like home, our experience would feel totally different.” I’m so glad people in Boston will have this in the future. I appreciate how Neighborhood Birth Center roots birth in the community, and then the way you are enveloped by the partners.
Nashira: Yes, shout out to our partners – Resist, Inc, The Movement Commons, Center for Economic Democracy, and City Life/Vida Urbana – and this organizational ecosystem we have built on solidarity and collectively creating a new economy and a new future.
Amie: This feels like a really aligned project because everything we do at MASS is focused on advancing equity and supporting organizations to make real the ways that space both grounds and uplifts their vision and their ability to support, or in this case, transform, the communities that they serve. MASS works with a lot of nonprofits, funders, philanthropies, but we haven’t yet seen an ecosystem coming together under one roof in this way. Especially, the ways you are approaching economic sovereignty and intentionally opting out of the commercial real estate market. It’s powerful and we are excited to help you make it real.
Nashira: I know you are committed to supporting our visioning process (I am so excited to dive into the homework you gave us to identify the look and feel we think captures our values.) But I have to ask, what’s one design element that you would not want us to miss?
Amie: Hmm, well, some birth centers that I've visited, especially if they are renting the space, are making the most of an inherited structure, like a dental clinic turned birth center. It takes a lot of effort and capital to rework those spaces and it’s remarkable how they feel after midwives have transformed them. I think we get the benefit of learning from what’s worked for them and their longings for birthing spaces. My biggest hope for you, for us, is that we get the opportunity to build out the heart of the space – that we don’t just reuse a long hallway with a waiting room, but that we dare to imagine a space with a courtyard, outdoor spaces, gathering areas, a cafe…I like to think about how you come out of your birth room, how you move throughout the space. In other words, it would be a missed opportunity if it were a bunch of nice birthing rooms but we didn’t get to design the heart of the space.
Nashira: Yes! I think about this a lot. I have to actively shift from a place of feeling scarcity, to believing in abundance. There’s this belief in nonprofit, healthcare, entrepreneurialism, that we should trim our budget, low ball costs, cut corners, and do more for less. With the costs of real estate and construction in Boston (not to mention that insurance reimbursement wont cover the actual costs of operating the birth center, we are faced with raising a ton of money. And it’s almost easier to go back to the plan and try to trim costs by reducing the number of birth suites, or cutting the garden, or the atrium from the design. But, what’s the impact of saying we need an extra six-or seven figures in order to build the birth center that Boston actually needs? I refuse to sacrifice creating a beautiful space that has the power to transform people for generations because we are afraid to say we need to raise another $1M, when for many people and corporations in this city, that’s a rounding error. There are enough resources for Boston to have an exquisite, luxurious, birthing center, the presence of which will benefit everyone, even if they never give birth there.
Amie: I’m really excited to see what’s to come. In June we’ll provide you with some visuals to help you all build a public-facing buzz about how the birth center could anchor a larger space for community healing, connection, and organizing. It’s really beautiful to think of us sort of midwifing another world – creating a physical space where both babies are born and people practice being together differently.
A screenshot of the team at MASS Design sharing an early conceptual model of how birth center care relates to the other gathering and organizing visions for the shared space.