When Cecily Bedwell (M. ARCH '96) was 13, she knew that someday she wanted to be an architect. It made sense; architecture meshed her interest in and affinity for both the arts and sciences. It suited the work ethic and focus she inherited from her parents—as well as the ability to survive on less than six hours of sleep passed down from her mother. So, while friends babysat, worked in retail and waitressed, she worked after school at Lavallee Brensinger, the largest architecture firm in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Throughout her junior and senior years in high school, Bedwell spent afternoons at the firm running prints, picking up supplies, laying out parking lots and working on specs. While the tasks were mundane, the experience immersed her in firm life and solidified her career decision. It paved Bedwell’s path to a Master of Architecture degree at the University of Maryland and, later, to the Baltimore-based firm Design Collective, where she now serves as principal. "I remember thinking how important it was for me to see the day-to-day workings of a professional architecture firm,” she says. “I am very fortunate to have had that experience.”
A certified planner and urban designer, Bedwell has led or participated in the majority of Design Collective’s large-scale planning projects, including the Central Neighborhood Plan in Columbus Indiana; Largo Town Center/Carillon, east of Washington, D.C.; and Downtown Columbia, Maryland’s Revitalization Plan. But outside of work, she is actively paying the opportunity she was given in high school forward, sharing her time, experience and passion for building great communities with young people of all ages. In February, she was awarded Baltimore Business Journal’s first-ever 2020 Mentor of the Year award for her efforts, which include working with fifth graders at Patterson Park Charter School, in-house mentoring at Design Collective and guest critiquing at MAPP. She’ll embark on an eight-month mentorship program with the Urban Land Institute this year. And, while she enjoys working with people of all ages, she particularly relishes talking with kids; she once gave her business card to a six-year-old and his grandfather, inviting them to visit the office, after an enthusiastic conversation about Legos during her morning train commute. “It’s a privilege, talking with kids,” she says. “They are starting to look forward to careers; they have this imagination and passion about what they can do. They really just need a lot of answers.” Below, Bedwell talks about the importance of exploring options, indispensable tools of the trade and bringing people to the table to make great places:
Why, particularly in architecture, is mentorship so important? I think it’s important for any career. We put a lot of pressure on students to make decisions about the rest of their lives before they even have a chance to experience the day-to-day—to understand what daily life in that career looks like—and the different career options available to each course of study and degree. Many students are now participating in co-op experiences, but oftentimes it’s when they are already in college, when they’ve already invested and made decisions about their career path. At Design Collective, our doors are open—we invite students in at any age because it’s vitally important to them and the profession.
You mentor people of all ages. What guidance do you try to share that is universal? What do you hope they take away from the experience of working with you? No matter what you study in school, whether it’s architecture, engineering, planning, interior design or another field, it is critical that you investigate all of the opportunities in those fields and the various paths you can take. As an example, I have a master’s degree in architecture, but through the Maryland program, I discovered my passion for the larger impact of urban design. So, I would say, get out there while you’re still a student, while doors are open to you—you can visit workplaces, you can make connections and contacts. As soon as you hand someone your resume, it’s a selection process; you’re only going to be invited in if they’re hiring, if your portfolio is interesting and if you have the right skills they are looking for at the time. Use the opportunity while you’re still a student to see as many workplaces and meet as many people as possible.
You have tackled a variety of projects over your 22-year tenure at Design Collective. What’s a project you found particularly challenging? What did you learn from it? The Maple Lawn project in Howard County Maryland was one of my first projects at Design Collective (dating back to 1998). Additionally, it was one of the first mixed-use district (MXD) zoned properties in the county—and, as such, it was the county’s first approval process for that type of development. It was a long and arduous process and, because it was new and people fear the unknown, we had a lot of opposition. The initial hearings lasted approximately 10 months, with Matt D’Amico as the Principal-In-Charge (PIC) leading the effort. Years later, with construction underway at Maple Lawn, the developer submitted an additional parcel, adding 97 acres to the project. This time, I presented on behalf of the client as the design team’s expert witness for the submission to the planning board. Thankfully, with built results to reference, the process took only one night and was unanimously approved. From this experience, I learned that planning takes patience and success is based on a plan with strong vision and proper execution of that plan. It is worth the time and effort; you’re hopefully setting an example that others can point to and use as precedent.
You specialize in more complex projects that require a lot of different voices at the table and very careful, thoughtful planning. What advice would you give someone entering this profession to effectively include community input? Essentially, it is achieved through asking a lot of questions, listening attentively and having a transparent process. When we first come into a project as urban designers and planners, we don’t know the stakeholders, the critical issues or the main concerns. We must be sure we’re asking the right questions. Who are the key stakeholders we should be talking to and in what order? Before we facilitate our first public workshop and well before we start design, we conduct stakeholder interviews. In this way, we can learn the most important issues and we know what is foremost on the minds of the stakeholders. We won’t know everything before beginning design, but it gives us an idea of what to expect and where we may need to reach out further. This also means understanding the programs and services that currently exist or are lacking in the community. We work to understand community assets that we can build as well as the gaps in services and amenities that we can address. It is very important in neighborhood revitalization, especially in communities that have a history of disinvestment, that we listen and address their top priorities, not our own; we bring urban design principles, but we do not set the priorities. For one of my current projects, safety is the highest priority (violent crime is a daily occurrence) followed by a lack of public open space (there is none within a 10-minute walk). So, we are talking about protected playground and recreation space along with other strategies. It is about understanding the community’s priorities, but also understanding the reality behind them.
What’s one thing on your desk that you couldn’t live without? Well, the obvious answer is my phone—it’s the ultimate multitool. Additionally, as an urban designer, a lot of drawing is done by hand so a parallel glider and an engineering scale are always nearby. But sentimentally, it would be the Nolli book I bought in Rome—all the other books can be replaced but that travel-worn book has great sentimental value based on where and when I purchased it. I am sure Brian Kelly and Matt Bell will be happy to know that!
What’s the last great book you read or show you binged? I do a lot of driving to different project sites for work so I’d like to nominate a podcast. I love listening to Radiolab. I appreciate their in-depth research and the programs are always thoughtful and thought-provoking. It appeals to my creative and scientific mindset and it’s always the podcast that I want to talk to people about.
What’s next for you? A lot of mixed-use suburban infill—taking surface parking lots or declining retail areas and redeveloping those sites as mixed-use environments. We are doing that type of work with the Capital Centre redevelopment, now known as Carillon, a great project east of Washington, D.C., at the end of the Blue Line. We worked on the sector plan with MNCPPC and now we’re working with RPAI to create a vibrant, healthy, mixed-use community. I’d love to keep doing more of that work. We should not be building on greenfield sites; we need to use the greyfields, what I call “land banks”—those failing, outdated or overbuilt retail shopping centers with surface parking and served by existing infrastructure—and recreating those places. I see a long future in that work.