A Broad Perspective: COOKFOX's Pam Campbell on Leadership and Fostering Creative Ecosystems

By Julia Gamolina

Pam Campbell is a Partner at COOKFOX, having joined the firm in 2003. From the start, she was an integral member of the design team for the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park, the first LEED Platinum skyscraper in the world. Pam was instrumental in attaining the LEED certification through coordinating the architectural component of the process as well as the New York State Green Building Tax Credit application. She also led the adjoining Stephen Sondheim Theatre project, the first LEED Gold certified Broadway Theater, completing all phases from conceptual design to construction administration, involving state level historic preservation approvals.

Currently, Pam is the partner leading the Marymount School, a new building for an independent all-girls school located on the Upper East Side in Manhattan that will employ sustainable features to be incorporated into the curriculum. Prior to joining COOKFOX, Pam worked in the UK and Germany. In her interview, Pam talks about her roots in Scotland and growing in her career, advising young architects to broaden their perspectives.

How did your interest in architecture first develop?

I am from Scotland, where you have to choose a career path when you’re quite young. By fourteen you start narrowing down subjects at school, and that starts to narrow down what university courses you can do. Scotland is a relatively socialist country; public service is valued and at an early age you have to figure out what you’re good at and start contributing. Many in my family are in medicine. Both of my parents were doctors and both of my sisters entered nursing. I knew early on I did not have that calling. I’m grateful for people who do, and more than ever right now I think we all appreciate those that choose to devote their lives to healthcare, but I was self-aware enough to know it was not for me. But I believed I could contribute and be of service in a different way.

I loved making things, and I think that was what led me to finding out more about architecture. In the US people can come to architecture later, there’s a wider, broader education; here it is more often a straight line, and I am a product of that. I had a friend at school who I’ve known since we were eight years old; her uncle was an architect. When we were sixteen, he took us to the architecture studios at Glasgow School of Art. We saw the drawings boards and model making, and I thought, “This is what I want to do.” A year later I was sitting in one of those drawing boards.

What did you learn about yourself in studying architecture?

University was really tough; the critics were tough. But, I loved it. Everything was new. I loved the challenge of facing tasks that were constantly unfamiliar - I found it very motivating. It was also very competitive, which was a driver, and the fact that I was learning constantly added to the challenge. I felt like I was working toward something worthwhile. It seemed like, and still seems like, there is so much to learn. I’m still learning new skills, meeting new people, and this has kept me interested in my career.

How did you get your start in the field?

I did internships in Scotland. But my first full-time position was after finishing my bachelor’s studies at the Mackintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow, where the studios looked out at the amazing Mackintosh designed art school building, which I find too upsetting to walk past now after the fires.

I moved to London at twenty and was very lucky with the office that gave me a job - Michael Wilford & Partners. It had been Jim Stirling’s firm, he was a big personality in UK architecture, and Michael and the other partners were carrying on his legacy doing great work. They were not large, about 30 people in the London office. In fact I did not apply to any large firms, I do not exactly know why as I had no frame of reference, but only smaller ones drew me. They gave me a lot of opportunity, there were no limitations on my role or responsibility.

I had an amazing couple of years there. I loved the studio environment, and we were in Fitzroy Square, which was a very architectural neighborhood – Arup’s offices were there, Grimshaw’s, it was like Chelsea in New York until we were all priced out. But my project was in Manchester, so I ended up moving there and I loved that too. Being on the site, working with the contractors and subcontractors, the range of characters, I loved spending time there.

“You have to ask yourself, even late in the process, ‘Have we been solving the right problem?’”

You then went to MIT. Tell me about this.

I applied to MIT because I wanted to be in an environment that was different than I’d experienced in my undergraduate education, which was part of an art school. I wanted a different approach, and to be with people who were different as well. It was amazing being in studio, a very comfortable space for me, with people who had studied math and physics and biology, to be with people who had a variety of educations and had taken different paths.

It was also very different being in the United States. Suddenly I was thrown into cfd analysis, and dealing with HVAC. Air conditioning was not something I had come across in Scotland. So the students that were a lot stronger than me at maths helped me with calculations and I helped them with studio.

You also worked in Germany for some time during your graduate studies.

Yes, I took three years to finish MIT because I took a semester off before thesis, working in Stuttgart as an intern with Behnisch Architects. Most of my time, ironically, was spent on a building in Cambridge, right next to MIT, the Genzyme Building. I would have stayed in Germany longer, but my parents were getting nervous that I’d never finish my degree so I went back.

Pam at COOKFOX’s fundraiser for the Cambodian Children’s Fund.

Did you come to COOKFOX straight out of MIT?

I did. I applied to Richard Cook & Associates, and in the time between my applying and starting to work, it had become COOKFOX. Bob joined Rick in March, just before I joined in July.

Famously, our first project was Bank of America Tower. It was crazy town. One thing I’ll say about that time, besides that I didn’t sleep, is that I ended up in a very unusual position. I was the junior team member, and I went to all the meetings and wrote up all the meeting notes. We were making presentations to anyone who might have had an interest in the project. It meant I spent time every week in meetings in Durst’s office with the Dursts, the architect of record Adamson, Bank of America reps, JLL, the engineers who were JBB and Severud, and Gensler was there, too - a huge meeting every week. I got to see many other sides of the project, which is unusual for a junior architect. I got to hear everything firsthand, which gave me a broad understanding of what was going on. As the project progressed, I got more involved, then we put a plan together for the theater, and I ended up focusing on that. Mark Rusitzky was the PM. That was what I really wanted to work on, to have a hand in designing the theater. I was there at the start the design process, a dream come true. It is now the Stephen Sondheim Theater. The entire BofA project took about six years.

Having been with COOKFOX now for almost twenty years, where do you feel like you’re in your career today?

Like you said, I’ve worked for about twenty years now and I’d love to do this until I’m terribly old. If I do it another twenty years I’d consider myself lucky. At the moment, 50% of my time is on Marymount, an independent girl’s school on the upper east side of Manhattan, and I’ve been working on projects in northern Virginia in National Landing and Potomac Yards, with the rest of the time on non-project work, managing the studio.

I’ve worked on a few larger projects, the ones that take several years, where I’ve really learned a lot and been super-involved. You only get so many of those in a lifetime. I’m grateful that I’ve had those, and the variety of the scale and timeline of the smaller ones, and also that I have a voice in the studio which is a project in itself. Personally, I am in Glasgow now, having relocated back here last December to be with my family, so I got a head start on remote working that now we are all facing.

“Have there been situations where being a woman has been a disadvantage? Yes. Have there been situations where being a woman has been an advantage? Yes. I do not feel gender has been that much of a hurdle for me, no more than other intrinsic issues.”

Looking back at it all, what have been the biggest challenges?

I feel like I have created my own biggest challenges. Have there been situations where being a woman has been a disadvantage? Yes. Have there been situations where being a woman has been an advantage? Yes. I do not feel gender has been that much of a hurdle for me, no more than other intrinsic issues.

Being someone who is driven by challenges, I think something motivating in our profession is also a downfall: there are so many reference points that are open ended. By this I mean that in architecture there is not necessarily a “right” answer, and a constantly expanding range of influences and considerations. You’re starting with a blank piece of paper and you are constantly questioning “Is this as good as it can be? Can it be taken further?” That is always a dangling question, and it is always, always a question. I think that, for architects, it is always challenging to question what you’re doing, and to not be afraid to turn around and go down a different path if you think something could be better. You have to ask yourself, even late in the process, “Have we been solving the right problem?”

What have been the highlights?

Again, with a project that takes years, being deeply involved, and watching completion and people occupying a building or a space, achieving the goals of the project, this is deeply rewarding. There is a turning point when a project goes from being yours to theirs that is a very satisfying moment. But it’s a slow process.

Another very satisfying thing for me is being part of studio. Having a role in leadership expands the positive effect you can have and the good you can do over the span of your career. It’s a different way to do good in the world; you start the job thinking you’re going to be designing buildings but it expands to managing the studio and hopefully improving the work environment of those in it.

I try to lead by example. I want to give people a voice and to create an environment where people can do their best work, to encourage teams and relationships that feed the creative process. The ideal is to create an ecosystem to foster creativity, to make a balance of people doing their own work while giving them a framework.

Pam presenting at COOKFOX’s fundraiser for the Cambodian Children’s Fund.

Who are you admiring right now and why?

Although he passed away a few years ago, Stephen Kellert continues to be a huge source for me in terms of the way he looked at architecture and the environment. He continues to inspire me through his words and writing. Building for Life was the first book I read that put together the environmental movement in a broader way, where it wasn’t just about energy efficiency and using less, reducing and minimizing, it was about a positive action.

Beyond that I think there is much more good work in New York City than there was twenty years ago when the Prada store was probably the most visited example of contemporary architecture. I think Deborah Berke shows great breadth and design quality, she’s raised the bar for design here.

Finally, I have always admired Renzo Piano. I think I like everything he has ever done. I don’t know of a bad Renzo Piano building. I think his workshop is constantly reinventing themselves with a very high quality of work.

“There is no amount of reading or research as important as getting to know as many different people as possible.”

What is your core mission? And, what does success mean to you?

I like the mission of bringing high quality design to every possible place, type and scale of architecture; I see no limitations based on project type. A high quality of thought and creativity can and should be applied across the board.

In terms of success, I believe being recognized by one’s peers is the highest level of success; they understand what you do, what it takes to get the job done, they can recognize each other’s achievements. I strive for that. Many architects strive for broader recognition, but I can be cynical about that. The people around you can assess whether you’re making a contribution. If the spaces I design are important and done well, I think there is a recognition by their users/occupants - that is a truer analysis, a quieter way of being successful.

Finally, what advice do you have for those starting their career?

Starting out, you should know that the vast majority of buildings or elements of buildings we design will be experienced by people we’ll never know or meet, so it’s important to have as broad a frame of reference as possible in terms of understanding how people live, work, their cultures, and their backgrounds. There is no amount of reading or research as important as getting to know as many different people as possible. Travel is great, but just living in New York is amazing for its mix and diversity of people.

Also, architects tend to exist in small circles. Try to expand the number of people you interact with. Right now this is particularly challenging, but push yourself, now and later. Our buildings and work represent our collective culture. It’s our responsibility to broaden our perspective.