Teaching Them Young: Danielle Willkens on Architecture For Teens, Sliding Doors, and Having Eyes Open
By Amy Stone
Dr. Danielle S. Willkens, Associate AIA, FRSA, LEED AP BD+C, is an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture. She holds a B.S. in Architecture and Master of Architecture from the University of Virginia, a M.Phil in Architectural History & Theory from Cambridge University's St. John's College, a Graduate Certificate in Historic Preservation from Savannah College of Art & Design, and a PhD in Architectural History & Theory from University College London's Bartlett School of Architecture.
Her experiences in practice and research include design/build projects, public installations, on-site investigations, and she is an FAA-certified Remote Pilot. She was the 2015 recipient of the Society of Architectural Historians' H. Allen Brooks Travelling Fellowship and her research has been supported by the Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation, the International Center for Jefferson Studies, and an American Philosophical Society Franklin Research Grant. Dedicated to expanding enrichment opportunities and pedagogical approaches in design education, she was awarded a 2017–2018 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA)/American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) New Faculty Teaching Award and she has been a longtime instructor and curriculum developer for Duke University’s Talent Identification Program (TIP).
In her interview with Amy Stone, Danielle talks about her international experiences in becoming an educator, advising those just starting their careers to be a sponge and absorb everything around them.
AS: How did your interest in architecture begin?
DW: I was the kid that played with Legos and constantly took stuff apart in our house. Nobody in my immediate family was involved in design, but they were very encouraging. My parents were also good about exposing me to the world through travel. When I looked for undergraduate programs, I knew I was interested in architecture. It was an easy fit and I really enjoyed it.
Panoramic images of the incomplete School of Ballet at Havana’s famous National Art Schools of Cuba
Drone image of Askirkja in Reykjavík, Iceland
You have a mighty impressive stack of degrees under your belt and may be the most educated person I’ve ever met. Tell me about your undergrad, graduate, and doctoral education.
It just means I’m a big geek and like school [laughs]. In undergrad, I was lucky to come into UVA from high school with a lot of credits which made it possible to double major in Architecture and Architectural History. I did a six-week program in Vicenza in undergrad where we stayed right down the road from Villa Rotunda. All day you go out and sketch and come back home and stay essentially at a convent with retired nuns who barely spoke English. They were so sweet to us and made amazing food. I was totally suckered by Italy and fell in love with Renaissance architecture.
After school, I joined a firm for a year in DC that wasn’t a great fit. I had a professor who said, “You should go to Cambridge. I think you’d really enjoy the program.” I laughed it off but eventually ended up applying. I went to Cambridge to do a yearlong masters in Renaissance architecture and theory. Cambridge did look and feel like Harry Potter: robes, rituals, and all [laughs].
The degree was a great primer for me in what independent research really is. It also helped me realize what I’m drawn to, which is this area between architecture and architecture history. I enjoy the in-between: I’m too much of a historian for architects and I’m too much of a designer for historians. I really like that gray area, where things should seemingly talk to each other very easily, but don’t.
“I enjoy the in-between: I’m too much of a historian for architects and I’m too much of a designer for historians. I really like that gray area, where things should seemingly talk to each other very easily, but don’t. ”
When did you get back to Virginia?
I came back to UVA for my M.Arch. Then I went a very different route than expected and worked on a design-build project for several years. I saw this project though that was a classroom on a barge. I lived in steel toed boots for a year and a half, which was really fun! I loved what my mentor, Phoebe Crisman, was doing. She showed me how academia can allow you to tap into the non-profit world and community engagement in a way that can be quite difficult within traditional practice.
I had this mulling in the back of my mind that I knew I wanted to teach and knew I needed a PhD to get to that point. The decision to go abroad was very purposeful. I knew the topic I wanted to research, and I wanted to jump in after and start teaching. I spent time researching a transatlantic network between Jefferson and Soane; influences and agents, many women, who shaped these architects too often viewed as autonomous silos. I went to Bartlett for my PhD and had an amazing supervisor, Dr. Barbara Penner. I’ve been so fortunate to have incredible female mentors throughout my education.
I’m so impressed. What have been your biggest takeaways from your educational experience?
Apply to stuff! Apply for fellowships. Apply to school even if you don’t think you have a chance. There are amazing opportunities out there. Apply.
The rejection letters stink but don’t be deterred by the roadblocks. You may not get it, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. I think even the ones you don’t get, in hindsight, they are really helpful for honing what you are interested in. It makes you more reflective, which is quite helpful.
I also really love the concept of sliding doors. You know that cheesy 90’s Gwyneth Paltrow movie? We wrap ourselves in a singular goal and maybe it doesn't pan out. It’s crushing in the moment but then it heads to this other path that is way better than what you had in mind.
Learning Barge (served as Project Manager), collaborative design-build project operating on Virginia's Elizabeth River
Learning Barge (served as Project Manager), collaborative design-build project operating on Virginia's Elizabeth River. Photography by Michael Petrus.
Learning Barge (served as Project Manager), collaborative design-build project operating on Virginia's Elizabeth River
I love that advice to put yourself out there and try. Tell me how you got started after you finished your PhD.
I was fortunate to get a job at Auburn, which was a great first teaching position. Auburn is teaching intensive. It’s useful to have a heavy load and new classes. Being at Auburn also led to new research opportunities with civil rights sites that I otherwise wouldn’t have had.
I was travelling between Auburn and Newbern to help document a snapshot of Rural Studio before and during some big changes to the campus. Rural Studio is iconic to the program and is a big part of the ethos at Auburn. As I was travelling back and forth with a colleague, we’d pass through Selma and over the Edmund Pettus Bridge. We observed how the site — the location where Bloody Sunday actually happened — was deteriorating.
As we looked into the site, we discovered there wasn’t a lot of documentation. There wasn’t a collection of information about what happened and where it happened so we could fully understand the landscape of these spatial politics. As we dug in more, we developed a project around the historic civil rights site.
How would you describe the project?
It’s a multi-disciplinary investigation that’s using the methods of conflict archaeology. We are using a photographic archive and the existing structures to replay this geo-spatial timeline to fully understand what happened and who was there. We are also developing preservation planning for this place that is very quickly slipping into decay. There are no protections, currently. There is no way to ensure these places, buildings, and viewsheds won’t be radically changed or demolished. I think that matters. There should be some protection to honor the people who fought for the right to vote.
“If you don’t snag someone earlier in architecture and show them that they can have a place in that field, it’s easy to lose them. ”
That’s exciting to hear and I’m definitely going to keep track of your progress on that. Walk me through the next steps of your career?
After five years at Auburn, I came to Georgia Tech. Here, I’ve been able to research and explore my interests in the cross between architecture history and design, while using technology as a tool to leverage other means of engagement for sites that are compromised or have complex histories that are often overlooked.
You have a book coming out today that I’m so excited about: Architecture for Teens. Danielle, tell me about your book!
Yes! A publisher reached out to me to write Architecture for Teens. The opportunity came about as a culmination of having worked with teenagers and children for a long time. I’ve taught intensive summer camps for several years and taught through Duke’s TIP program. My mom was an educator and an elementary school principal. I grew up in that environment.
Anyone who teaches children knows that with middle school, you either you love it or you hate it. I love absolutely love how ridiculous it is. They are in this fun age. You get this excitement of a younger adolescent mixed with this self-awareness that is developing and is wonderfully awkward.
I worked to create as comprehensive and approachable an introduction to architecture possible. You know, a lot of the outreach for architecture like summer camps are geared towards rising juniors and seniors. In some ways that's too late. If you don’t snag someone earlier in architecture and show them that they can have a place in that field, it’s easy to lose them.
I think it’s a very easy field for people to be put off by. The degrees are confusing. The path is confusing. High School counselors can be put off by it because they don’t know how to help. This is a way to get involved earlier and spark some interest.
Architecture for Teens cover
Absolutely. So how do you make an introduction to architecture?
This book is a mix of broad, big picture things — what is architecture? — and some specialized pieces, like the different scales of architecture because of how vast the topic can be. It talks about the different veins of the profession you can head into. There is a really broad crash course in architecture history. It addresses some social justice issues and some of the ramifications of architecture. I begin to layout some of the issues in architecture. It’s geared toward kids so there is an emphasis on a positive spin.
It’s so readable. I’m not a teenager but I’m completely drawn in. I’m excited to share this with my nine-year-old daughter who has already started doodling out floor plans. You have another book on the boards as I understand?
Yes! And I should have been working on my other book which is based on my dissertation. To be very candid, I lost my mom last year. She was very much tied up in the memories of that book and it wasn’t a good time to push through and work on it. So in a way this book was a very good ‘distraction’.
I’m so sorry, Danielle. Given that your mom was an educator, I can see how a book geared at educating kids and teens is a way to honor and remember her.
Yes. It’s been rough. It was something different to work on and think about. My other publisher is probably not very happy with me [laughs] but my editor is very patient.
Absolutely. We’re lucky to have this. Looking back on your career so far, what have been your biggest challenges and your biggest highlights?
Some of the biggest challenges have been moves and resets. I’ve made some pretty dramatic moves to head somewhere I didn’t know anybody or didn't have a community set up. That’s quite scary, but it’s also a big reward.
“We wrap ourselves in a singular goal and maybe it doesn’t pan out. It’s crushing in the moment but then it heads to this other path that is way better than what you had in mind.”
The biggest highlights have the travelling fellowship through the SAH. That was a gift of time to live somewhere for an extended period to get to know it and revisit things, seeing places in different weather and conditions. That transformed the way I teach.
Who are you admiring right now?
Pascale Sablan. I was fortunate to interview her for the book and she is just so generous with her time. I don’t think she sleeps. She’s out of this world with all she does professionally and in her activism and advocacy work.
I’m really excited about ManifestA at UVA and I’m admiring student-lead groups that are pushing back and asking for the profession to be better and for the academy to be better. Above everything else they are juggling, they are taking up different issues because they want to make a positive change. It’s inspiring to see what they are up to.
What is the impact you’d like to have on the world?
Broadly speaking, I want to make the world a better place. I want people to be nicer to each other and listen better. I try to be an advocate; I’m trying to use whatever tools or abilities I’ve been privileged to have — an amazing education, very supportive family, incredible opportunities — and think of ways to pay that forward.
What do you wish you knew when you are starting out that you know now?
The pessimistic one is that sexism is completely real. I didn’t realize the extent to which that would happen, especially with field work. As you get into your career, sexism comes out in small and big ways. It’s frustrating. I wish I knew to watch out for that a little bit more. I definitely tell students to be aware and own it.
What advice do you have for teenagers who are interested in architecture and those who are starting their career?
Become a sponge! Have your eyes open, be observant to the world. We are so lucky there are so many amazing resources online, between virtual tours and photographs and articles. Try to take it all in, even the stuff you aren't interested in or don’t like! Learn more. Why aren't you drawn to it? Go investigate a place from really far away and be curious. It’s easy to be distracted. It's easy to be single minded. You don’t want to miss those moments. Try to be open and observant to everything around us.