Open Doors: Brininstool + Lynch's Jennifer Park on Honing Her Approach and Leading by Example
By Julia Gamolina
Jennifer Park is a Principal at Brininstool + Lynch, an award-winning firm located in Chicago. She has completed academic, commercial, residential, and retail projects in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and Chicago. Jennifer is also the director of the second-year architecture studios at Illinois Institute of Technology, has served on the Executive Committee for the AIA Chicago’s board of directors, led the AIA Chicago Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the Diversity and Inclusion Committee at IIT.
Jennifer’s academic and professional accomplishments – and particularly her commitment to addressing diversity and equity issues in both field – have resulted in her receiving various awards including the 2021 AIA National Young Architects Award and the 2019 AIA Chicago Dubin Family Young Architect Award. In her interview, Jennifer talks about navigating the industry and honing her approach through a series of varied experiences, advising those just starting their careers to find mentorship.
JG: Tell me about your foundational years - where did you grow up and what did you like to do as a kid?
JP: I was born in Sheboygan, WI. My parents emigrated to Wisconsin from South Korea to start a Tae Kwon Do business; my father is a grandmaster. I grew up in a Polish-German community where my family were among only a very few people from our background. In the age of Bruce Lee, my dad became a local icon, as the owner of the only martial arts school in town. And while my dad learned American culture from the students he trained, my mom learned her English from watching soap operas and reading Danielle Steel novels.
When I was five, we moved to suburban Milwaukee so my dad could expand his business. Even there, no one outside of my family looked like me and I learned that “subak” was also known as “watermelon” after a heathy and heated debate in my backyard. Growing up, I was always very active – I participated in every school sport that was offered, while also training at the Do Jang. I also loved art and won several small art competitions. By high school, I was drawing murals for my school. One of my middle-school art teachers introduced me to fencing and I became a very competitive fencer through college. He also introduced me to architecture and after one summer class at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, I was hooked. I’ve never looked back.
Through parametric scripting and a deep material understanding, the design of the Gateway Plaza Façade transforms an unassuming parking structure into a symbolic gateway into the heart of Richmond, Virginia. Photography by Matthew Cowan.
Tasked with negotiating an awkward floorplate in a historic Chicago tower, the design of 35 E. Wacker deploys parametrically designed elements to provide wayfinding and security. Photography by James John Jetel.
How did you get your start in working with the built environment?
My first internship was in high school for my friend’s father who ran a small architecture practice in Waukesha, WI. It was memorable for a few reasons. First, their office was located in a renovated rotunda bank building where drawing and blueprints were kept in the bank vault. Second, and more importantly, it is where I realized the expansiveness of the field of architecture. I would listen to the five architects, whose conversations echoed in the rotunda, talk about topics not just related to buildings, but about politics, economics, environmental context, social change, and technical advancements, and their effects on architecture, on design, on their projects, and on our profession.
Where did you go to school? What did you learn about yourself in studying architecture?
Where I grew up, every guidance counselor I had said “stay in the Midwest.” No one left. But, I chose to go to college in New York City at Columbia University. And while it was an enormous adjustment from the suburbs of Wisconsin, I loved my time in college, where everything I knew about society and the built environment was challenged. Columbia was great. I loved the quiet moments of reflection on the library steps, loved the intensity of creation, loved the critical conversations and debates. I explored without preconceptions. After my second year, I still did not know any firms in NY and through the help of professors and by looking through a phone book (that’s something from long ago now!), I found an internship at Richard Cook and Associate (now CookFox). It was a mid-size office where I learned the collaborative side of architecture and how to create as part of a team.
After I graduated, I wanted to explore the social impact of architecture and took a position with a firm focused on affordable housing, Curtis + Ginsburg. I learned about the not so glamorous realities of public housing – the access to funding, code and zoning constraints, the budget limitations, and also how little attention was paid to this very important issue. I love architecture because it’s a process of constant learning. Early in my career I focused on how to design and build, and then I focused on defining my own design perspective and identity. In one instance, I learned that asking questions is a better process than trying to guess. In the other, I learned that it’s ok to indulge in your design propensities and express your own unique point of view. In both cases, I’ve learned to try, to accept that I might be wrong or fail, and to see that failing can be the best time to learn.
“There are still too few women leading the profession of architecture, and still too few women leading the academic aspects of architecture. I am using both platforms to help move the needle on equity and diversity. I try to lead by example, by mentorship, by advocacy.”
Where did you go for graduate school?
For graduate school, I went to UCLA. At the time, this was also seen as thwarting expectations; all of my advisors suggested I stay in the Ivy League. But I wanted to follow thinkers I admired, such as Silvia Lavin, Greg Lynn, Neil Denari, and Bob Somol. At UCLA, I had the fortune of being a student of Mark Lee, Sharon Johnston, and Heather Roberge, all who were emerging architects at that time. My enduring memories of UCLA are the incredible lectures and the heated debates at project reviews.
I interned for Lorcan O’Herlihy; he had just been published in a book “Smart Homes” and I was fascinated by the house he designed. He told me that I got the internship because I was persistent, which looking back was the best compliment for someone who has always considered herself a bit shy.
When did you get to New York?
Following school, I moved back to New York, and with a nod from Silvia and Greg Lynn, I was offered an opportunity at Architecture Research Office with Stephen Cassell and Adam Yarinsky and two influential women – Kim Yao and Megumi Tamanaha – who showed me the ropes of designing projects like Princeton’s architecture school and NYU’s School of Fine Arts. This time was formative. I’ve grown so much professionally thanks to ARO’s office culture, which valued design and the holistic training of architects. It was amazing to learn in that environment, surrounded by good people who were smart and diligent, kind and funny, and talented and humble.
After I’d been there a few years, I moved to Richmond, Virginia to try working on more ground-up projects and because my now-husband got a job offer there. That was right before the 2008 crash. I worked for SMBW, and taught in the growing architecture and interior design program at Virginia Commonwealth University. Because it was a relatively slow time in architecture, I had time to be self-reflective about my own design process and interests. My time there let me have the space I needed to figure out who I wanted to be and what I wanted to create, separate from the projects I did at the behest of others.
Jennifer and her 2nd Year Studio Students outside of IIT’s Crown Hall. Photography by Jiachen Wang.
Celebrating Brininstool+Lynch’s 30th Anniversary. Photography by Mariah Karson.
How did you finally get to Chicago?
In 2010, we had opportunities that took us there. It was a return to the Midwest for me, after fourteen years of being away. The economy was still fragile, but I found a small firm, Wilkinson Blender, and another great crew of talented architects and designers – many of which I’m still very close to now. I was also introduced to teaching at IIT through Richard Blender. I began teaching as an adjunct professor and, in the ensuing years, this became the constant during what would be a tumultuous period in my career.
Wilkinson Blender closed its doors when its partners wanted to move in different directions. In the years between 2012 and 2016, I worked at a series of jobs: first at Gensler, then founding a firm with a partner, which was then folded into a large construction company, and then starting a firm, Jurassic Studio, on my own in 2016. This was trying time in my career as a young woman of color, a principal in a culture not quite ready to accept me or my position. But this struggle affirmed my ability to run my own practice and gave me the confidence to make my own way.
During this period, I involved myself in the greater community of architecture through my board work with the AIA, I honed my own design approach, and sought mentorship through colleagues I looked up to – one of whom was Brad Lynch. I had always admired the work of Brininstool+Lynch and was pleasantly surprised that an award-winning, well-known architect like Brad accepted my invitation to chat about my career trajectory. It through those casual conversations that I found support and guidance. Now as a partner in his firm, our talks haven’t changed, and they help me just as much if not more then before.
Where are you in your career today? What is on your mind most at the moment?
Now that I’m partner, I manage this firm of thirty, and lead and design a diverse set of projects from museums to multi-family housing, while building upon the legacy of the firm to help shape its future. I’m also a full-time professor directing a group of 100 students at IIT. There are still too few women leading the profession of architecture, and still too few women leading the academic aspects of architecture. I am using both platforms to help move the needle on equity and diversity. I try to lead by example, by mentorship, by advocacy.
“I want to open more doors for people. I want to help other women and people of color rise in the profession of architecture and design. And I want to do this by being me – being positive, being friendly and being feminine.”
Looking back at it all, what have been the biggest challenges? How did you manage through a disappointment or a perceived setback?
I think the biggest challenges have been those times when I underestimated my talent, worth, and individuality and let others define who I should be. Unfortunately, I think this is true for so many women in the profession. But, I have learned from all those experiences to be confident enough to acknowledge my shortcomings, and to reach out to others for help and advice. In hard times, it was always helpful to share my story with others more experienced, listen to their stories and harness some wisdom from their approach.
What are you most excited about right now?
I’m excited to meet people in person – from being back to the office, to hosting client design meetings, to attending events and lectures, and to traveling with my family. Interacting and collaborating with people has revived my design energies. And while the pandemic was difficult, I think that we’ll see some innovative thinking as we start to work with people again. I think clients are open to rethinking standards to which they’ve held too long and architects will be apt to help them create new visions through design.
Who are you admiring now and why?
Lizzo – I heard in an interview once that she never meant to be a spokesperson or figurehead, but that her popularity placed her into that role and now she owns it – as a women of color, as a plus-size women, as a women who worked hard for her success, and as someone who finds confidence in her differences. And even though she’s in a vastly different industry than architecture, we still have the same struggles. I admire how she uses her platform and her voice, to flip the standards and spread positivity.
The new design for the Museum of Contemporary Photography acknowledges the museum’s place in the constellation of world-renowned institutions, giving it an instantly recognizable street presence and the ability to better showcase its world-class collection of photographic art. Courtesy of Brininstool+Lynch.
An animated cloud of lights weaves through a slatted wood ceiling to delineate three main sections of seating for BARDAVID, a new wine bar and restaurant located on the ground level of the David Rubenstein Forum at the University of Chicago. Photography by Christopher Barrett.
What is the impact you’d like to have on the world? What is your core mission? And, what does success in that look like to you?
I want to open more doors for people. I want to help other women and people of color rise in the profession of architecture and design. And I want to do this by being me – being positive, being friendly and being feminine.
I gauge my own success, in part, by the success of the people I’m able to help. I love hearing from past students and employees; when a former student is accepted into the graduate school of their choice or someone I mentored gets promoted within their firm, that feels like success to me.
Finally, what advice do you have for those starting their career? Would your advice be any different for women?
Find a mentor. This does not have to be anything formal; just reach out to people you like or admire and harness their knowledge and experience. People really do want to help. In a professional setting, people are usually flattered to be asked for their advice.
Then, be persistent. In grad school, my persistence got me the internship that I wanted. While there might be a fine line between persistence and annoyance, don’t give up right away.
Also, don’t be afraid to take risks. It may feel awkward, but that’s temporary, and the potential benefits might have long lasting returns. I believe in the adage “you never know unless you try.”
And, finally, “Be You.” I truly believe you don’t need to act or be like someone else to get ahead. I’ve heard how women felt they needed to act like a man to gain respect in their office. While that might be one approach works for some, I think it’s denying one’s one identity, diminishing diversity, and minimizing the creative potentials that our individuality can offer. I believe we should not have to hide our femininity, but rather should celebrate it and be respected for it.