Equity and Wealth-Building
September 15, 2022
Architectural Record
Hallová, 46, recently started her own development firm, Adre, to advance equity and wealth-building for BIPOC communities. She spoke with RECORD about her new venture.
You’ve worked with a couple of the most sustainable developers in the country, Gerding Edlen and project^. Why was 2020 the right time to start Adre?
Obviously, there was COVID, which kept me home more. You think a lot when you’re in your home space. Two was Black Lives Matter, a critical moment similar—I hope—to the civil rights movement: a realization that change needs to happen. Three, I was finishing up Meyer Memorial Trust, the most mission-oriented project I’ve done, not just for design and sustainability, but also equity. Four, on the LCDC, we were developing policies for housing production and asking cities to answer new questions: “What are you doing for homelessness or affordable homeownership for BIPOC communities?” I was on the Portland Housing Center Board, working on homeownership for BIPOC folks. And, then, people began asking my advice on how to get more developers of color in the field. I’ve been asked to increase this, there, and that, and I’m like, “Wait a minute, what about me?” If there are so few developers of color who own a majority of their own business, I thought, if I don’t do this, then who is expected to?
How does architecture help further your equity and sustainability goals?
Buildings are for people. They live, work, play, and shop in buildings, and the fabric of our cities is filled with buildings. It shows people their self-worth. If we’re going to change trajectories of the lives of people of different economic and racial backgrounds architecture has to play a role. Architecture is completely linked to equity.
