AMBER WENDLAND
Ayers Saint Gross
SAY IT LOUD - MARYLAND Exhibitor
Maryland Based Designer
Who or what inspires you professionally?
In such a male dominated industry, I often look to female role models and the options in architecture and urban design are limited. Michelle Obama is my professional sensei and I look up to her as a strong, humble, grounded, good-hearted leader.
AMBER WENDLAND
Bio:
The great designer, Amber Wendland, AICP is an urban, collegiate, and neighborhood planner and designer at Ayers Saint Gross. Trained as both an architect and urban planner, Amber leads projects that bridge across disciplines and scales from feasibility studies to campus master plans to neighborhood vision plans. While she enjoys working on a wide variety of project types, Amber has a particular passion for planning and design in challenging urban environments and advocating for the voices that so often go unheard.
How did you first learn about architecture and when did you decide that built environment profession was an area of interest for you?
My father is a landscape architect, so I grew up going to the studio with him and playing in a design office. It was because of this exposure that I chose to study architecture. In undergrad I fell in love with cities and dove deep into urban design.
What do you do?
Because of my architecture and planning background, I work on projects that span from buildings to full master plans for Ayers Saint Gross, but many of the projects I lead tend to have a social advocacy component.
What excites you in the work you do?
The projects closest to my heart are those that promote social good, such as this work in East Baltimore, a camp for kids with severe medical needs on the eastern shore, or pro bono efforts outside of ASG in my spare time for places like City Ranch.
Who or what inspires you professionally?
In such a male dominated industry, I often look to female role models and the options in architecture and urban design are limited. Michelle Obama is my professional sensei and I look up to her as a strong, humble, grounded, good-hearted leader.
What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?
Working with the church, community, city, and philanthropists on this work in East Baltimore has been my greatest professional accomplishment. Building consensus and empowering a community that has had so little for decades has been very rewarding.
Featured Project Name:
East Baltimore Revitalization Plan
Featured Project Location:
Baltimore, MD
Featured Project Completion Date:
September 2018
Role in Featured Project:
Project Manager and Lead Planner
Featured Project Description:
In 2016, we began a multi-year community-driven planning process for one of Baltimore’s most disenfranchised and systemically oppressed communities of color. The East Baltimore Revitalization Plan elevates community voices and captures the vision residents want for their neighborhood. The plan presents big ideas for connecting and building on neighborhood assets, minimizes displacement, and recommends strategic infill to provide opportunities for people of all walks of life.
