Enterprise Community Partners launched the Rose Fellowship in 1999, with the mission to bring quality design to affordable housing efforts. The Rose Fellows work holistically, using design and planning skills to create 40 community facilities (including not only housing, but also neighborhood and child care centers, community gardens, health clinics and mixed-use space for nonprofits and small businesses), and nine major planning efforts.

Although Katie Swenson, the Fellowship Director, is not practicing architecture in the traditional sense, she is using her architectural and writing backgrounds to provide high-quality, sustainable building and planning practices to communities in need. Through her work with the fellowship, Katie has enjoyed the ability to offer help nation-wide by supporting current fellowships in California, Oregon, Louisiana, New York, Colorado and New Mexico.

AN: What qualities / work / activities / programs are unique to the organization?

KS: The Rose Fellowship fosters partnerships between aspiring architects and community development corporations for a three-year period, during which time the Fellows play an integral role in every aspect of the design and development of affordable housing. The Fellows have training in green building, affordable housing finance and leadership development and have a national network of colleagues committed to a core set of values of using design to promote social, economic and environmental justice.

AN: How does the Rose Fellowship promote quality design?

KS: Design is often perceived as a luxury for those who can afford it. The Rose Fellowship proves that good design can and should be available to people of all income levels, and that low-income people are most in need of quality design.

AN: What are the critical factors that you consider for a community project?

KS: Three core values of the fellowship are: participatory planning, holistic design and sustainability.

Participatory Planning: Rose Fellows become skilled researchers and facilitators who include residents along with local leaders, advocates and government officials in real dialogue based on thorough research. The fellows produce community-based plans that reflect the needs and desires of the residents in the communities they serve.

Holistic Design: Rose Fellows produce designs geared toward improving economic, social, cultural, health and environmental outcomes. New buildings are carefully integrated into the surrounding neighborhood and make effective use of resources.

Sustainability: The Rose Fellowship is an important part of Enterprise’s Green Communities initiative. The initiative seeks to transform the way we think about, design, locate and build affordable homes for low-income people.

AN: Can you describe a representative project?

KS: Within the community of green building experts and advocates, the Rose Fellowship has become a powerful force in affordable housing nationwide. For example, one current project, the Mescalero Apache Housing Authority, is a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit project of 30 single-family homes and a community center. The project is designed according to low impact design principles, minimizing grading and fill on the site, protecting the existing Ponderosa pine trees; designing low impact, permeable walkways and roadways; and clearing and grubbing only at the building pad and roads. The buildings are designed for passive solar orientation; using SIP panels for the walls and roof; rainwater harvesting; EnergyStar appliances and high efficiency water heater and boilers; low-flow water fixtures; recycled content gypboard, all urea-formaldehyde-free engineered wood such as OSB and cabinets; and sealed concrete floors (no carpet) throughout.

The homes will be built according to the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority Green Guidelines, as well as BuildGreen NM. The Mescalero Apache Tribe will use this project as a training project to then manufacture and build with their own SIP panels made from locally harvested wood at the Tribe sawmill. The project’s Fellow, Jamie Blosser, has become a leader in the Green Building movement in New Mexico as well as recognized for her capacity to work closely with Tribal Councils to protect and enhance their cultural heritage.


AN: What is your perspective on future of community programs specific to architecture and the built environment?

KS: There seems to be a growing awareness among students and young professionals that the profession of architecture has the opportunity to expand its traditional scope of service and client base to include more community based design. I hope that this trajectory will continue.


AN: Tell me a little more about your personal experience working for the Rose Fellowship.

KS: I love working with creative, innovative designers who are committing their architectural skills and passion to improving the lives of low-income people. I travel quite a bit and get to know community advocates around the country. I enjoy learning how cities are approaching zoning and policy issues that affect the work.

AN: What skills or qualities have you found most helpful in your position?

KS: Writing and communication skills are essential in telling the story of the fellowship and inspiring a generational shift in our commitment of the architectural profession to affordable housing.

AN: Can you offer any tips or lessons learned?

KS: Architects are trained with powerful tools to think at different scales. From holistic vision to the minute details that make a tangible difference in people’s lives, designers have the ability to engage a broad range of community members in helping to shape their future.

AN: What advice can you offer young architects who may want to follow a path similar to yours?

KS: I love my work, and can say that my career is a fusion of my personal mission and my professional ambitions. Personal dedication to one’s work is one of life’s greatest gifts. As architects, we have the opportunity to dedicate our skills to benefiting the community – it is why most of us got into the work in the first place, with a belief that good design improves people’s lives.