Youve heard the expression, Physician, heal thyself?


In the case of Bruce Blackmer, its more like, Architect, redesign thyselfand thy profession.


Blackmer, managing principal at Northwest Architectural Co. PS, one of Spokanes oldest and largest architecture firms, this spring was named president and CEO of the firm to lead it through a phase of growth and expansion, he says.


That phase could include opening a third branch office, possibly in California, and even bringing the firms design ethos to bear on projects that have nothing to do with bricks and mortarconsulting on strategic planning, for example, or helping companies devise new organizational structures.


One of the exciting opportunities is to think of design in a broader context than designing buildings, Blackmer says.


The architecture firm, located at 1203 W. Riverside, realized revenues of a little more than $16 million last year, its highest level ever, he says. It employs about 100 people, about half of whom work in Northwest Architecturals Seattle office. The company also has a small office in Coeur dAlene.


National AIA board


Blackmer, 52, comes to the job with plenty of leadership experience, as well as with an eye toward change.


He currently serves as vice president of the board of the Washington D.C.-based American Institute of Architects (AIA), a professional organization that represents 70,000 members across the country, some 80 percent of whom are licensed architects. Hes been involved with the organization for 27 years, and previously has been president of its Spokane chapter and director of its Northwest and Pacific region.


During his time with the AIA, Blackmer says hes been particularly proud of advancing the idea of knowledge-based design, for which he has received national recognition within his profession.


He explains that architects traditionally have relied on their creativity and intuition to guide their designs, but their clients are demanding greater accountability.


I think the public is demanding proof of design decisions, he says.


For example, an architect might want to design a school classroom with big windows that let in lots of natural light because he or she feels its the best design solution. The school board or district officials, however, might be opposed for cost reasons. If the architect could show that students learn better in an environment filled with natural lightas evidenced by higher test scoreshe or she would have a better chance of getting approval for the design, Blackmer says. In any case, its a better rationale than saying, I want bigger windows, he says.


Likewise, hospital patients have been shown to heal faster in home-like hospital rooms, he says.


If that sort of supporting evidence can be given, it elevates the validity of the profession, he says.


Blackmer says hed like to work with the National Institutes of Health to show how a physical environment could improve the health of a communitycreating buildings that encourage walking, for example, to battle obesity, or creating inspiring designs to curb depression.


He calls it, creating a knowledge base.


Jud Marquardt, an architect and partner at LMN Architects, in Seattle, who has worked with Blackmer, characterizes the Spokane architects vision as creating an understandable rationale behind what it is we do, when most people persist in believing that architects just conjure up out of whole cloth creative ideas about what something should be.


Marquardt, who, like Blackmer, is a member of the AIAs prestigious College of Fellowsan honor accorded to about 3 percent of the organizations memberssays one word stands out when describing Blackmer: integrity.


He exhibits that both within his work as well as the roles hes had within the (AIA)s leadership, Marquardt says.


Pursuit of collective genius


Closer to home, Blackmer says any changes made at Northwest Architectural will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary, since he doesnt intend to divert attention from the firms current clients in the education, high technology, and health-care realms.


Nearly 80 percent of Northwest Architecturals business comes from repeat clients, and the service and care of those clients is our major marketing effort, so we dont want to dilute that at all, he says.


During his 20-year career at Northwest Architectural Co., Blackmer has focused on designing buildings for higher-education clients, and his work can be found at Washington State Universitys Pullman and Spokane campuses, Gonzaga University, the University of Idaho, in Moscow, and Western Washington University, in Bellingham.


He sees parallels between the higher-education market and the trend for architecture as a whole.


When designing buildings for colleges and universities, often many constituencies must be satisfied, he says. To be successful, the design process needs to be collaborative, Blackmer says.


Likewise, theres an increased demand by the public for more livable communities, and architects have responded by being more responsive to the broader public good, he asserts.


While some architects may believe that process only can result in boring, design-by-committee projects, Blackmer claims the reverse is true.


He calls the collaborative approach the pursuit of collective genius. None of us alone can come up with ideal solutions.


Take the World Trade Center design competition, he says: The plans initially proposed for structures to replace the destroyed towers in New York City were considered uninspired.


Through the infusion of public thought, architects embraced the diversity of opinion and came up with solutions that went beyond the original designs, Blackmer says. One of the designs submitted in that second round ultimately was chosen to replace the Twin Towers, and was hailed as visionary.


Blackmer says hell likely step down from the AIA board when his current term is up, in December, because the post takes so much of his time. As the new CEO of Northwest Architectural Co., it would be difficult to run a firm while devoting a third of his time to the uncompensated AIA job.


As a bonus, that will let him get back to spending more time designing structures, he says.