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Katherine Mearns

Biography

During college Katie Mearns has tried to find ways to assist those around her who struggle. For three years at UVA, she has worked with other sorority members to establish and maintain an outreach program supporting the efforts of a local hospice organization. As the cofounder and volunteer coordinator, she has helped to match patients' needs with volunteers' interests.

Katie recently found a way to integrate her field of study with community involvement. As a member of the organization committee for the Women's Health Festival (to be held at UVA), Katie is designing the festival's promotional materials and organizing an architecture installation to enhance the festival's physical setting. She brought students from inside and outside the department together to foster collaboration, hoping to develop a design that better reflects the festival's objectives while inspiring the architecture students to community action. This reflects her belief that by "bringing individuals together who view matters from very different perspectives, we can greatly enhance the end result of a project."

She writes, "My work has demonstrated architecture's power as a catalyst for community awareness. My career goal is to foster design that goes beyond the utilitarian and seeks not only to inspire community awareness of geographical and environmental factors inherent in the community, but also to inspire community action."

The need for multi-disciplinary cooperation is growing in Katie's profession. She writes, "The conflict between land development and ecological concerns is an issue with immediate meaning to me. I have been fortunate to experience teaching that stresses not only the interplay between architectural design and the environment, but also the need for sensitivity to environmental factors in approaching any design project. Multi-discipline cooperation (scientists, environmentalists, architects, landscape architects) is an important part of any solution."

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