Creating Successful Collaborations
Natasha Espada, STUDIO ENEE architects
Carole Wedge, Heaths Bridge LLC
Collaboration is the future of working successfully in the AEC industry. Teams are more complex than ever and project success is measured uniquely by each individual. The speakers will share what they have learned through their experience in developing teams that can collaborate across areas of difference and responsibility. As projects increase in complexity, strategies for effective collaboration and integration of efforts is critical to the success of the project and the entire team. Espada and Wedge will share their strategies and lessons learned as well as engage the attendees in reflecting on their own diverse experiences. Shared conversation will bring new ideas and best practices to the future of collaborative work.
About Natasha
Natasha Espada, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP BD+C, is the Founding Principal of STUDIO ENÉE architects, an award-winning women and minority-owned firm in Boston. She has over 30 years of design and construction expertise in both renovation and new construction for institutional, higher ed, civic, cultural, and commercial clients. Espada’s work includes work at UMass Amherst, including renovations to Thatcher and Lewis Residence Halls and the current renovation of Historic Flint Hall. She has also recently completed a University Masterplan and a Feasibility study for a new entrance to the campus and Nursing School at UMass Boston.
In addition to her practice, Espada was the 2020 President of the Boston Society of Architects (BSA)/AIA , co-chair of the BSA Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice Task Force, and founder of the BSA’s Race and Architecture series. She has been a speaker on Equity and Practice nationally and has been a presenter at the AIA Grassroots Conference, at the AIA Women’s Leadership Summit, and the curator of the exhibit: Urban Interventions: Women Designing in Boston.
About Carole
Carole Wedge, FAIA, LEED AP, is a certified Executive Coach and Consultant to businesses in the architecture, engineering and construction industry. She is the former CEO of Shepley Bulfinch, a national design firm with offices in Boston, Durham, Hartford, Houston, and Phoenix. She led the firm’s evolution to a national design firm and growth into an innovative organization with an open and diverse culture. Throughout her career in architecture and advocacy in the wider community, Wedge has sought to challenge conventions and incite organizations to become more transparent and diverse. Her dynamic and collaborative leadership has powerfully impacted cornerstone institutions—from higher education and civic organizations to the architectural industry.
She currently serves on the Boards of the American Institute of Architects, IIDA New England, Northeast Arc and Windover Construction. Wedge is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a member of the National Organization of Minority Architects, a LEED AP certified professional, and a registered architect.