盒子外的世界系列访谈：律师和饭店店主Emily Hunt Turner
Working Out of The Box: Emily Hunt Turner

由专筑网小康，杨帆编译

“盒子外的世界”是一个采访专栏，每期都会展示那些拥有建筑师背景的不同职业者。

在这一期中，我们采访了Emily Hunt Turner，她是在两个城市工作的建筑师，后来转行成为了拥有杰出社会声誉的律师和饭店店主。


你在哪里学习建筑学？

我从2002年到2007年在锡拉丘兹大学建筑学院（Syracuse University’s School of Architecture）学习，那段求学时光真的非常快乐。锡拉丘兹大学（Syracuse University）是一所顶级建筑学校，而且我从进入学校的第一天起就认识到我走出了自己的舒适区。事实上，我仍然相信他们让我进入这所大学学习，是因为我是一个北达科他州的学生，因为这所学校并没有很多其他达科他州的学生。但是无论是什么原因，学校都给我开了绿灯，让我可以顺利求学。我非常感谢那段在大学里的时光，因为它打下了我日后几乎做所有事情的基础。


你在人生哪个阶段决定追求建筑学的？

当我回顾过去时，我更感觉像是建筑学找到了我。我小时候是一个玩积木狂人，但在那个时候我并没有很想成为一名建筑师。

转折是在我高中时候发生的。我的叔叔是一位在明尼阿波利斯工作的建筑师，有一次他带我到他的办公室参观。从那时候，我完全相信，建筑学是为我而量身打造的。在绘图办公桌上，美妙的空间用石墨表达出来，在自然光中浸润，而且还搭配了精妙的手绘平面和手绘渲染图。我只记得我当时在想：这太酷了吧。这次旅行在我心中埋下了设计的种子。

除了这次经历，我一直被住房和家庭所能对一个人人生轨迹所造成的影响所驱使。青少年时期，我相当迷恋巨大和宽敞的豪宅，以及伴随着的安逸生活。然而，我更迷恋（也困扰于）破旧的房屋，狭小的公寓和它们身上不断体现出的斗争。当时我真的不知道该如何理解这一点。但我小时候就知道，住房很重要。一旦被引入到建筑领域，这一切现象似乎都可以被合理地解释。所以，在我高中毕业的那年，我决定要么去大学读建筑学，不然就不读大学。


你什么时候决定停止追求建筑学的？ 为什么?

我从来没有真正意义上决定停止追求建筑学，但我确实有意识地去做超出这个领域的事情。在我毕业那年，我觉得我受到的教育不是很完整。正如我所喜欢的世界和社会的样子，建筑会在其中扮演不同的角色。我意识到仍然有这么多我所不知道的关于建设环境的学问； 我不知道城市和邻里关系实际上是如何运作的，或如何在项目中筹得资金；我不清楚公共和私营部门之间的区别。正因为如此，我决定在亚特兰大攻读公共政策的研究生学位。

在研究生期间，我对城市化和市中心住房置换的兴趣开始生根发芽。这最终点燃了我对住房歧视问题的热情，于是我在新奥尔继续攻读了法律学位。

Working out of the Box is a series presenting architects who have applied their architecture backgrounds to alternative career paths.
In this installment, we're talking with Emily Hunt Turner, a Twin Cities-based architect, turned lawyer, turned restaurateur with an admirable social mission.

Where did you study architecture?
I attended Syracuse University’s School of Architecture from 2002 to 2007 and could not have been happier with my education.  Syracuse is a top tier architecture school for a reason and let me tell you, I knew I was out of my league from day one.  In fact, I am still convinced they only let me in because I was a North Dakotan and they didn’t have many, if any, Dakotans.  But hey, whatever the reason was for the green light, I’m so thankful for my time there as it provided the foundation for nearly everything that I’ve done and plan to do.  

At what point in your life did you decide to pursue architecture?
You know, looking back, architecture sort of found me.  Don’t get me wrong, I was a Legos and Lincoln Logs fiend growing up.  But my childhood didn’t entail visions of becoming an architect.  
During high school, however, my uncle, Alan Kimpell, an architect in Minneapolis, took me to his office and from that point forward, I was totally convinced that architecture was for me. The space was soaked in graphite and natural light and lined with hand drawings, hand renderings, and drafting desks.  I just remember thinking: this is so legit.  Yeah, this trip definitely planted the design seed.
In addition to that experience, I had always been compelled by housing and the impact that homes can have on the trajectory of a person’s journey.  As an adolescent, I was totally enamored with giant, spacious McMansions and the ease of living that seemed to accompany them.  Yet I was even more enamored with (and troubled by) inadequate, dilapidated homes and apartments and the struggle that they so frequently embodied.  I didn’t really know how to make sense of this at the time.  But I did know, at a very young age, that housing mattered.  And once introduced to the field of architecture, it all seemed to just… fit.  So by my senior year of high school, it was architecture school or bust.   

When did you decide to stop pursuing architecture?  Why?
I never made a conscious decision to stop pursuing architecture, but I did deliberately choose to expand beyond the field itself.  During my thesis year, I remember feeling like my education wasn’t quite complete.  As much as I loved the world exposure and social awareness that came with the nuances of architecture, I realized there was still so much that I didn’t know about the pragmatics of the built environment.  I had no idea how cities and neighborhoods actually functioned or how on earth projects got funded and I didn’t really even know the difference between the public and private sectors.  So I decided to pursue a graduate degree in public policy in Atlanta.  
During graduate school my interest in housing gentrification and inner-city housing displacement took root and this eventually ignited a passion for housing discrimination and the pursuit of a law degree in post-Katrina New Orleans.

描述一下你目前的职业

嗯，我现在的职业有点变化。 三周前，我辞去了美国住房和城市发展部的律师职务，在那里我花了五年的时间处理囚犯重返社会、住房歧视和住房隔离等问题。

在我担任律师的时候，我震惊地发现那些有犯罪记录的人几乎无法获得住房、就业、信贷、医疗保健和其他各种生活的基础保障。特别是在住房方面，我非常清楚地意识到，将那些有犯罪记录的人排除在公共和私人住房之外，是该国形成割裂的住房模式的主要原因之一。如果有人有过去犯过罪的家庭和朋友，也知道这种做法会对这些少数族群造成严重的不成比例的影响。

所以，今年 8月，我不再担任律师，而是在明尼苏达州建立了一个叫做 "大广场" 的非营利组织。“大广场”通过开办美食烧烤奶酪店，专门来雇用那些有过个人犯罪记录的群体。我在过去几年目睹了许多针对这些人的排他性做法，面对这一社会风险，我试图扭转这个很严重的趋势，并且希望在全国范围内创造更多的机会。最近发起了一个叫做“行动者”的运动，来筹集到必要的资金，使这件事情尽快展开，目前仍然需要更多的人来为这项事业添砖加瓦。 但是，我相当有信心这项事业会越来越完善。

莎拉大厨，是一位技艺高超的厨师。他曾经是美食比赛的评委，已经为“大广场”和相关的业主制定了一系列的菜单（把烤奶酪这个小东西变得如此异国情调），使餐厅取得了空前的成功，事实上他已成为餐厅的导师。除了这些餐馆，我们兄弟城市的一位领导，作为执行顾问也加入了“大广场”团队，这将推进整个项目的进行和经验的积累。我的意思是，这项事业是一个合作的结果，也唯独如此，才能促进成功。

Describe your current profession
Well, my current profession is a little bit in flux.  Three weeks ago, I resigned from my position as an attorney with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) where I had spent five years working on issues of prisoner reentry, housing discrimination and housing segregation.
During my time at HUD, I was stunned to learn that those with criminal records find it almost impossible to access housing, employment, credit, health care, and a variety of other life fundamentals.  In the context of housing, in particular, it became very clear to me that the exclusion of those with criminal records from public and private housing was one of the primary causes of the country’s segregated housing patterns.  Having both family and friends with a so-called criminal past and also knowing the disproportionate impact this practice is having on minority populations unearthed something very primal within.
So, this past August I departed HUD to launch a nonprofit called All Square in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  All Square is centered on a gourmet grilled cheese shop that will aim to hire individuals with criminal records.  A direct response to the exclusionary practices I’ve witnessed these past few years, this social venture is an attempt to reverse what I believe to be a grave systemic trend that is crippling so many lives and opportunities across the country.   Having recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to spur the requisite funding to get this thing off the ground, there’s still a lot that needs to happen for the bricks and mortar to become a reality.  But I couldn’t be more confident that the pieces are falling into place.  
Sarah Masters, an incredible chef who was a semi-finalist on ABC’s The Taste, has come up with one hell of a menu for All Square (who knew grilled cheese could be so exotic) and the owners of The Lowbrow, a hyper-successful restaurant in Minneapolis, have become my de facto restaurant mentors.  Beyond these restaurateurs, Richard Amos, a formerly incarcerated leader in the Twin Cities, has joined All Square as anExecutive Advisor which will anchor the whole project in reality and experience.  I mean it really is a collaborative effort and that, in my opinion, will foster success.

你知道，我从来没有想过开一家餐馆（事实上我一点也不会做饭）， 但带给我希望的是，这个烤奶酪店不仅是一个成功的餐厅，为人们带来可口的菜肴。它同时也将成为一个社区的“主食”，它的意义远远超过了良好的饮食。在我心目中，这个项目象征着一个干净区域和社区支持的重要性。同时传达出一个信号，那些曾亏欠社会的人，同样是社会的“大广场”，应该被给予生活的权利，应该让他们不受阻碍地创造未来。

You know, I never imagined opening a restaurant (I can’t cook, like, at all), but the hope is that this grilled cheese shop will not only be a successful restaurant that yields simple yet savory cuisine but it will also become a community staple that stands for so much more than good eats.  In my mind, this project will symbolize the importance of a clean slate and community support while sending a message that those who have paid their debts to society are “all square” with society and should be afforded the right to live, unhindered, into their future.

我也希望“大广场”项目最终可以实现全面的服务，真正有助于克服社会长期存在的问题。这些服务应该包含如住房、心理咨询服务和健康诊所等设施的实现。

I would also love for All Square to eventually include comprehensive services that really help make a long-term difference, such as housing, mental wellness services, and an expungement clinic.  


你从建筑学校或者在建筑行业中获得了什么技能，有助于你在当前的事业中取得成功？

我因为学习设计、布局和构图而养成的审美眼光，以及我的整体视野，都可以追溯到我的建筑学背景。这些话听起来很极端，不过我在锡拉丘兹大学的时间几乎安排好我所能做的一切。从我如何写字，拍照，到我如何使用洗碗机，并安排好书架的内容：我的建筑学背景确实是我一切的根源。

What skills did you gain from architecture school, or work in the architecture industry, that have contributed to your success in your current career?
The eye I developed for design, layouts, and composition, as well as my overall vision can all be traced back to my background in architecture.  As extreme as it sounds, my time at Syracuse bleeds into nearly everything that I do.  From how I (physically) write, structure photographs and craft letters to how I load the dishwasher and arrange the contents of our bookshelves: my architecture roots are ever-present.  For sure.

除了设计的角度之外，我的建筑学背景也给了我一个独特的视角——在过去的九年里，我可以从这个角度来思考和解决问题。在我担任律师和研究生学习公共政策时，我开始理解城市的运作机构和空间形式，借此感知到一座城市、一个社区的脉搏。我工作中的很多机会都与我的建筑学基础直接相关。我可以确定的是：没有建筑学，我的生活绝不会那么丰富。

In addition to the design angle, my background in architecture has really given me a unique perspective from which to operate the last nine years.  During my time with HUD and during my graduate studies in public policy, it was absolutely invaluable to have an understanding of the urban fabric and the ways in which space, and structures, can inform the pulse of a city; a community.  So many of the opportunities that I have had directly correlate to my architectural foundation and I’m quite certain my life would not be nearly as rich without it.  

你对重返建筑学有兴趣吗？

建筑学一直是我贯注心力的爱好，我总是想象最终我可以通过某种形式回归。我必须说，除了“大广场”项目，我不能更专心致志地通过改造空间、完成社会使命来达到我的要求。从最初构思到最终建设的整个过程，对这家餐厅来说，没有什么比空间美学和社会意义本身更重要。品牌、氛围、功能布局……每个元素都是如此的重要，我很感激自己拥有这样的机会，而实际上，我的设计已经开始了。

“大广场”的效果图是我和我最亲爱的一位建筑师朋友共同完成的。我首先绘制了几层平面图，立面图和分析图，并送给她再加工。我和她一起合作，最终我们确实创造了一张效果出色的渲染图。同时我也在“行动者”团队中获得了一席之地。

一旦项目取得了资金并达到一定规模后，建筑事务所就同意为“大广场”提供配套的专业服务。这个由Jonathan Louie和Nicole McIntosh领导的建筑事务所，深受我的喜爱，同时我也很荣幸地能与志同道合的伙伴共同完成我热爱的项目。

Do you have an interest in returning to architecture?
Architecture has remained a hobby that I am deeply committed to.  With that said, I always imagined I would return to it, in some form, eventually.  And I must say that I couldn’t be more thrilled to throw myself back into the discipline through the space and social mission that is All Square.  In envisioning, and eventually constructing, this restaurant, nothing is more important than the spatial aesthetic and social meaning of the structure itself.  Branding, ambience, functional operations; each element is so critical and I am thankful to have the backdrop that I do.  And the design has, in ways, already commenced.
An interior rendering of what All Square could look like was created in conjunction with architect Ashley Banks, one of my dearest friends from New Orleans.  I sketched a few floor plans, elevations and programmatic diagrams and sent her the palette of materials that I wanted to incorporate and she, in turn, generated a stunning rendering that I feature in the Kickstarter campaign.  
Once the project is successfully funded and a location has been secured, Architecture Office has agreed to provide the architectural services for All Square.  Led by co-principals Jonathan Louie and Nicole McIntosh, I have admired the work of this design office for quite some time and am honored to tackle this project with such talent in tow.


出处：本文译自archinect.com/，转载请注明出处。