well-considered design is at the core of architecture, McCormick says.
If you can imagine a young child telling their teacher, “I want to be an Architect when I grow up!” then you’ve pictured Rebecca McCormick at the very beginning of her professional journey.
“I was pragmatic even as a kid and realized that a career in art would be challenging,” says
Rebecca McCormick, AIA, an Architect based out of Murphy & Dittenhafer’s York, Pennsylvania office. “Maybe someone steered me toward Architecture, and then it just grew from there.”
McCormick has come a long way since the days of aspirational vocation planning, and has — admittedly — become even more interested in the nuances of the field as she rounds out seven years at M&D. But how has the journey been to get to this point, and what’s next?
An Architect, from start to finish
McCormick received her Master’s in Architecture from Tulane University in 2005, and has been building her career ever since (not to mention while also building a family). She admits she’s been very lucky with extremely supportive family and employers along the way, but knows it’s not always the case for women in the field. Even so, it remains a challenge to be taken seriously on construction sites and related locales (today, women make up just 10% of the construction industry, which is the most it has ever been).
At M&D in particular, McCormick has been given the opportunity to become a project manager and take on more of a leadership role, managing the design team and consultants. Being able to take a project from the conceptual phase through construction is rewarding, she says.
A portfolio that speaks for itself
In her effort to learn how to handle bigger projects and manage projects throughout the pipeline, McCormick says a couple of projects really stand out, one of which involves designing a fire station. “The job is different every single day, which makes it exciting,” she says.
Creating historic district guidelines for Baltimore County are another career-defining moment for McCormick. “Even though they were more of a written document, it was a lot of listening, she says. “And understanding what direction community and committee members wanted their county to go in, in terms of preserving historic Architecture.”
Having to lead those community discussions is still intimidating to her, McCormick admits. That’s just another way she’s growing as a person along with her career.
For McCormick, simple and clean design often wins
Fashion legend Coco Chanel famously advised people to take off one accessory before leaving the house for a cleaner, classier look. “I feel like I have the same philosophy for Architecture,” McCormick says. “Simpler and cleaner is often better.”
Even more importantly, McCormick says well-considered design, from the smallest intervention (like a covered bus stop) to something substantial (like a library or other community project), can bring a community together.
“You can design a space that feels welcoming or helps people feel at home, whether it's energizing them or relaxing them,” she says. For McCormick, her passion may have started with a deep interest in Architecture, but it evolved into a vested interest in the people who Architecture impacts.
As for the future of the industry, McCormick says she hopes more women stay the course beyond Architecture school, but she already sees things heading in the right direction. “You can start the licensure process more quickly than before,” she says, which will help people of different backgrounds and identities become deeply invested earlier on in their careers. Ultimately, diverse designers make designing for the community that much more of a given.
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Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects took on the Architecture, Interior Design, & Overall Project Management for the new Bedford Elementary School, and the outcome is impactful.