Immersion Alumni

Pamela Steiner: Perkins & Will, Branded Environments

Foresight Immersion 2008 Fellow

Pamela already had a well-trained eye for design when she joined Foresight's Immersion program (called Urban Sustainability Design Studio) in the summer of 2008. She held a bachelor's degree in Interior Architecture from The School of the Art Institute, and had also attended the yearlong program at Archeworks, an alternative design school in Chicago's River North neighborhood. Serving as a pro bono design consultant for St. Luke's Lutheran Church of Logan Square, and interning with the Field Museum of Natural History designing exhibit layouts, provided her with important "real world" experience.

Having worked with architects, project teams, and clients as an architecture intern with Liederbach and Graham Architects, what more could she learn from Foresight? "I really value the critical thinking training I was immersed in at Foresight," she said. "I know it provided a solid foundation for me moving forward." She applied for the Immersion program after attending several of the organization's Green Drinks events and found the experience helped reinforce sustainability-related ideas she held about how doing less can really be doing more. The program, she says, gave her the confidence to veer off the path of traditional architecture and introduced her to a new, critical form of thinking that challenged her to more deeply consider core issues of design before starting a project, and moving forward with solutions based on old habits or perceptions.

Since October of 2008, Pamela has worked at Perkins+Will Branded Environments. She is currently a Wayfinding & Signage Designer for the firm, a role that involves a range of design-related research, user group studies, architectural assessments, and graphic design. She feels a large objective of her work is to design environments using a holistic approach so that the spaces are not only functional for their intended use, but also optimized for the clients to gain a full range of benefits from them. Even in her free time she enjoys engaging in community building efforts that take holistic design solutions beyond the realm of green materials to also include community sustainability and promote a higher quality of living. She enjoys listening to older-style country artists such as Lyle Lovett and wants to challenge future Foresight alums to, "think beyond what you think you already know!"

You can learn even more about Pamela at www.pamelasteiner.com.