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Designing buildings that will change a community for decades to come is never an easy endeavor. Doing so when without speaking many residents’ languages or knowing their cultures can be exponentially tougher.

鈥淔undamentally, in any community, if you ask them a set of questions, there is a commonality that can be brought out,鈥� said Suenn Ho, principal and urban designer at RESOLVE Architecture + Planning. 鈥淲hat makes the difference is the cultural diversity of the neighborhood. There are some subtle nuances that are often missed.鈥�

Ho has worked on a variety of projects in ethnically diverse communities. Creating designs that appreciate those nuances can be a time-consuming and expensive proposition. Typically, project teams hold town hall events and meet with neighborhood associations to gain residents’ input. But in communities with a variety of ethnicities, that might not be enough.

鈥淚f they make time to go to open house, sometimes the minorities don’t speak up in a public forum,鈥� Ho said. 鈥淭hen (developers) say no one spoke up in the events, so everything is good. Then their building is not reflecting what the community wants.鈥�

Language can present a big chasm to cross. In 2016, the city of Tigard decided to turn Metzger Elementary School athletic fields into a public park. While working on the project, RESOLVE Architecture + Planning had to get input from community members who came from different parts of the world and spoke various languages.

鈥淭hat school has very diverse demographics,鈥� Ho said. 鈥淭here were large numbers of Somalians, African-Americans and Muslims that we needed to reach. We had outreach in five different languages. It was very eye-opening.鈥�

For that project, the team held three open house events. But designers also took the extra step of sending community members surveys in languages such as Marshallese, Arabic, Chuukese and Spanish. Ho worked with the MultiCultural Collaborative to bring in as many different views as possible.

That effort required time and money and is one that many architecture firms struggle to plan for, according to Ankrom Moisan Architects principal Scott Thayer.

鈥淥ur firms typically shortchange that whole topic,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen it comes to the identity of a cultural group or entity, that is where it becomes obvious that some special attention is needed.鈥�

Outreach to communities can lead to subtle project changes that have significant meaning to residents, Thayer said. For instance, for a housing project in a largely African-American area, he said, designers found that porches and stoops were preferred so that residents had places to congregate and socialize. In other parts of the city, porches were largely seen as merely decorative additions.

鈥淚t’s important to be able to understand what the lesser understood values are,鈥� he said.

Other subtle changes can be something as simple as a sidewalk upgrade. While working on a series of projects in the area of Division Street between Southeast 117th and 151st avenues, Ho found that residents were unhappy with the states of area sidewalks.

鈥淭hey felt there were not enough sidewalk lights (and) they weren’t wide enough,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he area had always been treated like the suburbs. What do you do in suburbs? You drive everywhere.鈥�

What hadn’t been taken into account was the area’s significant Laotian and Burmese populations. Even when traveling by car is an option, many people within those communities would choose to walk.

鈥淭hey walk around as families,鈥� Ho said. 鈥淭hey are walking because that is what they do. Yet to people and planners who are working in downtown Portland, it is not seen as downtown Portland, so why do they need large sidewalks? You can’t understand how they navigate.鈥�

Ho has found that who designers talk to is as important as the number of people they find. During efforts to redesign the streetscape on Northwest Third and Fourth avenues in Portland’s Chinatown, Ho and her team reached out to the Asian community.

鈥淲e did extensive press coverage in the local Chinese Times,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e also went out and went to meetings with property owners.鈥�

Oftentimes, the small restaurant owner or shopkeeper was the best resource for finding out what a particular community wanted to see in a new development, Ho said.

鈥淪ome of these ideas are brushed off by so-called experts,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hese ideas are coming from people not in the mainstream circle. Because no one knows who they are, we are not really paying attention to these voices. As a design team we tried to encapsulate these ideas into the project.鈥�

Portland’s extensive network of neighborhood associations can make the job of gaining public input somewhat easier than in other places.

鈥淧eople, in general, like to be heard,鈥� said Cameron Hyde, president of Soderstrom Architects. 鈥淪ometimes, they aren’t as skilled in describing what they want. It takes more effort to hear them.鈥�

When residents aren’t familiar with dealing with the built environment, and a language or cultural barrier is present, learning what they want can be a challenge, Hyde said.

鈥淵ou have to sort of interpret what people are saying,鈥� he said.

Sometimes architects find it helpful to hire an interpreter. Design+Culture Lab, for instance, has worked with Ankrom Moisan on outreach in ethnically diverse neighborhoods.

鈥淲e will design outreach to allow architects to build relationships,鈥� Design+Culture Lab CEO Joy Davis said. 鈥淧eople want to be involved in shaping their community.鈥�

However, to be effective, outreach must be sincere.

鈥淵ou have to have quality outreach,鈥� she said. 鈥淒esigners can’t go in thinking (they) can check a box. People know if it’s thrown in as a token gesture.鈥�

Davis said that the biggest aspect a company like hers brings is trust from minority and disadvantaged communities. Often that effort means walking the streets and involving nonprofits that are active in the community. Davis’ company tries to make sure that the outreach becomes a conversation and not simply a one-note explanation of what a project is going to look like.

鈥淚t takes more than a one-size-fits-all approach,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淎rchitects need to spend more time researching beyond their specific area. Get to know the community beyond just the built environment.鈥�