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New leadership is ahead for Ankrom Moisan鈥檚 interior design group.

Karen Bowery is retiring from her position as executive vice president and director of interiors on Tuesday 鈥� leaving a 45-year career-legacy.

Bowery was the first interior designer at Ankrom Moisan when the firm was founded in 1983. Now, the firm鈥檚 interior group has grown to 72 people who work across three offices and seven market sectors, including market-rate housing, which Ankrom Interior has coined “urban living,” senior housing, higher education, affordable housing, health care, office and workplace, and retail.

Ankrom Moisan鈥檚 Interiors group leadership will be turned over to Alissa Brandt, vice president of interiors, and Leah Wheary Brown, vice president for interior design strategy 鈥� bringing the firm鈥檚 executive leadership team to 60 percent women.

鈥淥ver that span of 40 years,鈥� Brandt said, 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 fair to say that Karen has worked tirelessly, tirelessly to empower women in this industry and (for) designers to have a solid and respectable seat at the table with architects, with our clients (and) with construction teams.鈥�

While at Ankrom Moisan, Bowery launched a hospitality-driven interior design company called The Society in 2016, which works primarily with hoteliers. Casey Scalf, a design principal and founding member, will become the director of The Society when Bowery retires.

Under her leadership at both Ankrom Moisan and The Society, Bowery and her teams have received numerous awards from the American Institute of Architecture and the International Interior Design Association Oregon and Pacific Northwest chapters, along with Gold Key Awards for Excellence in Hospitality Design, 91视频 Oregon TopProjects Awards and more.

When Bowery started at Ankrom Moisan, interior design was still a relatively new discipline. The Foundation for Interior Design Educational Research and National Council for Interior Design Qualification had only recently been formed to establish, maintain and govern standards for the education and examination of interior design professionals.

In the 1970s, only a few accredited schools offered it as a program. Bowery said she counts herself lucky to attend one of them. When she graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1978, Bowery was only one of 10 in her program.

鈥淭here was no road map. There was no ability to figure out how to create and envision an interior design firm or an interior design discipline,鈥� Bowery said.

She added that back then and for many years after, people would think of interior design as interior decorating, which Bowery said she set out to put aside and squash. Today, however, more than 3,000 interior design programs are offered at colleges and universities in the U.S., .

Bowery said curiosity, nimbleness and innovativeness have been key characteristics of Ankrom Moisan鈥檚 interior group鈥檚 success. These particularly came into play in the condo days of the Pearl District when the neighborhood was first being transformed from railroads to skyrises.

Ankrom Moisan was tapped to design 10 to 12 of the new buildings, a spokesperson stated.

鈥淚n so doing 鈥� we recognized a gap,鈥� Bowery said.

The developers needed to presale the condominiums, and the contractors needed the end cost. Between them was an opportunity to increase the sale of the units by offering customizations.

Ankrom Moisan hired a software developer to create an online package listing the unit and all the upgrades a buyer could make, from a high-end applicant package to individual customizations 鈥� all already priced by the contractor. A designer from the firm then went and met with every owner when selecting their customizations.

It was great, Bowery said. The condo owners felt they had a designer鈥檚 opinion. Any customization selected was marked in the software, which then fed straight into a sales agreement the contractor could use to build.

While not prevalent then, unit customization is standard practice with condominium design by today鈥檚 metrics.

Through the years, Ankrom Moisan鈥檚 interior group continued to innovate with projects like Aegis Living Lake Union, the first assisted living community built to meet the Living Building Challenge Petal Certification through International Living Future Institute (ILFI), a highly rigorous green building standard.

Wheary Brown said that sustainability and a more holistic approach to wellness that includes mind and body have also been major talking points in interior design. It is more than just providing a physical fitness option but having spaces that might meet a person鈥檚 desire to have a calming retreat or an outdoor space to work or be social.

鈥淚t鈥檚 no longer just status quo to have a fitness gym and check it off the box,鈥� she added.

Bowery said there鈥檚 a cost-benefit to developers for taking a more sustainable or holistic wellness approach to their buildings. Renters are looking for differentiation and authenticity. If a renter opts to stay in the building for 18 months to two years versus the average of 11 months, she added, that鈥檚 sustainable in a more monetary way.

The interior group鈥檚 success partly has been due to its work outside the firm 鈥� about 60 to 70 percent, Brandt estimated. With specific markets like market rate, 80 percent of the work is with outside firms. The only market sector that鈥檚 all internal is senior housing.

鈥淏eing able to fill the gaps and innovate and being the best is, I think, the hardest success,鈥� Bowery said.