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01 2024 Rebecca Barry GLBD Hero
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Great Lakes by Design: The Architects feat. Rebecca Barry

Great Lakes by Design: The Architects feat. Rebecca Barry

Ghafari’s Director of Architecture, Rebecca Barry, AIA, NCARB, was recently profiled in Great Lakes by Design in the magazine’s annual “The Architects” series. In her profile, Becky speaks about the trajectory of her architectural career, her own design philosophy, and the inherent social responsibility in crafting the built environment.

“As architects, we are responsible for envisioning and further executing the creation of everything that surrounds us and, in my opinion, we have a social responsibility to advocate and contribute to our built environment in a positive way,” she says. “There has to be an emphasis spent on the environmental impact and it has to be more of a human-centric experience.”

Over a career spanning 25+ years, Becky has worked in building programming and planning, construction document coordination and production, code review and analysis, and client relations across commercial hospitality, retail, government, and industrial markets. She credits a desire for the arts, a means of self-artistic expression, as the inspiration that drew her to architecture from a young age. Today, Becky holds architectural licensure in more than 15 states, is NCARB certified, and is a member of the AIA. She was also recognized as a Crain’s Detroit Business “Notable Women in Design”.

As architects, we are responsible for envisioning and further executing the creation of everything that surrounds us and, in my opinion, we have a social responsibility to advocate and contribute to our built environment in a positive way.

Rebecca Barry, AIA, NCARB

Director of Architecture | Ghafari

For Becky, who considers architecture a driver for many things in life, how architects respond to principles like function, aesthetics, culture, and the environment, has the power— and potential—to shape how individuals interact and what people are influenced by in life.

“Maybe I am more sensitive to this now, because of the role I am in and how much of my job is dealing with people, but people are sensitive and the requirements of people today are different,” she says. “To me, good mental health, good physical health, is super important. Given the nature of how people are today and the things that we just know more about in terms of health and wellness, we have to design spaces and buildings to be more focused on this. I just don’t think it is something that we can push aside any longer.”

Read Becky’s profile here.