AIA DESIGN THEORY – December 2012
Edited by Rebecca Falzano | Photography Sarah Beard Buckley

Judith Harvie has worked with four generations of Maine designers. On December 31, she will retire from her 37-year career with AIA Maine. 

Long before the advent of home computers and cell phones, a home office was created in an 1833 Cape in Hallowell as the first headquarters of AIA Maine. As the Maine Chapter’s first executive director, Judith Harvie was hired to work with a small group of active members. “I had a telephone, a typewriter, and a camera,” she recalls, “and I knew I was in a special place and time with an opportunity to help strengthen Maine’s architectural community.” Nearly four decades later, AIA Maine’s membership has quadrupled in size, from 50 to more than 200 members, and the creative talent that has enhanced the state’s built environment has grown exponentially alongside it. Today, Harvie is the communications director and Architects/Engineers Legislative Task Force coordinator for AIA Maine. For our special Architecture issue, MH+D asked her to tell us more.

Q: What is your background? How did you get into the world of design?

A: I am a Maine girl having grown up in Auburn with a life-long interest in art and design. My family had strong Bates connections, but it was too close to home for me, so I went to college in Boston. I was working in an interior design firm in Boston when my husband was drafted out of law school for the Vietnam War. We spent three years in the Southwest before returning home to start a family and begin our lives anew. I was hired by AIA Maine in 1975 on a part-time basis, which gradually evolved into a more than full-time job in association management. As the AIA Maine Chapter grew, my work came to the attention of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Maine (ACEC Maine), who hired me to be their executive director in 1977. That work led to the coordination of the Architects/Engineers Legislative Task Force, and a program I developed along with architect Steve Rich to monitor all design-professional-related bills before the Maine legislature. For several decades I was the only association manager in the nation who successfully worked with the allied and sometimes conflicting architectural and engineering professions. For a few years in the ’80s, I assisted the Maine Society of Land Surveyors to establish a legislative program and newsletter. However, as the architect and engineer organizations continued to grow, I focused on their activities. In 2006, after 29 years of service, I stepped down as executive director of ACEC Maine. In 2009 I began a transition to retirement when AIA Maine hired a new executive director, and I continued my work in communications and political affairs.

Q: What is the mission of AIA Maine, and how did it get started?

A: AIA Maine’s mission is to unite in fellowship members of the Maine architectural profession; to improve the quality of the built and natural environment; to advance the standards of architectural education, training, and practice; and to promote service to society. My journey for 37 years has been to assist in carrying out these goals. Maine’s early architects were members of the Boston Society of Architects before organizing their own Maine Society of Architects in 1912, which later affiliated with the American Institute of Architects. Well-known presidents during the 1930s through the 1950s included John Calvin Stevens, Philip Wadsworth, and Alonzo Harriman.

Q: How has Maine architecture evolved over the Past 40 years?

A: In the 1970s it was my honor to work with Eaton Tarbell, whose low-slung and angular buildings offended some while others proclaimed him a visionary. I watched as the artistic eye of Gridley Barrows and his sense of architectural history enriched the city of Lewiston. Then there was Stephen Kent Biggs, an Aussie transplant who was an early proponent of solar energy, and George Terrien, whose vision for the Maine Audubon Society headquarters was “the wave of the future” in terms of the environment, energy, and economics. My first Chapter president was Paul Stevens, great grandson of John Calvin Stevens, whose family heritage, lectures, and tours of their homes and buildings were the highlights of many programs. At this time I also started working with John Morris II of Camden, a talented designer and entrepreneur who continues to be a mainstay of the organization. While architecture was experiencing postmodernism, late modernism, and deconstructivism, these trends had a lesser degree of influence in Maine. Maine architects have always been influenced by the nature of our region: local materials, shapes, site development, and sustainability have been practiced since the first colonial structure.

Q: The AIA Design Awards are a much-anticipated barometer of current architectural trends. How did they get started in Maine, and where are they headed?

A: In the early 1980s, AIA Maine organized its premier Design Awards program and has continued this biennial event ever since. The competition gives Maine architects a forum to showcase their work. Nationally recognized peers are invited to jury the entries and select those significant projects worthy of design excellence awards. For many years all the entries would be displayed at libraries, museums, and other public facilities, but now they can be viewed on the Chapter’s website. Many architectural firms were recognized for projects that met the high standard of design excellence set by jurors, including Stephen Blatt Architects, Scott Simons Architects, Harriman Associates, Whitten Architects, Carol Wilson Architect, and Elliott and Elliott Architecture. There was also the overdue recognition for young talented females in the 1990s, with Ellen Belknap, Ann Fontaine-Fisher, Cynthia Howard, and Carol A. Wilson, the Chapter’s first female president, coming to the forefront. As AIA Maine Design Award programs moved into the twenty-first century, juries commended Maine architects for their sustainable initiatives and continuing high level of design standards. John Gordon, Phil Kaplan, Rob Tillotson, Gunnar Hubbard, Steve Rich, Matthew O’Malia, Scott Simons, Chris Briley, and Caleb Johnson were spurred on by Maine’s rugged climate to create energy-efficient buildings. Looking to the future, AIA Maine adopted the 2030 Challenge with a goal of carbon-neutral buildings by the year 2030. Chapter president-elect and Harriman principal Judy Johnson is successfully introducing the challenge to Maine architects, engineers, and constructors.

Q: Where do you see Maine architecture going in the next few decades?

A: One only needs to look at some of the terrific schools, offices, medical facilities, public buildings, and private homes in Maine to understand that architects help capture the hopes and dreams of a society. Our built environment represents who we are, what we value, and what we want for our children. The current recession has been difficult, and Maine’s architectural community has suffered through it. Yet, I am optimistic about the future because of the talent I see in Maine’s architectural community. I have worked with four generations of designers and never cease to be amazed at the caliber of the people who are drawn to the profession and want to work here in Maine. They are attracted to the state’s environment and way of life, and they represent our aspirations and unique pride of place extremel