Stewardship in Action: What “Values-Driven” Design Really Means With Phil Harrison and Lindsey Peckinpaugh

What does it really look like when a design firm leads with values, not simply as a slogan, but as an operating system? In this episode of I Hear Design, host Robert Nieminen talks with Perkins&Will Principal and CEO, Phil Harrison, and Lindsey Peckinpaugh, Principal and President, about their impact report, “Stewardship in Action: A Values-Driven Approach to Design.”

Together, they explore how “values-driven” design shows up in the lived experience of a place in things like human-centered spaces, biophilic connection, and design that serves communities for the long haul. They also break down Perkins&Will’s Living Design framework and spotlight Toronto’s Dawes Library, a net-zero-carbon branch library and community hub shaped through Indigenous partnership and co-creation developed in collaboration with Smoke Architecture.

Additional highlights include:

• Why energy modeling should be treated as an ethical responsibility and how firms of any size can act now
• Perkins&Will’s publicly shared “Switch List” for advanced material health
• Designing for biodiversity, including ecological literacy and habitat restoration
• A candid look at client satisfaction vs. staff well-being—and the push to bring joy back to practice
• A pragmatic take on AI: reduce repetitive work, boost creativity, and keep design a human art

Meet Our Guests

Phil Harrison, FAIA, LEED AP, Principal, Chief Executive Officer, Perkins&Will

Phil believes inspired design acts in the service of humanity. When it achieves beauty and rigor, poetry and technology, creativity and innovation, design has the power to invigorate the human experience. As CEO of the second-largest architecture and design firm in the world, Phil takes this responsibility very seriously.

Phil motivates teams around the globe to devise breakthrough solutions to the profession’s most pressing challenges. From championing research and technology to cultivating a culture of curiosity and experimentation, his goal is to propel the spirit of imagination into measurable action.

“When teams are aligned in their vision and goals, they channel their energy into design innovation and client service,” he says. “This creative synergy allows us to exceed our clients’ expectations and make the design and construction process joyful.”

A licensed architect in 9 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces, Phil has led Perkins&Will as CEO since 2006, tripling the firm’s size, expanding its geographic reach, and deepening its focus on design excellence. He and his family live in Atlanta, and he spends his free time traveling, cycling, cooking, making art, and playing music.

Lindsey Peckinpaugh, AIA, LEED AP, RELi AP, Principal, President

Lindsey is on a mission to leave the world better than she found it. As President of Perkins&Will, she works with our clients, communities, partners, and peers to design for a more sustainable and equitable future. “To lead is to listen—to understand, learn, grow, and uplift those around me,” she says. “Every day, I strive to inspire teams to deliver excellence in every aspect of their work, and to enable us all to think bigger, work smarter, and design with purpose.”

A practicing architect, Lindsey has always had an aptitude for understanding our business holistically. She joined the firm in 2017 as part of our merger with Sink Combs Dethlefs, and in 2021 she was named Managing Director of our Chicago studio. Elevated to President in 2024, Lindsey now helps shape the firm’s global strategy as a trusted partner to CEO Phil Harrison and our Board of Directors, focusing on the core areas of our business—management, operations, and design—to ensure our continued success.

“Lindsey is a natural leader whose blend of strategic thinking, clear communication, and empathy is widely admired by clients and colleagues alike,” Harrison says.

Lindsey lives in the Chicago area and is an active community member volunteering and serving on several boards. She keeps her mind and body active by traveling, immersing herself in poetry, having frequent impromptu dance parties and chasing her son, Mason, around amusement parks.

Key Moments in This Episode

• 00:00:04 – Welcome & Context
  Robert introduces Phil and Lindsey, sets the stage with prior Perkins&Will episodes on regenerative design and project management, and frames this conversation around values-driven design and the firm’s new impact report.

• 00:01:47 – What “Values-Driven” Design Means
  Lindsey explains how being a values-driven firm shapes everything from project pursuits to delivery—and how communities can feel that difference through human-centered, optimistic, biophilic spaces.

• 00:04:35 – 90 Years of Purposeful Practice
  Phil traces Perkins&Will’s Midwestern roots, emphasizing humility, service, and “generosity” in architecture, and how those enduring values have stayed constant even as the firm scaled globally.

• 00:06:44 – Living Design Framework & Dawes Library
  Lindsey defines Living Design as a holistic lens—health, inclusion, technology, community—and illustrates it with the Dawes Road Library and Community Hub in Toronto, co-created with Smoke Architecture and rooted in Indigenous worldviews.

• 00:11:57 – Low-Bar Actions: Modeling, Materials, and Talent
  Lindsey offers practical steps for any firm: treat energy modeling as an ethical obligation, use publicly available tools like the Switch List to phase out harmful substances, and invest in diversifying the talent pipeline.

• 00:14:16 – Becoming “Data Architects”
  Phil describes how transparency and client expectations are turning designers into “data architects,” juggling cost, schedule, carbon, water, and material health—and why workflows need to evolve so data empowers creativity instead of burying teams.

• 00:18:37 – Ecology, Regeneration, and Designing for Life
  Lindsey shares how bringing a full-time ecologist onto the team is raising ecological literacy and leading to projects like The Meadoway that restore habitat, address bird strikes, and design for both human and non-human life.

• 00:20:46 – Healthy Materials Without a Cost Penalty
  Phil challenges the myth that high performance equals high cost, arguing for “editing” buildings—exposed structure, fewer finishes, simpler systems—as a way to lower embodied carbon, improve health, and reduce expense.

• 00:22:49 – J.E.D.I. as Mindset and Survival Strategy
  Lindsey and Phil talk about justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion not as a side initiative but as a mindset and business imperative—touching on cultural competence, partnerships with local firms, and the realities of the talent pipeline.

• 00:28:01 – Pro Bono Work and Quiet Impact
  Lindsey explains how the firm sets a target of 15,000+ pro bono hours annually, leaves decisions to local studios, and focuses on authentic relationships and community building rather than performative publicity.

• 00:30:05 – Designing With Communities: Brooklyn Center Case Study
  Lindsey’s Brooklyn Center, MN story shows how listening to the Hmong community overturned “best practice” assumptions about child-watch spaces and led to intergenerational design that actually fits local culture.

• 00:33:25 – Joy, Burnout, and Internal Culture
  Phil contrasts high client satisfaction with lower staff happiness, reflects on post-pandemic anxiety and “a war on peacefulness,” and talks about reclaiming joy and optimism as central to sustainable creative practice.

• 00:36:15 – A Grounded Take on AI
  Phil shares a pragmatic stance on AI: boost pride in human intelligence, use AI to reduce repetitive work and manage complexity, and resist doomsday narratives about designers being replaced anytime soon.

• 00:39:20 – Looking 10 Years Ahead
  Lindsey outlines a vision of “depth and breadth of impact,” from quiet trust with individual clients to a responsibility—as a large, well-resourced firm—to push the industry forward on sustainability and J.E.D.I., and she points listeners to the Impact Report online.