Fellow Profile

Spencer Haynsworth

“The Rose Fellowship has offered me a unique opportunity to invert the traditional architectural model that places the architect at the apex of the design, and instead to position myself on the ground, within communities typically underserved by the architectural profession.”

— Spencer Haynsworth

Fellowship Host:
Santa Fe Community Housing Trust
Santa Fe, NM

Spencer Haynsworth is in her third year of her Rose Fellowship with the Housing Trust in Santa Fe. By any standards, her fellowship has been a success. She is currently the project manager for the development of an innovative, intentional living community for people 55 plus, scheduled to complete construction in fall 2009. Called ElderGrace, the 28 units of affordable housing is a Green Communities project and a LEED for Neighborhood Development pilot project. ElderGrace will be the fourth such project in the country and the only one that is both green and affordable.

Spencer has also found time to organize events such as “Nuts & Bolts and Green Building,” a green building demonstration forum, and “GreenWorks,” an international green, affordable housing competition. Funded by Enterprise Community Partners and its Santa Fe Office, these events have provided a forum for green builders, designers and policy makers.

Spencer holds master’s degrees in architecture and landscape architecture from the University of Virginia. In 2006, Spencer was a guest lecturer at the UVA School of Architecture. In 2005, she was nominated for a SOM Traveling Fellowship and received the Design Excellence in Architecture Award, both from UVA School of Architecture. In 2004 she won a Kenan Research Fellowship for research on Thomas Jefferson’s Academical Village, and she traveled to Rome, Italy in 2003 on a Carlo Pelliccia Fellowship. Spencer holds an undergraduate degree from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md. She is the author of the booklet, Timber, Salt and Stone and a LEED Accredited Professional.

Enterprise Community Partners