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

At the end of Spencer Haynsworth’s first three months with the Santa Fe Community Housing Trust (SFCHT), Executive Director Sharron Welsh reported, “She hit the ground running on an elderly co-housing project that was in the preliminary design stage when she arrived. When obstacles ensued in establishing her role, she persisted until the problem was resolved. She has established excellent working relationships with Housing Trust staff members and her mentoring architect, and has become involved in the architectural community at large and the larger network of community development professionals in the state.”

By any standards, she was off to a great start, but Spencer also found time to organize an event entitled “Nuts & Bolts and Green Building”. Funded by Enterprise Community Partners’ Santa Fe Office, which also provided technical support, the event showcased the work of green builders, designers, and policy makers in the southwest region.

Spencer’s dynamic start with SFCHT seems hardly surprising when you consider her previous achievements. A graduate of St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD, Spencer holds master’s degrees in Architecture and Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia. In 2005 she was nominated for a SOM M Arch 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 in Rome, Italy in 2003 on a Carlo Pelliccia Fellowship. Spencer is the author of the booklet, Timber, Salt and Stone.

Enterprise Community Partners