Rico Quirindongo received an email from then-Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan in August of 2020 in the throes of the pandemic with the subject line, “I want to talk to you about the future of the city.”

“I thought it was spam,” Quirindongo recalls with a chuckle. “Then I realized this is actually her email and I responded. I got an hour on her calendar the same day. Forty-five minutes into the conversation she turns to me and says, ‘What would it take to get you to join the cabinet?’ I was not altogether prepared for that question.”

Four months later, he would be appointed on an acting basis as director of the Mayor’s Office of Planning and Community Development. He was appointed to the permanent position in the summer of 2023 by the next mayor, Bruce Harrell.

Since then, he has been an important contributor toward Harrell’s plan to raise the availability of affordable housing. The Office of Planning and Community Development coordinates with city departments in developing and implementing the city’s comprehensive plan, capital projects, housing policies, transit projects, and the city’s Equitable Development Initiative. Harrell’s proposed budget increases funding for the Equitable Development Initiative up to $26 million.

On the heels of the anti-racism unrest spurred by the murder of George Floyd, Quirindongo, who is Black of Puerto Rican descent, says he was booked for more than 30 presentations to community and professional groups to discuss the healing process.

“I am here on this planet to do this work. That’s why I exist.”

As an architect, much of his career has been defined by contributing a diverse voice. Black architects represent only 2% of the profession, according to the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. Black women represent less than 1%.

Quirindongo has contributed on a broad range of projects, including the Northwest African American Museum, Climate Pledge Arena, Midtown Square, and Africatown Plaza.

Leilani Lewis was on the founding leadership team at the Northwest African American Museum, which Quirindongo helped redesign. They also collaborated on Midtown Square.

“That transformation of that space from the Colman School to the (Northwest African American Museum) and the Urban League, and Rico being part of the lead team, that was impactful,” Lewis recalls. “His contributions help tell the story of African American culture in the Northwest. He had an approach of service, of audience engagement, an understanding of how the space was going to be used. He was attentive to service, to the broader public. Coming from that angle of design and intentionally was really powerful.”

Quirindongo is inspired by activism via design, and his current position allows him to effect change with much broader impact. He promotes the value of involving diverse communities in a city that is growing and evolving rapidly.

“I am here on this planet to do this work. That’s why I exist,” he says. “At the most basic level, people take for granted that most of what they experience in their daily lives has a land-use component to it. It has a built environment component to it, the house they live in, the office they work in, the school their kid goes to, even the park they visit on weekends, the Seattle Waterfront. All of those things are built with a certain user group in mind. But how those buildings serve those communities of need is also dependent on how those communities are engaged.”