Below is the schedule for Friday, May 20, 2022, which includes session descriptions and research abstracts. The conference schedule is subject to change.
Obtain Continuing Education Credits (CES) / Learning Units (LU), including Health, Safety and Welfare (HSW). Registered conference attendees will be able to submit session attended for Continuing Education Credits (CES). Register for the conference today to gain access to all the AIA/CES credit sessions.
11:00am-12:30pm EDT /
8:00am-9:30am PDT
Special Focus Session
1.5 LU Credit
Presenters: Bradford Grant, Howard University
Peter Rumsey, Stanford University
Kristen DiStefano, Atelier 10
Nik Nikolov, Lehigh University
Session Description
Insufficient attention to embodied carbon as part of a sustainable design contributes to climate change. Countries and communities of color are greatly impacted by the accompanying disastrous collapse of ecosystems. The design professions must develop new strategies for decarbonization to lead the effort towards justice for all. To empower future leaders in the field, this panel brings together experts from academia and the industry for a discussion about decarbonization and climate justice and their potential impact on the curriculum in architecture schools.
11:00am-12:30pm EDT /
8:00am-9:30am PDT
Special Focus Session
1.5 LU Credit
Presenters:
Shalini Agrawal, CCA + the CCA Decolonial School
Sekou Cooke, U. North Carolina, Charlotte
Byron Mouton, Tulane U. + URBANbuild
Ann Yoachim, Tulane U. + Albert and Tina Small Center
Cathi Ho Schar, U. Hawaiʻi Mānoa + Community Design Center
Karla Sierralta, U. Hawaiʻi Mānoa + Community Design Center
Brian Strawn, U. Hawaiʻi Mānoa + Community Design Center
Session Description
Contributions to Research and Scholarship on Social Equity and Justice in Built Environments
The ACSA Research & Scholarship Committee leads efforts to support faculty in scholarly endeavors. The committee monitors and assesses ACSA programs involving peer review and recognition, and recommends actions to advocate for support for architectural research and scholarship. This session will present scholarly work in the discipline on the intersection of social equity and justice in built environments.
11:00am-12:30pm EDT /
8:00am-9:30am PDT
Special Focus Session
1.5 LU Credit
Presenters: Andrew Witt, Harvard University
Elizabeth Andrzejewski, Marywood University
Vasiliki Fragkia, The Royal Danish Academy
Isak Worre Foged, The Royal Danish Academy
Anke Pasold, Copenhagen School of Design & Technology
Jeffrey Huang, Mikhael Johanes, Frederick Chando Kim, Christina Doumpioti & Georg-Christoph Holz, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology – EPFL
Session Description
This session features four original research presentations by authors recently published in the Technology | Architecture + Design (TAD) INTELLIGENCE and HISTORIES issues that investigate how intelligence, through data-driven technology and virtual experimentation, expands practice and redefines design agency. The presentations will demonstrate how the development of new technologies facilitates innovative forms of applied research and the role of technologies in shaping our multiscalar understanding of the history of the built environment. The presentations will include research methods and theoretical applications that consider sensing, acting, and engaging across various scales that inform emerging research areas in academia and professional practice.
11:00am-12:30pm EDT /
8:00am-9:30am PDT
Research Session
1.5 LU Credit
Defining the City as a Commons: Mitigating Sea-Level Rise at the Intersection of Planning Policy Instruments and Public Space Networks
John Sandell, Florida Atlantic University
Abstract
Public urban environments define a city as a commons, a place that is jointly shared. These environments make up the part of the city that is economically, environmentally, and socially advantageous toward the common good. In this study, we examine how the concept of urban commons can be characterized in the space of a city. The first part of the research is project-based. The project site is Fort Lauderdale, Florida where we utilize an alternative future scenario-based design model to examine urban environments in at-risk areas. The model can be defined as a plausible description of future climatic states which guide the reimagining process. Green infrastructure concepts and resiliency principles redefine public space opportunities. The project highlights the dynamics of the natural environment as a frame for reconfiguring public space as an open, permeable, and adaptive system that mitigates exposure to adverse conditions including pluvial flooding and storm surge events. The second part of the research presents a review of planning policy instruments and suggests how these instruments help shape long-term strategy toward the repair of natural habitat and the development of public space networks. The conclusions suggest that creating a rich and vibrant urban commons in synthesis with the evolution of a city hinges on the ability of designers and policy makers (in collaboration with other stakeholders) to choreograph and layer multiple scales of resiliency interventions. While interventions are site specific, when based on time-oriented planning of present and future conditions, land-use decisions and adoption of policy mechanisms can be applied across other land reform scenarios. At the scale of street, block, neighborhood, and region, efforts can intersect toward the development of unique urban environs that supports social and environmental resiliency.
The Future of Main Streets for Sustainable Placemaking in Downtown Arlington
Hyesun Jeong, University of Texas at Arlington
Abstract
The idea of a contemporary “Main Street” that draws on the traditional typology of historic cities and towns is a recognized model for urban economic development (Talen and Jeong 2019; Duany, Plater- Zyberk, and Speck 2010; Llewelyn-Davies 2007; Mehta and Bosson 2010). Centrally located between Dallas and Fort Worth, Arlington is home to major sports stadiums, theme parks, Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) airport, and the university. However, despite the city’s rapid population growth, downtown Arlington lacks local development that would balance that large-scale planning. Still, a recent infrastructure investment along Abram Streets suggests that the development of a Main Street is possible. According to US Census data from 2008-2012, 92% of employees in Arlington commute by driving, while downtown and the university’s campus are categorized as food deserts. Drawing principles of New Urbanism and successful examples of Main Streets in Dallas and Fort Worth, we propose urban design and planning images for placemaking in downtown Arlington to promote local business, food, retail, and transit alternatives for active walking, bicycling, and use of public transit. Our study on Main Streets will be used to achieve two goals; one, an assessment of the feasibility of creating a Main Street in downtown Arlington and two, a study that will expand the current literature on placemaking to the context of postwar Sunbelt cities which was not paid much attention. We suggest that the built infrastructure of 1920s streetcar corridors can be reused as a new foundation for walkable Main Streets and targets for planning initiatives to anchor sustainable urban redevelopment. We expect the project to have both local impact and be an important contribution to the scholarly literature on sustainable urban development in a post-sprawl context.
No Royal Roads: Diffusing the Constraints of Smoothness on Local City Streets
Charles Jones, Tulane University
Abstract
Like aqueducts, roads are one of the earliest, most effective technological utilities related to the sustained, long-term urban settlement. The smooth asphalt surface of a modern-day collector street connecting from arterial transportation networks to local city streets is one example. Not only was smoothness pursued (Figure 01) to address some of the most persistent social and sanitary nuisances[i] of the turn of the 20th century, but it also boosted the conveyance of energy and resources throughout cities, including stormwater discharge. However, like many fast-paced technological applications developed to outpace physiological adaptation, their benefit is counteracted with adverse impacts on various social-ecological systems.[ii] Smoothness, a preferred street surface condition, is a technical overcorrection.[iii] Accelerated stormwater discharge can overwhelm drainage systems and cause chronic flooding. Therefore, the application of smoothness across multiple street typologies requires reexamination. A textured, permeable surface can effectively mitigate this condition by diffusing water movement and storing it momentarily where it falls. Combined with other ecological systems, the surface geometry of the street and section can filter pollutants, reduce the heat island effect, and improve the spatial qualities of local streetscapes. New Orleans offers an exceptional terrain to speculate and evaluate the proposed strategy. Although the city is experiencing increasing rainfall intensities[iv], most local streets are currently being repaved with the same century-old, impermeable technology.[v] The presence of existing industries for processing raw and recycled materials also create opportunities for innovation in future paving assemblies.[vi] Currently, at a centimeter a year, the ground subsidence is accelerating due to the continued reliance on subsurface centralized drainage systems and crowned, smoothened street surfaces, shedding water rapidly. Soil heaving and aging infrastructure create precarious soil conditions adding additional stress on streets that induce disproportionate amounts of strain on society and local ecologies. Lastly, the open joint incorporated into emerging permeable pavers are more favorable than the historical technique of water-resistant, bituminous, and grout-filled joints in this context. This flexible joint allows for significant improvements allowing the paver permeability and flexibility to conform to higher degrees of surface undulation. Three parameters establish the primary design drivers for developing the surface texture, including the technical requirements for maximum vertical discontinuities, surveying surface geometry of historic paving systems, and a comfort vibration analysis[vii] performed by driving from one corner to another on the surveyed paving systems using an iPhone accelerometer (Figure 02).The design provides opportunities for diffusing water runoff while increasing functional detection of a street surface through tactility (Figure 03) and surface reflection of pavers arranged in different configurations and orientations (Figure 04). Existing asphalt and concrete paving materials can be recycled and reintroduced into hydraulically pressed paver types based on varying traffic load impacts. By inverting the crown, the street can drain slower with increased local storage (Figure 05). Current constraints of smoothness and symmetry stifle the adaptive potential local city streets possess. On the contrary, this paper demonstrates the efficacy of more diffused surface and spatial boundaries that can effectively address increased exposure to social-ecological risks for cities like New Orleans.
Constructing Inclusivity
John Folan, U. of Arkansas & Urban Design Build Studio
Collaborative Practice Award
Abstract
The title CONSTRUCTING INCLUSIVITY references an aspirational objective of empowering under-represented populations of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the surrounding region to obtain necessities fundamental to human dignity. Specifically, the Urban Design Build Studio (UDBS) focused on issues of food access and the development of related/relevant economic opportunity. Appropriate, affordable, replicable solutions were explored as a mechanism to address tangible physical, social, and economic challenges. Regional specificity of context informed students’ exploration of formal, material, and process-related domains of construction utilizing harvested building content from deconstructed buildings. A co-requisite course, BEYOND PATRONAGE provided opportunity for students to explore the full social and economic dimensions of work that validate the viability of solutions at scale. The studio and co-requisite course were framed so that operations in one domain informed the other fluidly as demands of community, client-driven engagement evolved.
The semester progression initiated with cultural literacy work in both classes providing a platform for understanding 1) place, 2) socio-economic contexts, 3) urban decline cycles, 4) vacancy, 5) deconstruction, 6) repurposed material harvesting/manipulation, and 7) entrepreneurial/economic opportunity. The various dimensions of literacy were facilitated through direct engagement of prospective entrepreneurs, community organizations, and a non-profit/NGO collective focused on apprentice training, entrepreneurial training, and mass production, PROJECT RE_. Subsequent phases of work supported recursive development of a mobile café system that would 1) enable an entrepreneur in training to open for business on a 90-day trial basis and 2) create a viable, replicable value-added furniture system that can be reproduced through mass production and generate a fabrication business for craft-based apprentices in training. All work was developed collaboratively utilizing a blend of traditional/lo-tech craft and digital/hi-tech craft to realize a minority owned and operated business from a pile of material diverted from landfill in 105 days.
30-minutes
1:00pm-2:30pm EDT /
10:00am-11:30am PDT
Research Session
1.5 LU Credit
Crossing Boundaries: Professional Practice and the RFP in Deeply International Zones of Poverty, Conflict, and Diversity
Marcus Farr, American University of Sharjah
Practice & Leadership Award – Honorable Mention
Abstract
This course places professional practice within a foreign context and explores ways to understand deeply territorial issues of cross-cultural practice and the role this can play in the career of an architect in zones of poverty, conflict, and unrest. The difficulty in creating a professional practice course in our region is balancing and positioning the NAAB requirements for practice in the West with the incredible range of student diversities and socio-cultural and religious differences found in the Middle East & North Africa. There was no prior model. The RFP is a common instrument of practice in both the West and the East; because of this, it is used in this course as a mediatory tool. It acts as a line of inquiry for students to interpret and forecast the needs of a client and the potential outcomes for projects in very difficult settings such as areas of poverty, terrorism, or war. Examples of this include responding to an NGO that represents nearly 500 Afghan widows who have lost husbands due to war in Kabul.
These women have faced discrimination and interference from the police, who often demand bribes or demolish their modestly self-constructed homes. With the RFP, the students understand the potential role of the architect in a difficult situation such as this, along with the limitations of practice. The course has also used the undeveloped school system in nearby Ethiopia as an NGO client. The students respond by creating organic discussions of ethical practice and how we as architects can facilitate practice professionally even in the toughest of situations. In both these examples, the RFP includes a thorough discussion of available resources, possible players for team building, options for contractors and builders, and how engineers in nearby cities can contribute.
Integrated Pedagogy
David Karle, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Mark Bacon, BVH Architecture
Practice & Leadership Award – Honorable Mention
Abstract
The two academic courses (Arch 411 and Arch 430) create an industry partnership with SGH Concepts (a division of SGH Redglaze Holdings Inc.) and Dri-Design. Together they model a comprehensive approach to an academic, professional, and industry-based learning environment to advance student knowledge on integrated building systems. The SGH Concepts and Dri-Design Scholarships/Awards are organized for 55-65 fourth-year undergraduate architecture students annually who are currently enrolled in Arch 411 and Arch 430, and have included approximately 385 total students since the program’s inception in 2014. The program has recognized a total of 50 finalists and awarded 32 scholarships to student projects that exemplify outstanding design investigation, resolution, and significance, and brings together aspiring architects and industry leaders to advance the learning of design, materiality, and innovation. The partnership bridges both theory and practice, bringing awareness to the University, the College, and the construction industry.
Additionally, it expands student knowledge on building envelope systems, introduces SGH Concepts and Dri-Design to nationally recognized architects, and expands their relationship with local architectural offices. Following the end-of-semester review, one project from each studio is selected to compete for the SGH Concepts and Dri-Design Scholarship/Award. Finalists are chosen for producing and communicating a comprehensive architectural project that is a result of design decisions at different scales. To be successful, students must demonstrate a high degree of professional dedication, rigor, open-mindedness, and resourcefulness. Projects are rigorously developed and clearly communicate the breadth and depth of investigation. Student projects are presented to an external jury, all of whom are established practitioners in their fields. As of Spring 2021, $70,000 ($10,000 per year since 2014) has been donated to the UNL architecture program for SGH Concepts and Dri-Design student scholarships and jury expenses.
Empowered Voices: Practice Chronicles
John Folan, University of Arkansas
Practice & Leadership Award
Abstract
What are an emerging professional’s values? What are their humanistic orientations? Their Aspirations for professional and personal fulfilment? What is their purpose? Unless these questions and others are addressed directly BY THE STUDENT as they advance through a curricular structure, the opportunity to establish self-awareness and agency of influence to a broader citizenship may be limited. EMPOWERED VOICES: Practice Chronicles provides students the opportunity to reflect on their values and interests by virtue of how those convictions are demonstrated in action. Architectural education establishes a platform for an almost incalculable number of professional opportunities – as a designer, as an advocate, as a developer, as an artist, as a public agent, as an activist – or the myriad of hybrid formations that emerge. Recognizing the merits of that platform in guiding professional efficacy is suggested in the Aristotelian aphorism “WE ARE WHAT WE REPEATEDLY DO.”
The Practice Chronicle reveals interest and individual motivation and privileges those conditions over preconceived notion of what is right and wrong. This work is executed in a required Ethics and Practice Course that has evolved over a continuum of several years. The number of students engaged in the work has increased with enrollments. EMPOWERED VOICES emerge from a series of sequential exercises that contribute to the iterative development of a comprehensive document calibrated to guide students in the discovery of their own values, belief, and purpose, understanding the positive influence they can have through their actions. The aspiration is that individuals emerge as agents of their futures, with an understanding of the collective good, and a brighter future for the public informed by design.
Architecture as Apparatus and Social Process
Nandini Bagchee & Vyjayanthi Rao, City College of New York
Abstract
What is the place of architecture within the collective social imaginary? This question has been raised in different ways over time from within and outside the profession, but it gains special urgency as we seek to deal with planetary urbanization and a dramatic expansion of the built environment. The continued relevance of designing to build is met with skepticism, seeking to foreground architecture in an expanded social and political field. Architecture models connections between policy, social identity, cultural relevance, and political conflict, responding to an increasingly uncertain environment in new and creative ways. In our teaching practice, we responded to these provocations with a year-long hybrid studio-seminar co-thought by an architect and an anthropologist with numerous collaborators, drawn from the worlds of grass roots organization and cultural practice. Our focus was on tapping into the ways in which groups and individuals were co-creating and building new cultures of solidarity in Central Queens (NYC) during a time of emergency. Introducing students to transdisciplinary methods of participant observation, engaged listening and archival research, we encouraged them to explore what it means to — think anthropologically and act architecturally. As a pedagogical exercise, we explored the cultures that emerging urban collectives were creating around food pantries and community gardens, around precarious labor, and playground politics, around street vending and immigrant empowerment, to name just a few space-based ideas that fed into their projects. The students authored their own briefs in solidarity with actors and networks on the ground whose needs they understood through an engaged research practice. Their work was not confined to the programming of spaces in response to needs but to identify the cracks in the regulatory frameworks and then to speculate on future architectural paradigms. While ethnographic research and community outreach has become a somewhat accepted part of the toolkit that architects and urban planners use- our cautious approach to community through a period of remote learning and an empathetic yearning for sociability brought a range of responses that questioned the pedagogy of design and the rituals of public life. With the Queens Museum as our partner, we were able to present the student work in the context of a cultural institution that was itself grappling with its new role in a year of uncertainty. The rethinking of institutional and disciplinary boundaries resulted in a exhibit titled “Building Culture: Architecture as Apparatus and Social Process”. We propose to present what we learned as co-teachers and practitioners of distinct disciplines through a presentation of the student work as well as our own ethical dilemmas as they surfaced in the project of co-teaching. Our intuition is that the labor of architecture can become pivotal to creating new and more inclusive pedagogical structures, as witnessed in the rise of counter-institutions like Dark Matter University and other similar collectives. We will present our year-long experience as an invitation to a dialogue with other pedagogical initiatives that are similarly seeking to expand the boundaries of architecture as a discipline and practice.
1:00pm-2:30pm EDT /
10:00am-11:30am PDT
Research Session
1.5 LU Credit
Cast & Place Pavilion: Transformation from Structure to Other Objects
Edward Segal, Hofstra University
Lisa K. Ramsburg, Princeton University
Powell Draper, The Cooper Union
Josh Draper, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Scot Thompson, Independent Artist
Bruce Lindsay, Integral Sculpture Works
Max Dowd, Independent Architectural Designer
Alexandra A. H. Cheng, Knippershelbig
Abstract
Cast & Place, the 2017 winner of the annual City of Dreams pavilion competition, was a pavilion whose design centered on material reuse. The pavilion consisted of a series of panels, each made from recycled aluminum cast into a unique pattern formed by clay that had dried and cracked. Since the pavilion was a temporary installation, only on view on Governors Island (New York, NY) from June to November 2017, it was critical that the design accounted for how the panels would be utilized after de-installation so that they would not simply become waste. This paper focuses on the transformation of the panels after the disassembly of the Cast & Place pavilion and how planning for these transformations influenced the pavilion’s design. Some of the panels remained intact and were exhibited as artwork while others were converted into stools, benches, and an arbor.
Living Systems Thinking and Making: 3D Printing with Mycelium and Upcycled Waste Materials
Frank Melendez, City College of New York
Nancy Veronica Diniz, Central Saint Martins & U. of the Arts London
Abstract
This research project looks towards new possibilities for designing and making architectural elements and systems with living organisms, upcycled waste, and 3D printing technologies. In line with the 2021 ACSA conference theme, EMPOWER, this research seeks the empowerment of architecture to address our current climate crisis by advancing processes of designing and making architecture with living systems. Through a collaboration with living organisms, advances in symbiotic relationship between humans and non-humans are formed, and new possibilities emerge for architectural design, fabrication, and speculation, that challenge traditional and conventional methods of design and making in a post-human world. The project seeks opportunities for a paradigm shift in architectural design, from ‘systems thinking’ to ‘living systems thinking’, offering new possibilities and raising questions regarding approaches to architectural design and fabrication. How can we (humans) empower non-human organisms to collaborate within a design and fabrication process? What are the opportunities for architectural design when we shift from ‘systems thinking’ to ‘living systems thinking’? How can we embed growing, living, ‘vibrant matter’ [1] in the process of making? How can we advance and improve upon the methods in which we collect and upcycle waste materials that are biodegradable to increase positive impacts on our environment? Can we rethink what we discard, to reduce the use of plastics and other environmentally harmful materials, and advance ecological practices in architecture? The project seeks to address these questions through applied research, and the development of techniques and workflows that demonstrate a method for advancing methods of making. This work and research encompasses a range of topics including computational design, living systems, waste, upcycling, circular economies, bio-design and bio-aesthetics.
Architectural Laboratory Practice for the Development of Clay and Ceramic-Based Photosynthetic Biocomposites
Assia Crawford, U. of Colorado Denver & Newcastle U.
Ben Bridgens, Pichaya In-na, Gary Caldwell & Rachel Armstrong, Newcastle University
TAD Research Contribution Award
Abstract
This study outlines the development of clay and ceramic-based living biocomposite materials under minimal moisture environments. The biocomposites supported live and metabolically active photosynthetic microorganisms (microalgae). The work sets out laboratory testing strategies to assess the limiting conditions for life within living materials to inform the conditions needed for sustained operation. Combinations of clay/ceramic-based substrate types, nutrient loadings, amounts of moisture exposures, and operation times were explored. As a result, microalgae (Chlorella vulgaris) colonized both clay and ceramic forms, showing operational longevity of 100 days, even with low nutrient exposure. Further iterations of these sustainable living materials may prove useful for local potential carbon dioxide removal to improve air quality and reduce the carbon footprint and operation costs of mechanically ventilated spaces.
1:00pm-2:30pm EDT /
10:00am-11:30am PDT
Research Session
1.5 LU Credit
Logistics Architecture as Urban and Social Infrastructure
Nicolas Fuertes, Catherine Brizo, Joel Cardenas & Shyane Sonneberg, City College of New York
Abstract
New York City (NYC) must innovatively respond to the socio-spatial challenges of accelerating e-commerce growth. The city’s constrained urban grid faces substantial truck freight induced traffic congestion and pollution—a dangerous set of externalities that undermine NYC’s quality of life and economic development potential. This paper posits that the establishment of a Harlem based multi-sided-platform (MSP) that supports public community alliances with the logistics sector can help NYC: (1) catalyze economic development, (2) foster sustainability, and (3) improve quality of life. Two underutilized segments of NYC’s infrastructure can be symbiotically leveraged to foster this alliance: the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). A licensing agreement between 3rd-party logistics (3PL) providers and the MTA can permit relatively unobtrusive nightly freight transport through the subway in exchange for right-of-use fees. Additionally, public-private partnerships between the logistics industry and NYCHA can enable the development of disaggregated and hyper-local community distribution hubs (HCDH) throughout its reportedly underutilized land. The newly formed network HCDHs can scale across NYCHA and link to accessible MTA subway lines to receive and consolidate small-package freight within close proximity of its destination. A private 3PL provider can operate these HCDHs and complete “The Last Mile” of delivery cheaply and ecologically by deploying e-bike and on-foot couriers. Furthermore, the proposed logistics network can serve as a vital piece of NYC urban infrastructure that doubles as a mechanism for community level socio-economic revitalization. In other words, not only can this proposed network help address NYC logistics and public health challenges but it can also provide significant local economic development opportunities on and around NYCHA sites in the form of: new revenue streams, improved public amenities, and employment. Financial support for such intervention can come from the public and private sector as governments pledge billions of dollars to decarbonize and as businesses work to minimize the high costs of Last Mile delivery.
Carnival Nonmovements: Repoliticization of Urban Space in Yazd, Iran
Vahid Vahdat Zad, Washington State University
Abstract
While public spaces within the historic urban fabric of Yazd, Iran, have for centuries functioned as a venue for the Muharram mourning rituals, modern urban spaces in the newer parts of the city have in the past few decades hosted an unprecedented form of collective gathering—one that unlike mourning ceremonies are festive, spontaneous, amorphous, and lack organization. These events, that for example include gatherings in celebration of sport achievements, can be categorized as what Asef Bayat refers to as nonmovements—a form of everyday resistance without recognizable leadership, organization, or ideology. Building upon an earlier quantitative study that I conducted on the participation of the resident of Yazd, Iran, in such gathering, I articulate the result of the survey and ethnographic findings to suggest that urban settings can become a site for the ordinary actors of nonmovement to find their collective agency and channel their shared grievances into an organized/politicized force for change. By deifying the sociopolitical order of the state, the urban subaltern creates a space in which 1) political sovereignty of the state seems revoked, 2) its moral authority is suspended, 3) and differences in class, gender, race are momentarily withdrawn. Such events thus qualify as a Bakhtinian Carnivals where the “official seriousness which is dogmatic and hostile to […] change” loses its symbolic authority. Looking back at the interviews with participants in carnival nonmovement occurring at the streets of Yazd, which I conducted more than a decade ago, I conclude by showing how the public quality of streets allows the civic society to reclaim its right to the city through incremental but pervasive acts of carnival resistance. This carnival experience eventually enables the urban grassroots to mobilize by linking their non-collective struggles to broader sociopolitical demands. The process in which carnival defiance from authoritative order allows nonmovements to build collective political capital can help understand political demonstrations such as the Green Movement of 2009, which was arguably the predecessor to the Arab Spring. It also repositions the political on the urban map by emphasizing the power of public space in building and maintaining a healthy civic society. A rereading of the “right to the city,” as articulated by Henri Lefebvre, brings urban spaces to the forefront of everyday struggles of the urban subaltern. Urban space is thus not an indifferent backdrop to socioeconomic resistance, but an actor with power and agency.
Lima 2100: Collective Resilience Through Adaptive Urbanism
Gabriel Kaprielian, Temple University
Abstract
“Lima 2100: Collective Resilience through Adaptive Urbanism” is a transdisciplinary project addressing issues of climate change, social equity, and urban health in Lima, Peru. The project was developed through international collaboration and partnership of the Zero1, the U.S. Embassy in Peru, the Contemporary Art Museum (MAC Lima), the University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC), and 21 participating artists, architects, and activists. Focusing on the challenge of urban development in Lima, the primary goal was to empower local residents with new skills and collaboratively develop a framework to understand and respond to their built environment past, present, and future. This was expressed through personal works of adaptive urbanism to create collective resilience, drawing inspiration from global movements such as Black Lives Matter to a history of Peruvian activism rooted in indigenous culture and female leadership. The project describes a method of utilizing art and technology as platforms for discourse to envision speculative futures of urban environments that are inclusive, healthy, and sustainable. Originally conceived of as a physical exchange in Lima, the project was restructured as a month-long virtual exchange due to the COVID pandemic, adapting technology to use open-source and web-based software that was accessible to a larger base of participants in Lima. The program included theoretical group discussions, an international symposium, and technology workshops in augmented and virtual reality to assist the participants with tools to create their own worlds. The multidisciplinary team leading the project included architects and artists from the U.S. and Peru who’s work focuses on inclusive and participatory design of public spaces developed collaboratively with local residents. A final body of work developed individually by each participant illustrates their visions of a resilient Lima in the year 2100 that was displayed in a virtual reality gallery for the MAC. This body of work includes themes of reclaiming historical narratives from colonial monuments, inclusivity of the Quechua indigenous population within the urban environment, climate fictions that draw awareness to the relationship between the city and surrounding ecosystem, and many more. The project serves as a model of international collaboration between government, non-profit, arts, and academia that seeks to amplify the voices of underserved and marginalized communities to envision adaptive urbanism that reflects a just environment.
1:00pm-2:30pm EDT /
10:00am-11:30am PDT
Research Session
1.5 LU Credit
CNC Milling as Foundation for Life
Keith Van de Riet, University of Kansas
Abstract
This paper examines the relationship between the evolution of ornament and the more recent application of digital technologies to extend functionality and aesthetics of surfaces within the built environment. Within this context, the paper presents case studies in design-build education and professional research applications to provide examples of the incorporation of these tools and concepts into design workflows. Architectural ornament has seen a resurgence with the application of digital design and fabrication tools. Concurrently, ornament has shifted from purely symbolic function to high performance facades that conserve energy, or, in some cases, generate their own. Coupled with this high-performance metric is a renewed interest in expressive textures and articulated facades made largely possible by digital manufacturing. The tools that support innovative designs have also found success in replicating and restoring historic structures, thus broadening their impact and relevance to the profession. Moreover, from an ecological perspective, digitally-derived ornamentation may have the potential to address the emerging crises of species extinction and habitat loss, particularly near urban areas where the cumulative surface area of buildings and hardened landscapes exceeds that of natural settings by several orders of magnitude. These architectural, urban and landscape surfaces represent an opportunity to facilitate life itself within the built environment, and in many ways, could be the designer’s greatest opportunity to include biodiversity as criteria for design of sustainable and resilient built environments. From the manufacturing side, digital tools leave a signature, or “maker’s mark,” that, if harnessed, can enhance textures with functionality at multiple scales. A working knowledge of CNC tools and toolpaths can provide standardized and custom textures that can be paired with natural habitats. This requires the designer to understand the tools and work closely with manufacturers toward these types of applications for digital design and fabrication. In many ways, this further justifies the incorporation of these tools into pedagogical models in architectural education to give students a working knowledge of how and when to introduce these powerful design tools.
PX-Alpha Operator: A Hardware Extension for Controlling KUKA Robots in Architectural Setups in Realtime
Ebrahim Poustinchi, Kent State University
Abstract
INTRODUCTION PX-Alpha Operator is a research investigation based on an internationally filed patent by the author(s), focused on human-robot interaction and robotic control/motion in the field of design and digital fabrication. Using hardware solutions, PX-Alpha Operator enables users—with limited or no programming background, to control, design and execute robotic motion-paths, without needing any additional software package or advanced coding knowledge. Operating as a hardware plug-in, PX-Alpha Operator—as a device, can be added to any KUKA robot with the 4th generation controller—KRC4, regardless of the robot’s type and payload. PX-Alpha Operator aims to make realtime robotic interaction more accessible to designers—especially in the field of architecture, by simplifying some of the advanced programming aspects of the process. METHODOLOGY: Invented at the [Hidden-for-peer-review] lab, and internationally secured under the patent cooperation treaty (PCT), PX-Alpha Operator as a project-based research is focused on three central themes: 1-Examining the potentials of hardware platforms, as possibly more intuitive interfaces for designers/users with limited technical/programming background, to enable users to use advanced machines—such as KUKA industrial robot arms, with less programming. 2-Proposing a cost-effective in-house solution for human-robot interaction in the field of design and with a focus on accessibility and usability. 3-Developing a hardware-bridge between the KUKA robotic operation system and easy-to-use creative/interactive programming platforms. In light of the mentioned themes, PX-Alpha Operator was developed and tested at the [Hidden-for-peer-review]. Architecture students—with limited or no programming background, have been asked to develop and control a robotic motion/task using PX-Alpha Operator and their software interface of choice. Throughout the testing process and as a method to evaluate the success of PX-Alpha Operator, participants with no programming and coding background have been selected to use PX-Alpha Operator in conjunction with a simple Grasshopper 3D code, as a way to design and execute their first robotic motion design for robotic videography of an architectural physical model. (discussed in more detail and with figures in the full paper). RESULTS: Tested as part of an ongoing installation series, PX-Alpha Operator demonstrated the capability of adopting different input systems. Ranging from custom-made multi-material fabrication processes, to interactive gesture-based installation, to safety-oriented stop/play operations, until now PX-Alpha Operator successfully employed various common inputs in the field of architecture, including but not limited to Kinect—depth-sensing camera, Arduino analog sensors, image-based inputs, and voice recognition triggers (discussed in more detail and with figures in the full-paper). Theses applications along with the comparison between the users with or without technical background, demonstrated that PX-Alpha Operator can make it possible for users with limited programming skills to create realtime robotic interactions easier. DISCUSSION: PX-Alpha Operator as part of a bigger body of design-research on HMI, is in its early stages of development. This research project seeks possible new methods to amplify the rising critical voice regarding the idea of democratization of design/fabrication tools and increasing their accessibility.
Using Language-Based and Generative Deep Learning Models for Encoding Design Intentions and Modifying Architectural Design
Shermeen Yousif, Florida Atlantic University
Abstract
Employing AI models in generative systems has shifted such protocols, moving beyond the deterministic rule-based parametric systems, offering new possibilities and defining new design systems. AI techniques, such as deep learning, are referred to as “Learning Systems” since they learn directly from data and provide “unexpected” answers. The design space has become more flexible and adaptive to change and to the insertion of new computational models. Yet, the fact that AI models are independently learning on their own, raises issues with designers’ control over the process. More recently, models that bridge natural language processing and computer-vision such as Contrastive Language-Image Pre-Training (CLIP) have been integrated into representation deep learning models such as StyleGAN, combining the generative and classification functionalities. This way, to some degree, a certain level of designer’s agency can be attained when encoding design intentions using text prompts to modify the generative process, which was the motivation of this work. We investigate here the issue of prototyping a new design system with employing language-based models and deep learning models in a new design system. Our methodology involves experimenting with the targeted deep learning models, prototyping a new framework with language-based models are integrated into a generative system, and testing the prototype by applying the proposed system to a design case. In the test-case application, first, 2200 images of floor plans of office buildings were curated. Next, a generative deep learning model was employed to generate new design options (through a StyleGAN training process). Third, a language model (CLIP) was coupled with the trained GAN model to modify the latent space in two experiments: (1) CLIP+StyleGAN, and (2) StyleGAN-NADA. The resulting generative model was modified using a set of text-prompts that describe the intended design alteration. Results of the test-case application show successful approaches to guiding the generative process, and offer insights into associated potentials and limitations, as discussed in the paper.
Design, Machine Learning and the City: Borrowing Memories to Understand Urban Space
Ersin Altin, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Abstract
My recent collaborative project [AI]stanbul: Schooling the Machine, specifically designed for the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial, aims to incorporate digital technologies to understand our connection, as humans, with “place” by utilizing interactive tools. [AI]stanbul has been designed as a curious machine that aims to become a “virtual native.” It acquires and appropriates place-based experiences through interactions with visitors/participants. The conversations take the form of both natural language and image-based interactions all of which are tied to an Istanbul map. On the one hand, [AI]stanbul is designed to become more intelligent as visitors share their memories, daily experiences, and practical information about the city; it then visualizes the urban experiences of its users absorbing their daily routines about transportation, design, places to eat and visit in Istanbul. On the other hand, the memories that [AI]stanbul “borrows” from its users and turn into data form the basis of the machine learning algorithm that can be used for understanding global cross-experiences and hybrid permutations in different cities. [AI]stanbul collected data throughout the Biennial. In this paper, I will (1) analyze and discuss the collected anonymous data, (2) investigate possible complex representations of the relationship between design and urban environment based on daily practices, (3) problematize the possible ethical discussions that would emerge in connection with digital technologies. In a broader sense, [AI]stanbul tackles the question “how can we teach our city to a ‘machine?’” In this individual paper, I will discuss what the “machine” learned and seek the ways what we can learn back from what “machine” learned from city dwellers and the way [AI]stanbul processed collected data as well as the ethical aspect of the process.
1:00pm-2:30pm EDT /
10:00am-11:30am PDT
Research Session
1.5 LU Credit
Post-Public: Contextualizing the Privatization of Public Space
Max Frank & Brian Holland, University of Arkansas
Abstract
This paper offers a novel conceptual framework to understand and evaluate privatization in the development and delivery of public spaces. Private influences are deployed to produce public spaces in many different ways, but current discourse tends to address this phenomenon through a somewhat narrow lens, typically limited to privately owned public space. This project complicates the existing narrative of privatization and public space, to counter an overly reductive and oft-perceived binary, between publicly owned and privately owned public spaces, that does not adequately represent the myriad ways privatization practices impact public space. Our analysis, developed through case study research, offers an intuitive conceptual model to explain and evaluate the impact of privatization on contemporary public space networks. It operates on two levels. First, a set of partnership models, distills the many public-private partnerships represented by a series of public space case studies into five core strategies. Second, a set of contextual variables, relates the methods of privatization to the social, spatial, political, economic, and material contexts they inhabit. As a resource for the design community, this model offers an atlas of existing strategies, platforms, and entry points to civic-minded designers and planners looking to participate in the ongoing transformation of the public realm.
Architectural Feud! The Link Between Adhocism, Collage City, and the Radical Picturesque
Jared Macken, Oklahoma State University
Abstract
This paper explores a disciplinary feud between theoretical figures of 20th century architectural discourse, and discovers an overlooked and forgotten architectural discourse on the city. The participants of the feud included Nathan Silver and Charles Jencks (authors of Adhocism) on one side of the fight, Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter (authors of Collage City) on the other, and Reyner Banham who entered the fray in the middle as a mediator. While the feud was quite stinging—it consisted of an accusation of plagiarism from Nathan Silver—it was completely forgotten. This was because the fight occurred in the letters to the editor section of Architectural Review in 1975, with each jab and blow delayed across three different editions. Yet it is worth looking at since it links these two unexpectedly comparable projects—namely Adhocism and Collage City—with a very unlikely yet similar third project brought into the discussion by Reyner Banham. This third project was Hubert de Cronin Hastings’s theory he described as a Radical Picturesque which he details as an architectural manifesto for designing and reconstructing the post war English city. Radical Picturesque was described in Hastings’s article “Townscape” and published in Architectural Review in 1949. The article’s namesake and surface-levels ideas lead to Gordon Cullen’s book The Concise Townscape (which was indeed inspired by Hastings’s original article), but it can be argued that the original text coupled with Banham’s link to Adhocism and Collage City, was not fully nor sufficiently realized in Cullen’s book or subsequent iterations of the Townscape movement. These three theories for the design of the city, when looked at together, has the potential to shed new light on 20th century architectural discourse on the city. This paper seeks to illuminate the original ideas that were a part of the Radical Picturesque in order to reinsert an architectural project on the city that was lost to dominant postwar architectural discourse.
Nutritious Landscapes: Building Healthy Food Environments in the Metropolitan Periphery of Mexico City
Aleksandra Krstikj & Greta Lukoseviciute, Tecnologico de Monterrey
Christina Boyes, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, A.C.
Abstract
Based on analysis of factors that determine accessibility, availability, and acceptability of food services, this work explores the food environment in Mexico City´s metropolitan periphery. The method aims to shed light at possible integrated approaches in planning that can promote food security for vulnerable communities. The conceptual re-design of five public areas was presented in an effort to open the discussion on main challenges and opportunities related to implementation of urban garden projects, focusing on four axes: water, biodiversity, mobility and public space. The re-design projects were done by students during the Capstone Projects II architectural studio workshop in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters, supported by the Municipal Deputy Director of Urban Planning and Regulation, the Chief of Risk Information Systems of the National Center for Disaster Prevention of Mexico, and a permaculture expert. The results of the study add to the existing literature on urban food systems and resilience and highlight the need for an integrated context-specific approach for adaptive urban planning that can support community health and sustainable development.
Pet Parcels
Nate Imai, Texas Tech University
Matthew Conway, U. of California, Los Angeles
Abstract
This study combines the concepts from Gordon Matta-Clark’s “Fake Estates” with Certain Measures’s cartographic RoweBot, to create a mapping tool for finding and representing open lots within cities’ existing urban fabric. Referencing a lineage of urban theory by architects that spans from Colin Rowe and John Hejduk’s 1957 “Lockhart, Texas” to Atelier Bow-Wow’s 2001 Pet Architecture Guide Book, Pet Parcels proposes a historically conscious computational model for increasing cities’ density. Results from an analysis of Lubbock, Texas will be shared to articulate the methodology behind this approach. With potential application by city planning agencies, community stakeholders, and architectural practitioners, this digital design method seeks to provide a tool for translating found urban conditions into parameters for generating novel design interventions.
30-minutes
3:00pm-4:30pm EDT /
12:00pm-1:30pm PDT
Research Session
1.5 HSW Credit
Introducing a New Stacked Mentorship Model for Equity in Architectural Education
Irene Hwang, University of Michigan
Stephanie Pilat, University of Oklahoma
David Rifkind, University of Florida
Mohammad Gharipour, Morgan State University
Carmina Sanchez-del-Valle, Hampton University
Consortium Members:
Carla Jackson Bell, Tuskegee University
Andrew Chin, Florida A&M University
Akima Brackeen, Illinois Institute of Technology
McLain Clutter, University of Michigan
Abstract
Mentorship is crucial to the diversification, growth, and agency of the discipline and profession of architecture. For the ACSA’s 110th Meeting (EMPOWER), these authors (Co-PIs and partners of the EAEC) will co-present the framework, development, and ongoing activities of the Equity in Architectural Education’s (EAEC) Stacked Mentorship Program (SMP). SMP, a principal initiative of our consortium, builds upon existing apprenticeship and mentorship models in architectural education and practice. Unique to the SMP is the creation of five mentorship “stacks,” horizontally across institutions, and vertically at all levels of advancement (high school, college, graduate, doctoral, through early and advanced professional practice) to consolidate a new, meta-mentorship community supporting students of color and other underrepresented minorities in architecture. In architecture, our current means to success and meanings of accomplishment are determined by centuries of inherited educational and professional models built upon a white-male-dominant worldview. When of all registered architects who have completed the path to licensure (NCARB certificate holders), more than three-quarters are male (78%), 22% female;[1] 91% white and 2% Black (with a mere 0.4%, or 532 total individuals[2], are Black women (NCARB 2019, 2021)), the path of architecture is far more difficult for students and professionals from non-traditional backgrounds who lack access to shared-identity role models and mentors, or find it difficult to enter a field that is less familiar, much smaller, and less visible when compared to other learned professions like medicine, law, or engineering. The persistence of architecture as a rarefied good and service continues to limit how much—and how often—society can benefit from architectural expertise and knowledge, as well as determines who participates in the discipline and joins the profession. Enduring clichés (architecture is a field of creative geniuses; it’s only for the rich) serve as dampening narratives, reinforcing long-standing and enduring inequity and exclusionary structures across the discipline and profession. These are huge challenges for our field to overcome, especially in pursuit of institutionalizing equity at scale. The EAEC, which consists of our college (a PWI) and programs and schools of architecture at seven Minority Serving Institutions and one college with a representative minority student body (MSIs, HSIs, HBCUs), and its Stacked Mentorship program are working to close that gap. SMP builds confidence in those students who are interested in architecture, by plugging them into a community of mentors at all stages of their architectural development. It builds long-term relationships that extend beyond individuals institutions, and also works to combat academic and professional attrition, which continues to remain highest among women and non-whites. SMP helps to make the possibility of an architecture career visible and viable to many more students and professionals who might never have considered it before. As we advance the project, the feedback that we hope to receive from our colleagues at the EMPOWER conference will be invaluable.
Advancing Racial Justice Research In Architecture, Urban Planning, and Allied Fields
Sarah Williams, Catherine D’Ignazio, Eric Huntley, Malhaar Agrawal & Delia Wendel, Anne Sprin, Danya Cunningham, Devin Bunten, Sarah Rege, Connie Chao & Mariana Arcaya, MIT
Holly Harriel, Civic Salon
Vedette Gavin, Verge Impact Partners
Abstract
The field of architecture, urban studies and planning and allied fields is rife with extractive, colonial, racist, and otherwise harmful research activities that are complicit in, or actively support, White supremacy. Identifying a positive vision of research that supports racially just outcomes, and differentiating it from efforts that simply study racialized difference, is an important early step for institutions seeking to better support research that may be described as antiracist, abolitionist, emancipatory, or decolonial, among other descriptors. Our research team conducted a mixed-methods study to identify: 1) characteristics and practices common across scholarly research that aims to advance racial justice, 2) institutional barriers to research that supports racially just outcomes, and 3) best practices to enable and support research practices and projects that advance racial justice. We conducted a scan of the field that drew upon: a literature search for descriptions of “antiracist,” “decolonial,” “racially just,” “emancipatory,” or “abolitionist” research, as well as research focused on “White supremacy,” and efforts towards “indigenizing research,” in Architecture, urban studies, and planning and allied fields; mission and vision statements from long-standing and credible institutional leaders in antiracist and racially just research efforts; and antiracist or decolonial projects identified as models by these institutions, institutional leaders, or other faculty experts. From this field scan, we extracted common themes that appeared across definitions, examples, and discussions of research that advances racial justice. Experts identified from this field scan were then asked to 1) explain their methods and motivations for their anit-racist research endeavors, 2) check our understanding of practices that are common across antiracist and decolonial research projects, and 3) uncover how institutions do and could better support this type of research. Based on our field scan, survey results, and interviews, we identified eight themes that appeared across many of the definitions and examples that we reviewed. While a significant part of our research contributes to understanding how field leaders understand key qualities of research to advance racial justice, this article will also explore the dilemmas, challenges, and opportunities that experts and non-experts have encountered. We present vignettes from the research of key informants to learn from missteps, missed opportunities, and ongoing problems in recognition of the importance of understanding racially just research as a process that requires robust peer learning. We also discuss how those individuals and teams navigated issues of: documentation vs action; positionality; tenure and promotion; exploitation, trust, and collaboration with communities; working within the administrative and financial structures of large institutions whose main partners are federal government funders and private corporations; and addressing harms produced in the research process. Results from the departmental survey also highlight challenges which include; lack confidence in their ability to execute racially just research projects. These challenges include: uncertainty about how research on racial injustice differs from research that advances racial justice; concerns and questions about positionality; lack of training, and time constraints, among others. We close by identifying forms of institutional support, methodologies, and approaches to critical reflection that aid this research in practice.
3:00pm-4:30pm EDT /
12:00pm-1:30pm PDT
Research Session
1.5 LU Credit
Super Resilient: Finding Solid Grounds for Hlauleka School in Mozambique
Maged Guerguis, Kristin Pitts U. of Tennessee-Knoxville
Diversity Achievement Award
Abstract
Each year schools damaged by natural disasters often leave hundreds of thousands of students with no access to education. In Mozambique, natural disasters coupled with poverty are not merely a temporal transition or a reversible state. Rather, they have detrimental long-term effects and often result in indefinite school shutdowns. In 2008, Sybil Baloyi, a native of South Africa, founded a school named “Hlauleka” in Chokwe, Mozambique. Her goal was to serve small children orphaned or made vulnerable by war, famine, or natural disasters by providing them with permanent shelter and education. In 2019 the Hlauleka school was hit by cyclone Ida causing flood damage to the school buildings. The Super Resilient design research was developed in response to demands of school buildings in regions susceptible to natural disasters. The project provides resilient, affordable, and environmentally sustainable solutions for a new master plan and flood mitigation strategies for Hlauleka.
The research provided an opportunity for Students from the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS) east Tennessee chapter, to contribute to the development of the project. It also created new research opportunities for underrepresented and minority students, giving them a sense of identity as they take part in a project with a pressing concern. These preliminary results established the foundation for a graduate advanced research design studio. During the pandemic, the students worked closely with an international team to develop a new master plan for the school. Applying community feedback from the locals in Chokwe paired with innovative research, they were able to implement feasible flood mitigation strategies in the buildings prototypes. This project can be considered as the first step toward a novel, fully integrated approach to construction driven by the material economy of flood-resistant school buildings in regions susceptible to natural disasters.
An Atlas of Ephemeral Geographies: Identity in the Alaskan Arctic
Amanda Aman, University of Texas at Arlington
Abstract
In both practice and academic pedagogy, the initial pro forma analysis of site performed in order to lay the groundwork for design has left the profession with an incredibly shallow and even inimical understanding of place. Physical geographies alongside the extension of human construct (buildings, street grids, nodes, axes, etc.) have become the framework for the reading of identity within place; identity, however, is driven by an array of agents traditional cartography often neglects. These agents are especially evidenced in geopolitically fragile environments within the arctic where an intimacy with place is rooted in diurnal and seasonal patterns and migrations, fleeting phenomena stemming from climatic arcs, ecological frameworks and sequencing, and histories and cultures tied directly to spatial landscapes. Without factoring these agents into analysis, these very places are left to be perceived against a fictional background that promotes singular architectural strategies and policy decisions devoid of equitable impacts. A reformed mapping methodology is necessary to shift the trajectory away from traditional site analysis so that in the temporary suspension of physical geographies, ephemeral geographies – the collection of agents, systems, ecologies, economies, and histories that are perpetually in flux – become the primary lens by which place is viewed and understood. To map the identity of a place is to reimagine geography, to investigate ephemeral operations, relationships and synchronicities, to juxtapose the historical and the contemporary, the political and the poetic, the discursive and the sensual,[1] and to liberate phenomena from the encasements of convention.[2] Indigenous human ecologies are incredibly dependent upon and defined by this identity where the effects of climate change and petrochemical development are altering ephemeral geographies, further emphasizing the importance of mapping identity. This methodology then becomes a graphic storytelling platform for place that advocates for informed, equitable and impactful built environment, regional planning and policy decisions. The project employs this mapping methodology by investigating identity in the Alaskan Arctic, resulting in a chronicled atlas of maps, spatial data, and imaginative projection. Based in field work in the Arctic Circle in 2019 and Alaska in 2018, the project moves beyond the design disciplines to more actively engage cultural geography, ecology, and philosophy as frameworks by utilizing geospatial data, spatiotemporal thinking, human subjectivity and creative agency informed by science. Novel approaches to mapping were researched through project and literature reviews, data collection, and engagement with Arctic NGOs, governmental agencies, and arctic researchers and photographers. While identity in the Alaskan Arctic has been predicated on an intimate history of systems for generations, new pressures of additional petrochemical development, climatic instability, coastal erosion, water scarcity, and food insecurity further threaten the way of life for indigenous people groups. The vulnerability of these communities places them at a disadvantage for having a real voice; therefore, this mapping methodology turned storytelling platform challenges the academy and the profession to shift the analysis of place toward one that prioritizes ephemeral geographies in service of stimulating actionable response and a platform for community self-advocacy.
Wild Life: Institute for Hybrid Ecology
Daniel Jacobs, University of Houston
Abstract
Typical definitions of the term “wild” are often negative in structure: wild animals are undomesticated or untamed, plants are uncultivated, spaces and landscapes are uninhabited, and people are ungoverned. Embedded in the very structure of language, the wild or the “natural” order of the world is set in opposition to human habitation. Nature is wild, while human nature is cultured, civilized, ordered, controlled. This binary view of human versus nature is overly reductive and destructive because it positions humans outside of, and detached from, nature [1]. This detachment allows humans to argue that the appropriation, extraction, and exploitation of natural resources and people is reasonable and inevitable, justifying actions that lead to ecosystem collapse and environmental injustice [2]. Reprogramming this binary is a critical step towards a future where human interaction with the environment moves towards what Timothy Morton terms “symbiotic real” [3]. Culturally, however, this human/nature counterposition also structures potentially useful conditions for becoming wild. Humans become wild when they reject cultural norms, participate in acts of revelry and pleasure, pursue states of bewilderment and awe, of idleness and idyll, of transience and vagrancy, of resistance and rebelliousness. At times these alternative ways of life can open society up to new modes of interaction with material, ecology, and culture, or create blockages in the normal operations of culture and capital. Such dispositions can serve to usher in more sustainable and hybrid forms of existence or cause reactionary acceleration of exploitation of nature. Architecture and urbanism serve as a powerful frame to mediate our relationship to this artificially constructed idea of “nature.” Operating at the psychological and material thresholds that structure these social and ecological relationships, architecture creates boundaries or encourages interaction between interior worlds and exterior habitats while helping to determine our domestic, familial, and collective proclivities. Architectural material systems, technologies, and spatial praxis can also alienate and isolate us from the physical space of “nature” and the psychological state of being wild: not only keeping us apart, but domesticating and cleansing the landscape of any indication of wildness. Complex socio-technical practices have succeeded in isolating the architectural interior from exterior: rejecting the incursion of other organisms and ideologies into the human domain [4]. So, how wild are we willing to become? As a reaction to this dominant state of being, WILD LIFE is a provocation to experiment with new modes of living in and observing a rewilding world. The design studio questioned the theory and practice of how we, as humans, structure our relationship to “nature,” property, material, and ecosystems. Students worked in groups to propose residency and research spaces for the ecological humanities: an institutional prototype for new interfaces with environments, systems, and wild spaces. How do we situate ourselves—as designers, as people—within these ecological and material processes? How do we foster new sensibilities, symbioses, and ethics of care for each other and the environment? Collectively, the studio reflected on possibilities for hybrid alliances between organisms, structures, and ecosystems towards a more wild life.
Design for Change: Digital Tools and Games for a Sustainable Future
Gabriel Kaprielian, Renee Jackson, Temple University
Abstract
The Fourth U.S. National Climate Assessment described pressing issues facing cities and people related to climate change, threatening human health, ecological systems, infrastructure, agriculture, and increased storm events (Hayhoe, 2018). However, the report concludes by stating that while many impacts of climate change are unavoidable, much is still largely determined by our collective actions. Design for Change: Digital Tools and Games for a Sustainable Future is an transdisciplinary collaborative research project between a Professor of Architecture and Professor of Art Education & Community Arts Practices. It seeks to reframe problems related to environmental health as an opportunity for design innovation and community engagement, with the goal of building knowledge, generating collective optimism, and developing actionable solutions. Given the urgency of action needed to tackle issues of socio-ecological sustainability, Dr. Madeleine Sclater argues that new, creative, collaborative approaches to educational practices and methods, mediated by technology, are necessary to deeply engage people and develop their consciousness of sustainability issues (Sclater, 2018). This project draws inspiration from the playful work of designers in the 1950’s and 60’s exhibited in “Serious Play: Design in Midcentury America” co-organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Denver Art Museum, as well as, games of the built environment that have shaped the minds of both designers and non-designers alike, such as Froebel’s blocks, SimCity, and Settlers of Catan (Obniski, 2018). The research question asks how can a pedagogy that uses design and playing of games help students better understand urban complexities and propose solutions related to the effects of climate change on the built environment? The collaborative research directly addresses the need for new approaches to educational practices and methods through the development of digital tools and game design based interactive learning, that will engage a broad public for purposes of education and creative communication. This project involves the design of climate change games by students of various education levels to explore what they learned from the process of design, development, and play. It includes game design working with a group of middle school students collaborating with a professional video game company to create a game related to socio-ecological sustainability within their communities, in addition to the design and fabrication of sea level rise board games by students in an interdisciplinary university program. In both projects, students came away from the experience feeling more empowered to transform problems into designs for collective action. The conclusion reflects on lessons learned for applying game design in architectural pedagogy, strategies for successful implementation, and potential for further development.
3:00pm-4:30pm EDT /
12:00pm-1:30pm PDT
Research Session
1.5 HSW Credit
The New Tent: Architecture as Social Infrastructure
Livia Catao Cartaxo Loureiro, Alejandro Borges-Gonzalez, Davi De Lima Vaz Xavier & Andrea Batarse, Texas A&M University
Abstract
Architecture is mostly seen as a privilege for the wealthy. For refugees, migrants, and displaced populations, architecture becomes seemingly unachievable and the spaces where people live are subjected to the randomness of necessity. This spatial randomness increases childhood risk factors related to health, sanitation, violence, education, and abuse. With the aim of using architecture as social infrastructure, COLAB Manifesto has developed a flexible model, The New Tent, addressing the need for designed, culturally appropriate, and dignified shelter for displaced and marginalized populations. Our spatial reconfiguration tackles child protection at the forefront by redefining the spaces in which children play and live, as well as providing market opportunities for families to thrive. The New Tent project uses design to address child protection, doubling down as a conflict mitigation strategy and emergency humanitarian response. At the core of the solution, we aim to provide more than just scattered units, but rather invest in the multiplicity that different spatial orientations for housing can offer. Instead of having individual units make up a camp, we have developed a method to connect units to increase community and child protection, designing a courtyard to address the needs of the people living in the New Tents. Architecturally, the courtyard redefines the hierarchy of spaces within the housing units to address the social needs of the occupants. The program focuses on the collective rather than the individual, reinventing the scale of the refugee camp by creating spaces for individuals, families, and communities to thrive simultaneously. By designating areas for private or collective space, families can explore mixed-use programming in their New Tent community. Furthermore, the project tackles on space, taking into account budget and local building capacities. The pilot model took place as an emergency response to the refugee humanitarian crisis in Reynosa, Mexico. Our goal with the project is to amplify its range and address similar communities around Latin America, doubling down as a conflict mitigation strategy and emergency humanitarian response through the dissemination of architecture. Through a participatory design process, COLAB Manifesto studied the effects of CVA (Cash and Voucher Assistance) for Protection funneled through temporary housing that can later convert into market spaces. Piloting this program in Reynosa was extremely critical. Currently, according to the Border Report, the city hosts nearly 5000 refugees from central America experiencing trauma and distress, and requiring humanitarian assistance, especially shelter. The New Tent project studies how communities respond to community-driven shelter design post-construction, collecting data on whether this innovative, community shelter strategy effectively works as a conflict mitigation strategy.
Informal Housing Practices in Small Towns in the American South
Silvina Lopez Barrera, Mississippi State University
Abstract
In general, research on informal housing has focused on practices in the Global South but there is evidence of growing housing informality in the United States. Definitions of what constitutes informal housing are varied and they depend on the context at both the local and global scales. Recent literature highlights the ubiquity of informality and its multiple variations and nuances.[i] Some of the characteristics of informal housing in the U.S include informal subdivision of land, housing non-compliant of building codes, and hybridized forms of formal-informal land tenure.[ii] Although, the study of informal housing in the U.S has focused on the Southern border Informal Homestead Subdivisions (IFHS) or Colonias [iii] and the West Coast including Additional Dwelling Units (ADUs), garage conversions, back-house units, and backyard units [iv], there are different informal housing practices across the country that have not been studied. This paper aims to address this gap by exploring case studies of informal housing in the Mississippi Delta and challenging broadly used assumptions that informal housing practices are exclusive issues of: 1) the Global South; and 2) metropolitan areas. Although the population is shrinking in the Mississippi Delta, there is a shortage of adequate affordable housing for low-income population and low-income residents face financial burden from housing cost. As a result of socio-economic inequalities, barriers to access to affordable housing, and lack of reinforcement of building code and zoning regulations, informal housing practices using manufactured mobile homes, accessory dwelling units in the form of “sheds” spaces, and incremental self-help housing depict affordable housing solutions in the Mississippi Delta. Using participant observation and architectural documentation, this study of informal dwellings structures in the Mississippi Delta unveils the complexities and multidimensional aspects of housing informality present in many American cities and rural towns. Additionally, it explores how informal structures are utilized to accommodate dwelling spaces and small business enterprises. This paper advocates for a progressive understanding of informal housing practices and encourages state and local governments, housing agencies and organizations, and developers to acknowledge the existence of these practices. This recognition could enable policies to adapt and incorporate existing informality to improve the safety, health and wellness of communities in distress and to empower residents. Finally, drawing on international experiences of architectural interventions on informal housing contexts such as neighborhood upgrading, incremental housing, and subsidized self-building housing, this paper aims to contributes to the current global debate on informal housing.
Politics of the American Domestic Interior
Karen Kubey, Pratt Institute School of Architecture
Abstract
What are the politics of the American domestic interior? How might designers contribute to more equitable futures through interior residential design? Examining issues of race, gender, culture, health, economics, and climate in the domestic realm — drawing from multidisciplinary sources including from design theory, oral history, and public health research — this paper emerges from a course that was the first in the department to count for credit in the institution’s social justice minor. The research brings in expanded voices to examine how the design of domestic spaces communicates cultural, social, and economic values in the United States. Incorporating into design education the perspectives of housing advocates and residents reveals the political and personal impacts of domestic architecture, particularly where design intersects with culture and the law. In New York, for instance, a survey of 446 homes registered as single-family in two Queens neighborhoods with high immigrant populations showed that 80% had signs of basement use, which is typically illegal and often unsafe. An advocacy group estimated that 35% of those could be legalized through design interventions to make them safer. “We have advocates, we have legal experts but we don’t have enough of the design community involved in the process” (Agnani, 2010). Against the contemporary fetishization of tiny homes and micro-units, oral history- and place-based research with residents of New York’s Chinatown shows different lived experiences in small residences. “We had very little space. We had a large bedroom, a small common room, a narrow kitchen, and a bathroom that was almost part of the kitchen” (Chou, 2011). Historical resources show the centrality of housing and interior housing design in larger social movements. As W.E.B. DuBois wrote in “The Problem of Housing the Negro,” “Of itself, truly, the question of physical homes for nine million of our fellows is of no little moment, but it is of greatest interest when we know how closely it is connected with other and pressing questions of health, education and morals,” focusing on racial justice issues associated with the interior (DuBois, 1901). Forty years later “houser” Elisabeth Coit demonstrated the importance of careful resident engagement, using extensive low-income tenant interviews to develop design guidelines accommodating their real need, rather their imagined ones. Where some housing “experts” were frustrated — “they use their kitchen for things they ought to use their living room for” — Coit considered supporting tenants’ domestic activities to be her design assignment, creating resident-centered schematics that are still provocative today (Coit, 1942). Adding to these examples, the paper will examine feminist, climate justice, and other diverse perspectives on the spaces where we spend most of our lives and where politics play out every day. Armed with research into the political dimensions of our most intimate environments, design students emerge better prepared to contribute to social equity through domestic interior work, perhaps what they are most likely to encounter early in their career.
3:00pm-4:30pm EDT /
12:00pm-1:30pm PDT
Research Session
1.5 LU Credit
GPT-OA: Generative Pretrained Treatise – On Architecture
Emily Pellicano & Carlo Sturken, Southern California Institute of Architecture
Abstract
Technological advancements throughout the industrial era have created more efficient, more economical, and safer machines to aid – and often replace – human operations. Each industrial advancement radically changes social, political, economical, environmental, and even linguistic conditions. Each technological turn has transformed communication between physical and intellectual entities shared by humans. Recent advancements in technological language have made artificially intelligent machines, specifically Generative Pretrained Transformers (GPT), a potential active participant in a creative discourse. What does it mean to transfer creative responsibility to artificial intelligence? Is GPT the death of the author or the invention of a new author? Our particular interest in GPT, and the core of this project, explores language in machine learning and the role of the author within the creative endeavor of architectural discourse. GPTs are artificially intelligent text generating machines that possess the capacity to influence language patterns, create new hybrid languages, and as a result influence human creativity and hermeneutics. OpenAI GPT-2 is pre-trained from internet sites curated by humans, such as Reddit. However, we additionally “fine -tuned” a model with select excerpts from notable manuscripts to focus the discourse on architecture. The implicit bias and potentially dangerous nature of the base model was closely scrutinized against the unpredictable and exciting nature of the generated output. The theoretical treatise, De Architectura by Vitruvius, stated that architecture requires the “interaction of practice and reason…a larger body of knowledge inevitably linked to the social, political, economic, and environmental context of its making.” Our project updates the architectural treatise by operating as a collaboration between human and machine, similar to literary works such as Pharmako-AI and 1 the Road which employ GPT models to generate contemplative and reflexive texts. The examples included demonstrate how the tool surpasses mere utility and enters into an act of creativity, engaging in an intersubjective discourse between human, technology, and language. Creativity is no longer an act of anthropocentric genius originating in the privacy of the human brain. Natural language models rely on a collective language, yet blur the line between subject and object, the one and the many, consciousness and unconsciousness. The role of author shuffles with that of editor. How will the role of architect, creative genius, also change? Questioning Benjaminian author and aura, our artificial intelligent treatise explores the space between the language of architectural discourse in the age of machine learning and the sanctity of the cannon. Using artificially intelligent software, we have produced an “architectural treatise” trained on theoretical discourse from Alberti to Zumthor. The machine, in a freestyle associative discourse with the authors, hallucinates on the syntax of these iconic thinkers in an unprecedented stream of pseudo-consciousness where the possibilities of a future inter-subjective author/architect is contemplated.
Empowering through Extended Reality
Ming-Chun Lee, U. of North Carolina at Charlotte
Abstract
It is argued that the practice of community design not only requires individual participation in the profession, but also requires active civic engagement. Samuel Mockbee once stressed the importance of a deeper democratic purpose of inclusion in energizing one’s community. Many methods for public participation have been introduced in urban design and its allied fields such as architecture and landscape design. This type of community-based practice has its root in the field of participatory planning and design, which is a response to the demand to have voices heard and ideas taken from those who are involved in the process. It sees community members as citizen designers who play an active role in shaping the formulation of both the design process and its ultimate results. One of many issues facing this type of participatory approach has to do with the challenge of making the process comprehensible, relevant, and interesting to the potential participants in order for them to willingly participate in the process. Extended Reality (XR) apps on personal mobile devices, such as smart phones or tablets, may offer some solutions. Immersive visualization technologies, such as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, are powerful tools to facilitate participatory processes in community design. As a visualization apparatus, XR goes beyond the dichotomy of passive methods of engagement and their one-way communication with the public. XR offers an interactive method to expand both non-computerized and computerized visualization techniques in community design. Moreover, XR promotes civic engagement by providing comprehensible information to citizens and assisting them to express their preferences in an intuitive way. This paper discusses the “Transforming City of Charlotte with Immersive Visual Data” project, funded by Knight Foundation’s Smart Cities initiative to foster public participation through XR. An XR platform is being developed to assist in two critical planning and design activities: 1) using 3D visual data and immersive visual effects to reveal and communicate planning intentions and development goals, 2) engaging community members in meaningful decision-making roles. The proposed platform, which can be used in desktop computers, handheld devices, and head-mounted displays, will leverage XR technologies, geospatial data analytics, and scenario-based methods to create a new user interface to support these two critical community outreach activities for the on-going Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan. Community members who are concerned with the future of Charlotte will soon be able to use the XR platform to learn about how the resulting Comprehensive Plan may (re)shape the physical fabric of their communities, see the future urban form via this immersive experience offered by the platform, and in turn share their ideas with the planning staff in the City. It is anticipated that the eventual adoption of the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan by the City Council in late 2021 will only signal a new beginning of yet another round of community outreach efforts. This XR platform will continue to function in the next round of planning activities as a tool to assist in visualizing, collecting, and analyzing data at the neighborhood scale.
Measuring the Integrated Development Degree of Urban Waterside: A Quantitative Index Based on Multi-sourced Urban Data and Geodesign
Dan Qiang, Yu Ye & Lingzhu Zhang, Tongji University
Abstract
Accompanying with Chinese urbanization enters its latter part, the rising call of quality-oriented development requires further exploration on the integrated development of two sides of urban waterside in many cities(Gospodini, 2001). Nevertheless, most existed studies either focus on the overall evaluation of urban transportation, industrial development, and urban ecology from the macro perspectives or discuss specific spatial and economic problems in waterside areas(Li, 1993; Zhang, Feng and Peng, 2002; Shu, 2014). There is a clear gap for measuring the integrated development degree of the urban waterside. This intangible issue was difficult to measure due to data availability and limited analytical techniques. Nevertheless, new research potentials are raising with the emerging of multi-sourced urban data and geodesign techniques(Batty, 2013; Townsend, 2015). A comprehensive index reflecting the integrated development degree of urban waterside can now be built up from both morphological, social and economic perspectives. Four representative waterfront cities in China, i.e., Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Ningbo, have been applied as cases(Fig1). Specifically, the impact area of the waterside was initially computed as the foundation for further analyses. With the help of AutoNavi Map API and Python script, the impact area of the waterside was identified as the areas that can be reached by public transit within 15 and 30 minutes from each city’s waterfront(Fig2). After that, a set of morphological issues had been involved with the help of geodesign analytical techniques, including the morphological feature of the impact area, development intensity (FAR, GSI), and street network density and street configuration(Ye and Van Nes, 2014) (Fig3). Meanwhile, socioeconomic indicators include the number of Points-of-Interest(Cervero, 1989) (Fig4), activity density based on Location-based Service data(Fig5), etc., which were involved together. At last, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was employed to calculate impacts of the above indicators and then a quantitative index was proposed based on multi-sourced urban data and geodesign. It is interesting to find that urban history and development policy play key roles in this index, while urban capacity might not have a high performance. Shanghai obtaining the highest urban capacity but its integrated development degree is ranked as third, after Ningbo and Guangzhou. This insight matches with common knowledge collected via expert interviews among local urbanists. In short, this research not only contributes a more comprehensive approach of quantitatively measuring an intangible issue affecting the quality of life but also develops a data-informed analytical approach addressing complex urban issues efficiently. Considering the availability of indicators applied in our study, this index can be easily extended into a series of cities and provide a big picture supporting the generation of new insights. In-depth understandings between urban policy and integrated development across the river also help to support precise urban planning and urban design practices along the waterside area.
3:00pm-4:30pm EDT /
12:00pm-1:30pm PDT
Research Session
1.5 LU Credit
Mixing Metabolisms: New People in Aging Sprawl
Lawrence Davis, Syracuse University
Abstract
The historically white postwar suburbs of the United States are now the first destination for new residents from abroad. Because they are relatively safe, affordable, and, as they became ethnic enclaves, culturally familiar, these peripheral communities, have gradually replaced the center city as the desired landing place for new arrivals. Using scholarly and popular literature with field observation, this paper examines aging postwar suburbs in California and Arizona to illustrate the largely positive effects of such immigration. What is kept and what changes is the grist for speculation on the future form of these communities. For instance, the effects of automobile culture and space on daily routines is often dramatic. Diversely, the new residents are increasingly adapting existing environments to fit their needs, from repurposing malls to modifying zoning regulations to optimize domestic density and functional diversity. Examples of this include new homes on teardown properties in the Bay Area; transformed tract homes and an aging mall in Orange County; hyper-local zoning in Riverside; alternative front yard functions in Maryvale, and mixed-use re-zoning in San Ysidro. These not only accommodate new symbolic expectations but are starting to trigger a more profound morphological change in building form and space that are the result of different attitudes towards community, publicness, and cultural value. Such cultural shifts are opportunities to imagine a socially healthy, though repurposed, and spatially altered, future for all aging urban peripheries. This happens in two ways: first, by noting that recent transformation, occurring in exurban sprawl, has happened in built environments throughout history; second, that this renewal, with its increase in density of social interaction, can make the largely private built environments of Anglo-American suburbs more “urban” and in turn help to develop a more precise and sophisticated definition of this term.
Urban Iconoclasm: The Legacy of Toppled Statues
Taraneh Meshkani, Kent State University
Abstract
This paper examines the spatial iconoclasm of public spaces, specifically the acts of toppling and vandalizing statues and monuments, as one of the most commonly used strategies during conflicts. By analyzing a series of case studies, including the Black Lives Matter movement, a comparative method is adopted to study the spatial and political implications of urban iconoclasm and how the transformation of the everyday landscape of memorialization can change historical narratives to create new values and meanings.
The Social Sphere: Construction and Consequences of the Gendered Space of the Jewish Eruv
Piper Bernbaum, Carleton University
Abstract
This paper examines the physical and symbolic space of the contemporary Jewish Eruv (translated: “mixing/mingling”) as a progressive gendered space and infrastructure of care. The Eruv is a defined physical area symbolically extending the private realm of the ‘home’ beyond its walls into the community. Acknowledged as a legal-fiction[1], the Eruv provides leniencies to Orthodox Jewish communities, allowing the performance of daily activities otherwise forbidden on the Sabbath. However, the consequences are much greater; citizens are able to participate in their communities and cities while maintaining identity and traditions. Jewish communities build these boundaries themselves, establishing them through proposals, negotiations and a lease signed with the city; a space designed by people, not architects. Made of commonplace materials, the Eruv blends into its surroundings, encompassing portions, or even entire cities, yet remaining virtually invisible to those unaware of its sacredness [2]. Although established as a religious practice, the Eruv is urban in every way. The consequence is an open, permeable boundary that establishes community, maintains tradition, and yet allows interaction with new environments and other cultures. The Eruv loophole is a community support/catalyst, and unknown to most, the group who benefits most from its existence are women. Although the Eruv can be used by anyone, its sanctity has the greatest impact on women and mothers who care for children and the elderly, who would otherwise be isolated from the social life of the sabbath. Reflecting on the practice, this paper relates to the writings of Setha Low (Spatializing Culture) [3] and Leslie Kern (Feminist City) [4]. Through this theoretical underpinning, related to observational fieldwork analyses and a historical survey of the Eruv, the paper will discuss an urban infrastructure as a ritual space, as a social space (legally, religiously, and culturally), and as a gendered space in cities. The paper will also use case studies in Israel and North America to speak about the Eruv’s intricacies. The work explores the idea that the Eruv can be feminist architecture. The Eruv has been studied within the contexts of theology, but its spatial implications are largely undocumented. This paper, The Social Sphere, focuses on the Eruv as an architectural construct, elaborating on the authors M.Arch dissertation, __________, in addition to recent research carried out as a part of the authors’ ___________ grant. The Eruv allows for gathering, for its users to share a meal, stroll outside, and be social in ways that would otherwise be impossible. The paper presents “Eruv urbanism” as an infrastructure of care; the creation of a safe social space that includes everyone, even if it is not used by everyone, and offers lessons for plurality in cities.
José Ibarra, University of Virginia
New Faculty Teaching Award
Abstract
BIO
José Ibarra is an architectural designer, researcher, and educator whose interdisciplinary work focuses on the intersection between architecture and environmental uncertainty. He is assistant professor of architecture at the University of Virginia School of Architecture and director of research of CODA. Ibarra received a B.Arch from Cornell University and a Post-Professional M.Arch from Princeton University, where he also earned a Certificate in Media and Modernity. While at Princeton University, he was awarded the 2019 Robert Geddes Post-Professional Award, the 2018 Howard Crosby Butler Fellowship, the Princeton University Fellowship, among other recognitions. Prior to joining the University of Virginia, Ibarra was the 2019-2020 Urban Edge Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he investigated design tactics for environmental remediation and justice that could work across different temporal scales, including deep time. Ibarra has also taught at Cornell University and Princeton University, and has practiced architecture at Barkow Leibinger, CODA, fxCollaborative, Studio Eber, and other firms.
Along with design investigations of architectural and urban scales, Ibarra’s work also comprises curation and editing, most recently having curated the show Beyond Repair: Architecture After Urban Crisis in Charlottesville and the exhibition TOO FAST TOO SLOW: 11 Architectural Moves in New York, and edited the Architecture Reading Group series, Pidgin Magazine, The Cornell Journal of Architecture, and ASSOCIATION. He has published graphic and written work in these and other journals, including Log, and has exhibited his projects across the globe. Together with Caroline O’Donnell, Ibarra co-edited the forthcoming book, “Werewolf: The Architecture of Lunacy, Shapeshifting, and Material Metamorphosis” (AR+D, 2022), which considers architecture through the lens of transformation and contextual responsiveness. Ibarra is advancing design work and research dealing with architectural processes, time, and geoempathy. Through his teaching and practice, he is committed to decentering privileged perspectives and offering students ways to think beyond them.
30-minutes
5:00pm-6:00pm EDT /
2:00pm-3:00pm PDT
Plenary
1 LU Credit
2022 AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion
For more than 40 years, Deborah Berke, FAIA, has leveraged her nimble harmonization of education and practice to share the discipline of architecture with students and professionals from a wide range of backgrounds. Through her accessible and purposefully non-monumental pedagogy, Berke advances her deep-rooted belief that architectural education should be available to everyone. Her contributions and inexhaustible spirit have inspired countless students and design professionals.
“Deborah has not only played a critical role in welcoming new faces to the school and to the profession, she has also proven herself an intellectual leader, advocating a point of view that has done much to counteract the navel-gazing theories of recent architectural pedagogy,” wrote Robert A.M. Stern, FAIA, in a letter supporting Berke’s nomination for the Topaz Medallion. “Her studios and seminars, imbued with what she describes as ‘the architecture of the everyday,’ reflect a fundamental humanity she brings to all her work.”
Image Credit: Winnie Au
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