Archinect - News

Alexa Kasdan appointed Executive Director of the Pratt Center for Community Development

2023-07-31T12:27:00-04:00

The Pratt Center for Community Development has appointed Alexa Kasdan as its new executive director, effective September 1, 2023. Kasdan will bring to the role “two decades of experience in participatory research and policy advocacy to the role, along with the ability to leverage strong partnerships within the philanthropic community.”

As executive director of the Center, Kasdan will oversee the institution’s professional staff and coordinate with Pratt Institute faculty, students, and staff to “facilitate community-led planning, applied research, and public policy advocacy to help local organizations challenge and overcome systemic inequities.”

Kasdan's academic qualifications include a master's degree in public policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s degree in political science and African-American studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her policy and research career began at Community Voices Heard (CVH), working with women of color and low-i...

For civic-minded designers, a New York NGO presents a career opportunity to impact marginalized communities

2022-08-24T15:55:00-04:00

In March 2022, we published a feature article exploring failures in the maintenance and administration of public housing in the United States. The piece was one of several features on our editorial that have exposed architecture’s connection to pressing social issues, with recent examples including labor, gender and racial inequalities, governance of public space, and homelessness.

Archinect Feature: America’s Public Housing is Burning, Fueled by Cold Indifference

Our coverage of these issues has also brought to the forefront a broad range of individuals determined to find solutions, from Weronika Zdziarska’s investigations into the impact of urban design on gender-based violence to Todd Brown’s exploration of social, environmental, and racial justice.

Archinect Feature: Perceptions of Safety: Weronika Zdziarska Questions Urban Design and Its Impact on Gender-Based Violence Experienced by Women in Cities

While Zdziarska and Brown offer examples of individuals who have used funded ave...

Cities can make us happier, says UChicago study

2021-08-10T11:26:00-04:00

Researchers at the University of Chicago have released a new study examining the impact of cities on human wellbeing, concluding that the socio-economic networks and active environments of large urban areas in the U.S. can result in lower rates of psychological depression.

The findings are part of a broader research project that aims to quantify and map what it feels like to live in a city, building on previous research that showed how people’s use of a city’s infrastructure networks can lead to increases in social interaction, innovation, and wealth production. “We wondered if those same principles and mathematical models could be applied to psychological phenomena, such as depression, to see if the actual social and infrastructure networks of cities—and how they change as cities get larger—could affect people's psychology in a consistent way,” said Andrew Stier, one of the study’s authors.

Previously on Archinect: Architecture Community Experiences a Noticeable Impact on Mental...

Japan designs mobile mosques for upcoming 2020 Olympics hospitality

2018-08-29T15:07:00-04:00

The organizers of the upcoming 2020 Olympics in Japan want to ensure that visitors from around the world feel welcomed in their capital [...] Japanese event company, Yasu Project, developed a mobile mosque that will travel throughout the multiple Olympic stadiums. The mosque on wheels is located inside a 25-ton truck, with enough room to fit up to 50 people. It is also equipped with an outdoor rinse station, so that users can participate in a pre-worship cleanse.

In an effort to extend hospitality and cultural inclusion during the 2020 Olympics, Japanese event company Yasu Project has created mobile religious spaces for Muslim attendees. These pop up mosques attempt to solve the issue of limited public and religious infrastructure and the desire for religious spaces.

Mobile mosque designed by Yasu Project for the 2020 Olympics in Japan.

NCARB announces a commitment to diversity in leadership

2018-08-02T14:58:00-04:00

The NCARB Board of Directors recently announced a Policy for Diversity in which the organization states a commitment to greater diversity, with respect to gender, race, geography, age, perspective (architect vs. non-architect), and physical ability, when electing leadership positions. The NCARB has worked to diversify their volunteer pool, transformed key programs for inclusion, and promoted wider access to licensure. Yet, President and Chair of the Board states more can be done:

"While diversity at the licensing board level is largely controlled by governors or other appointing authorities, more can be done to influence the appointment process [...] And internally, we will strive to more fully utilize existing licensing board members who bring the perspective of under-represented groups."

Policy for Diversity

This Policy on Diversity is designed to encourage consideration of underrepresented groups when the NCARB Board of Directors or the Council membership selects individuals to p...

Rigorous Design and Socially Engaged Practice Go Hand-in-Hand at Washington University in St. Louis

2018-04-05T09:00:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis

With its tree-lined streets and stately architecture, Shaw is among St. Louis’ oldest and most elegant neighborhoods.

It is also among the city’s most integrated. According to U.S. Census data, in 2010, Shaw’s population was 51.7 percent white and 41.9 percent black.

But neighbors can be feet away and worlds apart.

Building typologies in Shaw. Courtesy Cierra Higgins, Ashley Holder, Danning Liang, and Suyin Yao.

“In Shaw, segregation is social rather than spatial,” says Cierra Higgins, who is pursuing dual master’s degrees in architecture and urban design in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.

Last fall, Higgins spent months researching and exploring Shaw as part of Segregation by Design. The class—developed by Sam Fox School assistant professor Catalina Freixas and Mark Abbott of Harris-Stowe State University, with funding from The...

AIA creates new Commission to further investigate equity in architecture

2015-12-17T17:45:00-05:00

Six months after the AIA voted in favor of the Equity in Architecture resolution, it looks like the organization is turning their words into actions. Most recently, they announced the establishment of the Equity in Architecture Commission, a 20-member panel of leading architects, educators, and specialized experts (whose names haven't been released) who will be in charge of investigating diversity and inclusion in the architecture profession, which — like in many other areas in American society — has long been dominated by people who identify as white and male.

The Commission's objectives include:

"Develop specific recommendations that will lead to equitable practices"
"Create measurable goals and develop mechanisms for assessing ongoing progress"
"Present a plan of action based on the Commission’s recommendations"

"Diversity and inclusion is a priority of the AIA. We have made progress, but not fast enough. The world around us is changing much faster and we can do better,' stated Elizab...

How can diversity be quantified?

2015-08-12T13:40:00-04:00

At a macro level, Chicago is quite diverse. At a neighborhood level, it isn’t.

How can a city be both diverse and segregated? In Chicago's case, the city is home to every major racial/ethnic group, but these groups rarely tend to live together in the same neighborhoods. In fact, on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood level, Chicago has one of the higher residential segregation rates of major metropolitan cities in the U.S. Even Los Angeles, long derided for being an archipelago of neighborhoods with no identifiable urban connective tissue or center, has a higher rate of residential integration than Chicago. Nate Silver's article asks us to question the metrics of diversity and segregation, especially in terms of urban planning: should those metrics be defined by where people live, where they work, or simply by the overarching boundaries of the city limits? Good question(s).

For more on this topic, do check out:

Surprise! Architecture is still among the whitest professions in America

Denver's Union Station is lacking diversity and local critic places the blame on the ...