Archinect - News

ACSA issues joint statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion censorship in education

2023-09-21T17:39:00-04:00

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) has joined its sibling organizations in landscape architecture and planning in opposing the concerted efforts of far-right lawmakers to prevent the inclusion of race and racism topics into curricula in states including Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, South Dakota, and Virginia.

"This united declaration stands as a strong objection to the legislation that silences educators from sharing the histories of the architectural profession. Practitioners, educators, and students must be granted access to the complete narrative. Being privy to only a portion of the story significantly disadvantages us all," Mo Zell, the 2023-24 ACSA President, said in a statement.

"The boards of directors of the three organizations representing university programs and educators in architecture, landscape architecture, and planning — ACSA, CELA, and ACSP, — jointly communicate our opposition to any legislation that prevents educators from teaching and shari...

Acclaimed Canadian landscape architect Claude Cormier has died aged 63

2023-09-18T20:10:00-04:00

Canadian landscape architect Claude Cormier, a deeply admired figure within the country’s design community, passed away on September 15th at the age of 63 following a battle with cancer, the CBC and other outlets reported over the weekend.

The founder of CCxA was behind many of the country’s most beloved public spaces, parks, and memorial designs, including Toronto’s Berczy Park, downtown Montreal’s new The Ring installation, and the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa. A statement from the firm credited him as being a “great visionary who influenced us in surprising and powerful ways, thanks to the creative force and joie de vivre he brought to all our lives.”

The RIng, Montreal. Photo: David Boyer Photographe Inc.

Born and raised in Quebec, Cormier studied at the University of Toronto and Harvard GSD before entering practice in Montreal in 1993. Over the years, Cormier’s work received more than 100 separate awards and honors, including being named to the prestigious Ordre Natio...

Trans and non-binary architects discuss their challenges within the industry

2023-06-16T15:55:00-04:00

So, yes, architecture has a diversity problem, but the tide is beginning to change. Thanks to out-and-proud architects like [Julia] Oderda, emerging trans designers now have possibility models to look to when navigating situations like coming out or transitioning on the job. Some firms are also taking steps to make their workplace more welcoming to trans people, often in collaboration with trans people who already work there.

Architect Julia Oderda, who came out as a transgender woman professionally in 2018, also provided some insights into her struggle in an interview with the NCARB recently, saying, “A lot of what I did to help pave the way for me — and hopefully for others behind me — but also just to address my own anxieties about the process was a lot of overpreparation.”

The narrative that the existence of trans and non-binary people in an office setting is always contentious ought to be challenged, but their lack of visibility and support from colleagues is troubling, spurring the VCBO Architecture principal towards even more action. “That's one of the reasons I've been as open and vocal as I have been,” she says. “I think we need more people who can be found online to help the next generation.”

Architect, organizer, and facilitator A.L. Hu, who teaches at the Columbia GSAPP as an adjunct assistant professor and is the design initiatives manager at Ascendant Neighborhood Development, shared their...

The Stonewall Inn historic site is getting a new visitors center

2022-06-24T15:30:00-04:00

The first visitor center within the national park system dedicated to L.G.B.T.Q. history will honor and explore the history of the 1969 Stonewall uprising, a galvanizing moment in the fight for equality, the center’s managers announced on Tuesday. The visitor center is being funded with donations, and a groundbreaking ceremony will take place on Friday. The 3,700-square-foot space will include exhibitions, in-person and virtual tours and art displays that examine the uprising and its legacy.

The visitors center will be located at the address adjacent to the bar, which had sat vacant for some time. Plans for an expanded presence at the site, which includes a sculpture installation by George Segal, the bar, and Christopher Park, have been floated around since it was officially declared a national monument by President Obama in 2016. Anne Marie Gothard, president of PRIDE LIVE (the nonprofit behind the visitors center project), shared her hopes with the TIMES that it would garner more interest for similar preservation efforts at LGBTQ historic sites across the country.

“Our goal is to create a place that honors both the bravery and courage of the past five decades of the movement while also motivating the next generation of leaders to take up the fight, because we know that there is more work to be done when it comes to full equality.”

Examining the history and importance of four LGBTQ sites newly listed by the National Trust for Historic Places

2022-06-17T18:13:00-04:00

Preserving spaces are integral to maintaining America's gay communities and keeping the memory of their members' hard work in establishing physical sites of resistance in the face of legal repression, violence, and generational intolerance. Terms like "Gay power" convey the desire for visibility in those spaces that have evolved due to their hard-fought existence. Today they serve as a rallying cry for different scholarly interventions initiated to protect the important story of queer history in the United States.

In honor of the slate of Pride celebrations taking place in June, the National Trust for Historic Preservation continues to expand on the documentary research of these sites. Thanks to the National Park Service's influential 2016 Theme Study that identified several new locations for nomination to join the group's two official heritage designations, four new sites have been added to the list since its original publication.

The cover of the publication LGBTQ America. Design...

BoND’s new Company Gallery space offers a unique showcase for Queer artists and for themselves

2021-12-16T12:33:00-05:00

One of the flashiest openings in the art world this fall came not in the form of a suite of salable oil paintings or an of-the-moment sculptural showcase but rather from a one-time dry goods storage space which has been converted into the new home of New York’s Company Gallery by an upstart duo called BoND.

The duo is formed by Noam Dvir and Daniel Rauchwerger, partners in business and in life, who say their design was inspired by several different elements of the history of the city’s Queer arts community for whom Company was founded seven years ago.

Photo: Nick Glimenakis. Image courtesy BoND.

The gallery’s roster features a veritable who’s who of hot young artists like Jonathan Lyndon Chase and Raúl de Nieves and was looking for a space to help inaugurate “a jump to a different chapter” with the help of some highly skilled hands from inside that same community.

Photo: Nick Glimenakis. Image courtesy BoND.

“It was almost like a political discussion a little bit, and I think that we ...

Canada is one step closer to National LGBTQ2+ Monument after revealing commission finalists

2021-11-16T11:26:00-05:00

Seventy years after one of the darkest chapters in Canadian LGBTQ history began, the Government of Canada has taken steps toward reconciliation and remembrance with a slate of just-announced new proposals for what will one day become the LGBTQ2+ National Monument in Ottawa.

By locating it in the nation's seat of power, the monument will serve as a symbolic educational resource for Canadians young and old to learn about the struggles endured by their fellow citizens at the hands of their own government.

Image courtesy of Team SOM

“The systemic injustices that occurred during the LGBT Purge should never be forgotten. While we cannot right the wrongs of the past, this monument will serve as an educational tool and a reminder that we must not repeat the mistakes of the past,” LGBT Purge Fund director Michelle Douglas, whose successful 1990 lawsuit helped end discrimination in the Canadian Armed Forces said in a statement. “The five shortlisted designs show the pain endured during this d...

Join Archinect for an important panel discussion, "Creating a More Diverse Future in A&D"

2020-11-04T15:46:00-05:00

Do the architecture and design industries represent the same diversity as the population it serves? This panel takes a look at this critical issue, and will address ways to make positive changes to ensure we push towards justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in A&D.

We invite you to join us for a special discussion this upcoming Monday, November 9th, from 1-2 pm EST / 10-11 am PST, featuring a panel of industry leaders that have dedicated their work towards reshaping our industry into one that better represents the communities at large.

Distinguished panelists include Karen Compton, Principal at A3K; Kimberly Dowdell, President at NOMA; Julia Gamolina, Founder at Madame Architect; Todd Heiser, Managing Director at Gensler; & Ann Rolland, Partner at FXCollaborative. The panel will be moderated by Paul Petrunia, Archinect's Founder/Director.

To RSVP for this virtual panel, please click the "reserve" button at this link. Space is limited and registration is required to attend.

...

Colonial Williamsburg embraces its queer histories

2019-12-20T13:00:00-05:00

Alongside a wider effort to uncover and rediscover the lost and forgotten histories of historically marginalized groups and populations, Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia has recently taken steps to uncover the 18th century living-history museum's queer legacies.

In a recent report, Atlas Obscura takes a look at the nascent efforts being undertaken at Colonial Williamsburg to shed light on these historical narratives in order to present a more complete picture of the time.

Photo of the Raleigh Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg. Image courtesy of Wikimedia user Humberto Moreno.

A recently formed research committee is digging through court records, historical accounts, and other forms of documentation pertinent to the era of the museum in order to better understand and communicate the lived experiences of people who did not conform to the gender or sexual norms of the time, with the eventual goal of incorporating these stories into the "living" aspects of the museum in some way.

Of par...

While boycotting Chicago Architecture Biennial, ArchiteXX debuts Windy City run of "Now What?!" exhibition

2019-09-17T19:45:00-04:00

Now What?! Advocacy, Activism & Alliances in American Architecture since 1968, an exhibition created by gender equity-focused activist group ArchiteXX highlighting the impact of social movements on architecture and design, is currently on view at the Co-Prosperity Sphere gallery in Chicago.

The exhibition, which opens amid the backdrop of the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB), is being presented without any official affiliation with the festival "due to the financial support [CAB] receives from BP," according to an ArchiteXX statement. BP, a London-based fossil fuel corporation, is the main financial sponsor for this year's CAB, and has donated $1 million to in support of the biennial and its affiliated projects and programs, including CAB's student design competition.

Coded Plumbing Exhibition with QSAPP at Columbia University and the Van Alen Institute by QSPACE_Courtesy of QSPACE

Remarking upon the content of the exhibition itself, co-curator and ArchiteXX co-founder Lori...

NYC recognizes collection of LGBT historic sites

2019-06-24T12:48:00-04:00

Six LGBT historic sites have received official designation as local landmarks from the New York City Landmarks Commission, The Villager reports.

The sites represent an ongoing effort to expand historic preservationprotections to sites that are significant to the civil rights struggles of the LGBT community.

The sites include:

The Caffe Cino, 31 Cornelia St., a local playhouse where gay men met to share their work free from persecution at a time when depicting homosexuality in theatrical productions was outlawed. The space played a role in developing "Off-Off-Broadway" experimental, and gay theater movements, according to the site's landmark description.
The Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse, 99 Wooster St., a space considered to be New York City’s “first gay community center.” The space was used by a variety of activist groups, including: the Lesbian Feminist Liberation, Gay Youth, the Gay Men’s Health Project, and the Catholic group Dignity.
The Women’s Liberation Center, 243 W. 20...

Queer Spaces, Intersections, LGBT Historic Sites: Urban Omnibus launches new series

2018-02-22T14:32:00-05:00

As designers and urbanists engage with LGBTQ+ identity, what role do gender and sexuality play in the preservation, design, and management of urban space today? [...] Marginalization means invisibility, both in history and space. New efforts seek to reclaim and preserve queer histories inscribed in sites across the city.

Urban Omnibus, a publication of the Architectural League of New York, recently launched its new series Intersections: Surfacing (guest-edited by Jacob R. Moore), allowing a more informed look at issues of gender and sexuality in the context of design & urban history.

Stonewall Inn formally declared as national monument

2016-06-24T15:10:00-04:00

On Friday, President Obama formally [declared] the Greenwich Village bar and its surrounding area the Stonewall National Monument, and creating the first National Park Service unit dedicated to the gay rights movement. According to the White House, the monument designation will consist of 7.7 acres, protecting the tavern, Christopher Park across the street, and several other streets and sidewalks where spontaneous protests were held for equal rights in 1969.

The enduring significance of gay bars in American cities

2016-06-16T15:09:00-04:00

The moment a space like [a gay bar] disappears, a sense of identity goes with it. “When you don’t have those spaces, you lose the ability to see yourself," [...] "...we also need to continue to modify it in a way so everybody has access, so we’re not doing the same thing that the mainstream population is doing to us and isolating ourselves in certain spaces due to access.”

Related on Archinect:

Kickstart this! Façadomy: a new journal that looks at gender and identity through architecture

2016-05-05T20:41:00-04:00

Façadomy is new publication that looks at contemporary identity through the lenses of art and architecture. Façadomy's inaugural issue, Gender Talents explores the landscape of self-determined gender. It builds off the work of progressive sexologist Esben Esther P. Benestad, who has observed seven distinct genders in their practice as a therapist in Norway. Three prominent voices in contemporary art and architecture reflect on these seven themes...

Conversations around gender and identity – long excluded from the "gentleman's profession" of architecture – are seeping more and more into architectural discourse.

For example, the AIA announced recently that they would cancel their conference in North Carolina because of the passage of HB2, a bill widely described as transphobic, exclusionary, and bigoted. And, while the number of women in architecture remains low (with a high dropout rate post-college), and the way female architects are treated remains poor (if not violent and illegal), at least the conversation seems to have picked up in recent years.

But there's so much more to be said about the relationship between architecture and identity-formation than can fit into a crisis management-oriented footnote. The built environment both mirrors societal norms about identity and reinforces them. It's the ground on which we learn, perform, enforce, resist, or trouble gender norms.

Enter Façadomy, a new publication that looks squarely a...

Obama administration to designate Stonewall as America's first LGBT memorial

2016-05-05T18:41:00-04:00

New York's iconic Stonewall Inn, where the modern gay rights movement took root, will become the first national monument honoring the history of gays and lesbians in the U.S. under a proposal President Barack Obama is preparing to approve. Designating the small swath of land will mark a major act of national recognition for gay rights advocates and their struggles over the last half-century.

Originally built as stables in the 1840s, the Stonewall Inn was the site of historic riots after police raided the LGBT bar on June 28, 1969. While such raids were then common, that night the bar-goers fought back – in the process helping to catalyze the LGBT liberation movement.

The news was timed to coincide with LGBT Pride month, which is held in June each year in commemoration of Stonewall. While the article specifies the monument as honoring the history of gays and lesbians, it's important to note the pivotal role transgender individuals played in the uprising.

According to AP, the Obama administration is considering including nearby Christopher Park in the historic designation.

In related news:

...

Mapping transgender-friendly bathrooms in hostile North Carolina

2016-03-31T14:56:00-04:00

For most, the act of going to the bathroom is an unremarkable part of their daily routines. However, for transgender people, fear of harassment makes this small decision a tough obstacle. In North Carolina a recent law has been introduced requiring people to only use bathrooms that match the gender they were assigned at birth. Web designer Emily Waggoner was "devastated" by the new legislation, and decided to do something to help those in need of a safe location to use non-gendered bathrooms.

Waggoner, who grew up in North Carolina although currently lives with her partner in Boston, worried about the safety of her transgender friends back home after the state passed this new, and highly controversial, legislation.

While purporting to be in the interest of "safety," such legislation greatly increases the risk of violence for members of the transgender (and gender non-conforming) community, with little-to-no evidence (or legitimate evidence) that it makes any other group safer. In the vast majority of cases of violence involving the transgender community, trans individuals are the victims – not the other way around.

Even without specific legislation like this, transgender people face much greater risks of physical and sexual violence than those faced by cisgendered individuals. More than one in four trans people have been assaulted in their lifetime – and the rates increase when looking at trans women and trans people of color.

Using Google Maps, Waggoner has created a tool ...

As "gayborhoods" gentrify, LGBTQ people move into conservative America

2016-03-10T20:03:00-05:00

Despite skewing Democrat, LGBT people are flocking to red states. It’s a sign that cities in the center of the country are becoming more accepting, but it’s also an indication that traditional LGBT safe havens are prohibitively expensive. ConsumerAffairs.com analyzed U.S. Census data and Gallup polling information to model the movement of the LGBT community from 1990 to 2014. The overall trend is striking.

"In 1990, the LGBT population was concentrated in coastal metropolitan areas and other safe havens—cities like San Francisco, New York, Seattle, and Atlanta. By 2014, LGBT hot spots cropped up in some seemingly unlikely places: Salt Lake City, Louisville, Norfolk, Indianapolis, and other red state cities."

ConsumerAffairs collected an impressive body of research on the demographic patterns of the LGBTQ community, which you can check out here. For more LGBTQ-related coverage, take a look at these links:

Toilets for everyone: the politics of inclusive design

2015-11-05T13:31:00-05:00

With the issues of serving openly in the military and same-sex marriage now largely resolved, the fight for all-gender restrooms has emerged as the latest civil rights issue in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (L.G.B.T.) community — particularly the “T” part. Schools and universities (...), museums (...), restaurants (...) and even the White House (...) are recasting the traditional men’s/women’s room, resulting in a dizzying range of (often creative) signage and vocabulary.