Archinect - News

Hip Hop Architect Michael Ford tapped to design new Bronzeville Center for the Arts in Milwaukee

2024-08-06T12:45:00-04:00

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that Hip Hop Architect Michael Ford will design the city’s new Bronzeville Center for the Arts for 2028. The 50,000-square-foot, $54.9 million project is set to take shape at a 3.4-acre former state Department of Natural Resources office with design and technical support from HGA.

The project, which follows Ford and BrandNu Design Studio's work on the new Hip Hop Museum in the South Bronx, New York, is meant to serve as the first home for the BCA after its formation in 2020. The firm's founder says the scope of his design will "both represent the rich history of the neighborhood and forecast its future."

The Bronx's Universal Hip Hop Museum gets a 2024 opening date

2022-08-15T19:35:00-04:00

An opening date has been set for the exciting new Hip Hop Museum (UHHM) project in the South Bronx.

Located on the site claiming to be the birthplace of hip hop, the new $80 million museum, which is part of a larger $349 million mixed-use residential development called Bronx Point, will open sometime in 2024. According to Hyperallergic, the museum is being developed by Bronx native Rocky Bucano alongside Microsoft and MIT professor D. Fox Harrell to create an immersive and “technologically advanced interactive museum experience.”

May 2022 construction photo of the Bronx Point development. Image courtesy the Universal Hip Hop Museum via Facebook

Phase One of the Bronx Point development is expected to be completed by the end of next year. In total, the 22-story building will include over 1,000 residential units (around 540 of which are considered affordable), the museum (the exhibition spaces of which are designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates with the Hip Hop Architect, Michael Ford),...

Hip Hop Architect Michael Ford on building a foundation for future generations of BIPOC designers

2022-05-10T14:22:00-04:00

“Getting new voices and pulling new people into architecture is important, but also having a portfolio of good work is important as well,” Ford said. “I think my ultimate legacy, though, for me will be measured by the number of people I inspire to become architects. And not just become architects but to not check their culture at the door. When you can bring your total self into the design world, that’s where you can make a true contribution.”

The “Hip Hop Architect” took Madison.com on a site visit to the local Quarra Stone Co., where granite tiles are being made for a forthcoming installation at the National Guardian Life company’s headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin.

For the project, Ford plans to erect a 25-foot-tall lobby installation with the company’s DEI statement engraved across 360 individual tiles using his own self-developed hieroglyphic alphabet. (“It’s architecture that prompts people to do something,” he explained.)

Rendering of the lobby installation Ford designed for National Guardian Life Insurance. Image courtesy BrandNu Design.

“I don’t think it's pushing the limit,” the 39-year-old continued, speaking of the corporate commission and another metaverse project for the non-profit Infamous Mothers. “For me, it’s representing what can happen when you bring more diverse minds to architecture and diverse experiences, backgrounds and culture because architecture has lost its mystique of what it once was. For m...

The Hip Hop Architect surprises Detroit high school senior with $10,000 scholarship

2021-12-07T18:13:00-05:00

The Hip Hop Architect Michael Ford has surprised a high school senior student in Detroit with a $10,000 scholarship from The Hip Hop Architecture Camp to study architecture.

Sarah Shaw-Nichols is a student at Ford’s former school Cass Technical High School. The scholarship was awarded through Ford's initiative that aims to introduce underrepresented youth to architecture, urban planning, creative placemaking, and economic development through the lens of hip hop culture.

The funding for the scholarship came from Herman Miller, which has recently collaborated with Ford on a variety of projects, such as the Conversations for Change program and a custom Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman piece.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Michael Ford (@thehiphoparchitect)

Herman Miller teams up with Hip Hop Architect Michael Ford

2021-01-19T11:16:00-05:00

Herman Miller has partnered with Hip Hop Architect Michael Ford, to host Conversations for Change, a platform for discussions about racial inequity, social justice, and hope.

Ford has produced his first piece of furniture with Herman Miller, a modified version of the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman (ELO) that was originally launched in 1956 by Charles and Ray Eames. For Ford's remix, he has handwritten the names of victims of racism in the United States as a tribute to those who lost their lives to racial injustice.

According to the Conversations for Change website, "The ELO will travel across the US from Jan 18th, 2021 through February 2021, and people of influence; activists, actors, artists, and design professionals will sit in the Mike Ford ELO as they speak with Ford over Instagram Live via @HermanMiller and @TheHipHopArchitect, about the racial disparities in their industries and the injustice that they’ve faced."

The Hip Hop Architecture Camp will be held virtually this year

2020-06-24T15:19:00-04:00

Highlighting the ongoing disruptions emanating from the COVID-19 pandemic, Hip Hop Architecture Camp has announced that it will hold its summer sessions online this year.

According to the Hip Hop Architecture Camp website, the camp is open to middle school and high school students, and will be held between August 1 and August 11, 2020. "There is no typical student for The Hip Hop Architecture Camp," the announcement states, adding, "Our students are aspiring architects, urban planners hip hop artists, musicians, computer game creators, interior designers, industrial designers, politicians and more!"

To help inaugurate this year's special summer series, Michael Ford, Hip Hop Architecture Camp founder, plans to hold an International Hip Hop Architecture Day celebration on August 1st that will be followed by a closing event on August 11th themed around the 47th Anniversary of Hip Hop.

During this celebration, the top 20 portfolios generated by the camp participants will be awarded s...

How Michael Ford uses hip hop to introduce architecture to underrepresented youth

2018-06-22T15:05:00-04:00

Ford sees his teaching as a way to counter the troubled history of urban planning in America. “We've decimated cities that were built by the hands of African Americans [...],” he says. “Those decisions are made by people outside of those communities. There are a limited amount of people at the table to advocate for our communities.” “I'm letting kids know we have a history of building spaces and places,” Ford adds.

Michael Ford began his mission to introduce the architecture profession to underrepresented youth through hip hop over a year ago. As times goes on, his Hip Hop Architecture Camp initiative is growing as he tours the U.S. This new Rolling Stone article looks into what the kids learn during the engaging Camp sessions and features thoughts from Ford and some of the participating rappers about the strong connection between architecture and hip hop culture.

Urban Arts Collective to kick off 2017 Hip Hop Architecture Camps for under-represented youth

2017-06-05T18:26:00-04:00

Non-profit organization Urban Arts Collective is about to kick off their 2017 youth Hip Hop Architecture Camp, a one-week experience that introduces under-represented youth to architecture, urban planning, and economic development — all through the lens of hip hop culture and its historic relationship with the built environment.

Designed for middle school and high school kids, camps take place in Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta, and Detroit through August. Youngsters will get to work with architecture and design professionals, community activists, and hip hop artists to form their own visions for their communities, including building physical and digital models, and having fun creating their own hip hop architecture track and music video summarizing their designs.

It's no surprise that the camp has received overwhelming interest, so potential participants must apply for the limited spaces available in each city. You can find the application forms for each location and further info at h...

Michael Ford on why teaching Hip Hop Architecture is crucial

2017-04-27T14:56:00-04:00

Ford thinks that hip-hop culture, from rapping to break-dancing, is the ultimate critique of midcentury modern vertical slums, and one that could be translated positively into new buildings and city plans [...] By promoting what he calls "Hip Hop Architecture," Ford is advocating an attitude and an approach more than a style.

After architect Michael Ford was inspired to enter the profession by Professor Dan Pitera, “a self-described ‘political and social activist masquerading as an architect’”, he is working on bringing Hip Hop Architecture nationwide to schoolkids everywhere.

“Through his writing, teaching and national speaking, Ford aims to dissolve barriers that have discouraged black children from becoming architects, city planners and urban designers.”