Pratt Institute has announced the appointment of its new Assistant Dean Quilian Riano. As an architect, urban designer, researcher, and writer, his work explores architecture's relationship to design justice, anti-racist pedagogy, and urban design strategies that address socio-political issues. Riano’s decade in academia as a teacher in graduate and undergraduate studies in architecture, urban design, and interdisciplinary design has aided in the development of leading studios and design collectives that interrogate architecture and its current pedagogy.
As the Assistant Dean, Riano will be working closely with Pratt School of Architecture Dean Dr. Harriet Harriss. His focus will be on "all four of the school's departments to help develop and amplify the research-driven, spatial outcomes with real-world impact that have come to distinguish the school's ambitions and resulted in growing recognition from independent ranking systems." He will also help strengthen the school’s relationship with city and government agencies, community groups, and other institutions to “ensure that the school continues to be positioned to powerfully advance pedagogy, public policy, and professional practice.”
Before joining Pratt, Riano served as the Associate Director of the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC) at Kent State University. He is also the founder and principal of DSGN AGNC, an interdisciplinary design studio that explores "new forms of political engagement and co-creation through architecture, urbanism, landscapes, and art." Furthermore, Riano is one of the core founding members of Dark Matter University, a groundbreaking anti-racist design justice school that is "collectively seeking the radical transformation of education and practice toward a just future." A longtime advocate for architects and architecture education, he is also a board member of the Architecture Lobby and a core member of Design as Protest.
In 2016, Riano discussed his research with Archinect on the relationship between architects, role-playing, and political change within games.
He joined the Archinect Sessions podcast in episode #79, where he discussed how games could help architects "reimagine not only their designs and design processes but also their own role in the system and structures of city-building."
His commitment to supporting public and civic ideas through design, agency, and activism will add to Pratt's program. He will begin his new role on July 12, 2021.
Riano received his Master of Architecture from Harvard GSD and a Bachelor of Design from the University of Florida's School of Architecture.
7 Comments
Congratulations Quilian!!!
Thanks Orhan
Congrats!
thanks!
go q!!! pratt is lucky to have you!
Thanks so much Ana Maria!
Congratulations. As much as I support social justice and anti-racist measures, I wonder how much architecture can do to solve societies problems. In the mean time, are Pratt students being prepared for the architecture jobs that are out there? I've never had a job where socio-political issues paid the bills, so why not try to do both?
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