The Copenhagen-based re:arc institute has announced its 2023-24 cohort of architecture firms, individual designers, and organizations who are all working at the intersection of a variety of important ecological and social justice causes in ways that help architecture as a discipline move beyond its current narrative limitations.
The institute shares: “Though rarely stated, the world of architecture operates within predefined industry models. Either client-based or competition-based, architectural projects often remain anchored in problematic or extractive incentives. Despite the huge ecological footprint of the industry and transformational potential of the architectural discipline, architecture is often overlooked and underfunded by traditional philanthropy.” Funds are distributed across three categories: Grants, Practice Lab, and Initiatives.
The full 2023-24 cohort list can be viewed below.
GRANTS
Catalytic Communities: "An NGO mobilizing housing & climate justice via the community land trust model in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. CatComm have been working on-the-ground in favelas for decades to secure social & ecological justice, and now they’ve turned to the Community Land Trust (CLT) model to further facilitate that."
Comunal Taller de Arquitectura: "a female-led architectural practice working together with rural communities and indigenous populations in Mexico on the improvement of living conditions of rural communities. Comunal aims to demonstrate that architecture is a collective social process. They conceive participation not as a matter of good faith or good will, but as a right that implies the recognition of the inhabitants as agents of action."
Climate Emergency Software Alliance or CESA (Indonesia; Global): "An international organization working at the forefront of climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction across South East Asia. They aim to democratize access to real-time disaster information, facilitating coordination for environmental repair, settlement relocation, and risk reduction. Their flagship product, CogniCity OSS, a free and open source software adopted by millions already, which uses a novel humanitarian chatbot model to crowdsource disaster information and display solicited reports in real-time on a web-based, mobile-centric map. Designed, tested, and operationally deployed in Southeast Asia’s monsoon flooding, the system CogniCity OSS government agencies, and first responders."
PRACTICE LAB
Taller Capital: "a Mexico City-based architecture and urban design studio, founded in 2010 by José Pablo Ambrosi and Loreta Castro-Reguera. Their work focuses on “designing the city through densification and infrastructural public spaces.” With a particular attention to water, the studio has applied extensive research to the development of urban design projects that address water management in Mexico City and beyond. Taller Capital was the winner of the 2015 Eco Pavilion and was awarded a silver medal at the 2017 Mexico City Biennial."Material Cultures: "a London-based studio bringing together design, research and strategic thinking to make meaningful progress towards a post-carbon built environment. The group provides design services, undertakes hands-on construction and refurbishment projects, and works with public, private and third sector organizations interested in developing and delivering a regenerative, low-carbon built environment."
Other invited practices are: Region Austral (Argentina), Territorial Empathy (U.S.A.), Social Design Collaborative (India), Island City Lab (Jamaica), atelier masōmī (Niger), Cave_bureau (Kenya), AFARAI (The Netherlands), Al Borde (Ecuador), Emergent Vernacular Architecture (London, Lebanon, Haiti), Hand Over (Egypt), PAVA architects (Thailand), urbz (India), and Oficina de Resiliencia Urbana (Mexico)
INITIATIVE COLLABORATORS
Network for Ecological Futures by Taeyoon Choi in collaboration with ArtCom Platform, UnMake Lab & Mina Kim
A Residency for Fugitives* by MAIA Group & the Black Land and Spatial Justice Project
Embodied Restoration Lab by AFARAI
The House We Must Build by Thandi Loewenson & Huda Tayob
Care & Architectures for Collective Life by The Institute for Everything In-Between in collaboration with Gabriella Gomez-Mont
Pororoca: Abraz(ç)o de río e mar by Catalina Mejia Moreno in collaboration with Gabriela Leandro Pereira & Felipe Arturo
It’s Not That Radical School of Organising by Jess Mally & Mikaela Loach
Global South CLT Network by the Center for Community Land Trust Innovation
The funding will therefore be put towards the “development of solutions that address the root causes and consequences of climate breakdown and nurtures the creative reimagining of social and ecological systems” in the hopes of establishing what they call a new “blueprint for philanthropy.”
Learn more about the 2023-24 grant awardees here.
The Last Nuclear Bomb Memorial / Edition #5
Register by Thu, Jan 16, 2025
Submit by Wed, Feb 19, 2025
The Architect's Chair / Edition #3
Register by Wed, Jan 15, 2025
Submit by Tue, Feb 18, 2025
The Buildner UNBUILT Award 2025 / 100,000€ Prize
Register by Thu, Mar 6, 2025
Submit by Thu, Nov 20, 2025
250,000 € Prize / HOUSE OF THE FUTURE 2024/25
Register by Wed, Apr 30, 2025
Submit by Mon, Jun 2, 2025
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