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As the architecture industry reviews another year filled with a range of ups and downs, it's an important time to reflect on what progress has been made when it comes to important topics such as social justice, activism, equity, and diversity initiatives within architecture. While we've already... View full entry
The memory of one up-and-coming New York architect is being honored through a donation drive benefitting one of the firms he most admired, Oakland-based Designing Justice + Designing Spaces (DJDS). Eric Salitsky was killed in Brooklyn on May 5th after being struck by a sanitation... View full entry
MASS Design Group will be honored alongside the city of Minneapolis by the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design in a public celebration held at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy this evening. The Boston-based firm will receive the prestigious Kanter Tritsch Medal... View full entry
Some prisons have been successfully transformed into whiskey distilleries, youth hostels, museums and boutique hotels. Others have been demolished, sometimes over the objections of local preservationists. But there’s a third option: Carceral sites can be reoriented as places that actively work to undo the damage wrought by mass incarceration. — Bloomberg
The movement to design spaces that are actively working to undo some of the social harms caused by mass incarceration is still fairly nascent, with salient projects in Atlanta and other places serving as models that can be applied in the age of bail reform, alternative sentencing, and other... View full entry
The Department of Care should be designed to break through bureaucratic silos. Caring for public space will require multiple agencies to invest time and resources, and to work collaboratively with local stakeholders who know their communities best. This means having everyone at the table: from the Departments of Transportation, Sanitation, and Health to the Parks Department and the city’s Economic Development Corporation to Small Business Services and Cultural Affairs. — Justin Garrett Moore on Medium
Mayor de Blasio appears to have reneged on his police 2020 commitment to taking $1 billion out of the annual NYPD budget. Justin Garrett Moore, who left the city's Public Design Commission in December and was appointed to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts by President Biden this... View full entry
The question of how to remake the city’s jails has sharply divided city officials, who are intent on maintaining lockups, advocates for prison rights and even architects. As the city pushes for new designs that might make its jails feel more humane, many activists and some city officials are pushing for the city to invest more in social services in underserved communities, which could keep people out of prison to begin with. — The New York Times
A total of twelve people have died at Rikers this year alone. Unsanitary conditions, overcrowding, and a staffing shortage have only added to the growing chorus of voices calling to shut down the 400-acre prison, which the city has announced plans to do by 2027. The nearly $9 billion... View full entry
For Deanna Van Buren, designing towards justice and equity is more than a trend; it's a lifelong calling to dismantle a system that perpetuates oppression and suppression for Black and Brown communities. Back in October 2019, Archinect chatted with Van Buren to learn more about her... View full entry
Award-winning architect and designer, Suman Sorg, FAIA, founder of Sorg Architects, has formed the non-profit design firm, A Complete Unknown, in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to promote social justice, peace, and unity through architecture and design. "At this stage in my career, I have... View full entry
Perkins&Will and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) this week released best practices for creating and implementing comprehensive diversity programs for U.S. firms. In a white paper entitled “Creating a Culture of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Your... View full entry
The Anti-Racist School of Architecture Symposium 2021 will shine a spotlight on the intersection of architecture, race, and education. The Symposium aims to address the following topics: Injustices Black, Indigenous, and People of Color face in the architecture and design education... View full entry
Moody Nolan CEO Jonathan Moody, AIA, NCARB, NOMA, LEED AP, delivered a hopeful TED Talk at a TEDxKingLincolnBronzeville event back in October. Moody begins the talk with a confession — that designers have failed citizens in the community and that designers have been complicit in allowing... View full entry
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Board of Directors last week adopted new rules in its Code of Ethics regarding the design of justice facilities. "We are committed to promoting the design of a more equitable and just built world that dismantles racial injustice and upholds human rights,"... View full entry
Sharon Prince, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Grace Farms Foundation, announced this week Design for Freedom, a new movement to eradicate modern slavery from the built environment by addressing the systemic use of forced labor in the building materials supply chain. "Examining our building... View full entry
Since 2011, the SEED Awards highlight public interest design projects that address critical community issues at a social, economic, and environmental scale. This year's award winners represent projects that reflect justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion within the realms of design... View full entry
Van Buren’s most ambitious undertaking so far is the reimagining of a hulking 471,000 square foot Detention Center in downtown Atlanta. [...] Van Buren has been working with social justice organizations and a mayoral task force to transform the site into an “Equity Center” that will incorporate financial literacy, job training, access to legal services and other community needs. — The New York Times
Writing in The New York Times, journalist Patricia Leigh Brown profiles Deanna Van Buren, co-founder of Designing Justice + Designing Spaces (DJDS), an Oakland, California-based architecture and real estate development non-profit that is working to end mass incarceration. Archinect... View full entry
