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THE DARK MATTER ISSUE

Architectures of Joy, Collectivity,
and Abundance
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2 ARCHITECT, The Journal of The American Institute of Architects, October 2023

THE DARK MATTER ISSUE

Guest edited and designed by Dark Matter U
Volume 112, number 07. October 2023.
On the cover: AI-generated mixed-media illustration by Victor Zagabe.
Right: Dark Matter U’s logo, courtesy Dark Matter U.

THE DARK MATTER ISSUE

08 Framing

TRANSFORMATION AND REPAIR

12 Constellations of Change
14 Transforming the Future of Professional Practice
18 Community First Toolkit
22 Context: A Subversive Act of Communing

PRACTICES WITHIN THE COLLECTIVE

24 Realized and Built Projects

PRESERVATION, STORYTELLING, AND PLACE

28 Keeping and Shaping Our Places
32 The Joys of Just Preservation
34 Is There Such a Thing as Asian Diasporic Architecture?
36 DMU X Gowanus
38 Apalachicola Hill Neighborhood Design Guidelines

SHARED FUTURES
40 Design Justice 101
40 More Than Just Us
43 Next Progressives: The Students of DMU

AIA ARCHITECT
49 Expanding the Narrative
51 Employment for Architects Is Expected to Grow
52 Is AI a Tool or a Taskmaster?
56 Balancing Act
58 Adaptive Reuse

REFLECTIONS
64 DMU X You

Volume 112, number 07 October 2023. architect® (ISSN 1935-7001; USPS 009-880) is published monthly except combined issues in Jan/Feb, May/June, July/Aug and Nov/Dec by
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8

THE DARK MATTER ISSUE: FRAMING

TEXT BY TONIA SING CHI, STEPHEN F. GRAY, JEROME HAFERD, LISA C. HENRY, CHRISTIN HU, JUSTIN GARRETT MOORE,
SHAWHIN ROUDBARI, AND VICTOR ZAGABE

Dark Matter U, a democratic collective responsible for
the design, content, and coediting of this month’s issue of
architect, was formed in 2020 alongside protests for the
reinvigorated Black Lives Matter movement and the global
COVID-19 pandemic. DMU is a Black-, Indigenous-, and
people of color-led network representing a design justice
movement within academia and built environment practi-
tioners who converged to address longstanding, structural
racism present in the design fields and education. Our col-
lective seeks:
EA
OWLEDG ND KNOWLE
F KN DG
SO
M
Leveraging existing inter-institutional connections
and forming new ones, DMU saw in the confluence of the
remote work and educational environments of COVID,
and amid the resurgence of Black Lives Matter, an oppor-
tunity to mount a radical, trans-disciplinary, trans-insti-
tutional, and anti-racist critique that could operate both
“one foot in and one foot outside” of existing institutions
while centering equity, justice, and care in its work.
Since its inception, DMU has grown into a platform
for 187+ people reflecting and reaching a wide range of
communities, practices, experiences, and ways of en-
gaging and shaping architecture, design, and the built
environment. This issue of architect shares its voices,
knowledge, work, and ideas.

E PR
FOR

Through radical anti-

On Feb. 26, 2020, the Harvard Gazette published
ODUC

racist forms of communal

1. NEW

knowledge and spatial a wide-reaching acknowledgment of one of Harvard

TION

practice that are grounded in

lived experience. We challenge
University’s most prominent erasures: “In a small glass
hegemonic pedagogies, canons, case beneath the grand dome of the Harry Elkins Widener
and epistemologies drawn from Memorial Library a collection of ephemera honors
paradigms of white domination
while elevating ancestral
S OF INSTITUTIONS Philadelphia-born architect Julian Abele and the major
and local knowledge.
FORM AND
P
role he played in crafting the signature structure on the
W Harvard campus, a contribution that until recently had
OW
E
2. N

largely gone unacknowledged.”

ER

Within a rhizomatic, counter- It is now widely recognized that Abele, while chief
hierarchical network that
facilitates equitable resource
architect of Widener Memorial Library at Harvard
distribution. We extract from University and numerous campus buildings at Duke
those who have extracted to University, was never formally acknowledged by Harvard
collate resources and lift
F COLLECTIVITY AN and never even allowed to visit his works at Duke because
MS O
up marginalized voices.

FOR D PR of the color of his skin. Three months after the Gazette
article was published, the world witnessed the murder
W

ACT
E

of George Floyd, triggering a global reckoning with an-

3. N

ICE

That democratize models of ti-Black violence and erasure. Whether large or small,
practice, education, and labor innumerable erasures are either experienced or perpe-
at all phases of production. We
trated by all of us in our daily lives. And while less finite
operate with deep consideration of
ethics and a duty of care, moving than the erasure of life, the smaller acts have a collective
from hard to soft power.
S OF COMMUNITY A impact on who is seen, whose ideas are heard, and who
FORM ND C
U is valued.
W In June 2020, the erasures of two Black designers by
E

LTU
4. N

That expand the circle architect—first in 2018 and then again in 2020—were
RE

of those contributing to
anti-racist design pedagogy
brought to bear. As an act of reconciliation and repair,
and practice. We actively build an invitation to guest edit an issue of the magazine was
power and share knowledge to extended to Justin Garrett Moore and Stephen Francis
OF DESIGN
ORMS
build capacity and resilience
F Gray. Justin and Stephen further extended architect’s
NEW
in communities beyond the
preconceived boundaries invitation to a much broader collective—an exercise in de-
of our fields.
5.

mocratizing the power and platform that editors and cura-

That open the possibilities and tors often hold. Furthermore, rather than focusing on the
methodologies for designing
the built environment. We aim
circumstances of erasure, Justin and Stephen
to co-create new formal and instead sought generative dialogue. This
spatial imaginaries that serve issue of architect is a manifestation of
broader, often overlooked,
constituencies and consider
multiple subjectivities.
 9

“Architecture as a
collaborative process can
help generate real spaces of
belonging, care, memories, and
justice. A lot of people aren’t familiar
with how a spatial practice like
architecture can intersect with real
lives. It’s an opportunity to facilitate
a more participatory, honest and
trusted engagement, and for people
to become real stewards of
inclusivity, collaboration, and heteroge- the built environment.”
workshops and an asynchronous weaving of
neity—an ideology which, by virtue of gen- voices into cohesive form. The results are piec-
erations of erasure, has become emblematic es that span from subversive acts of communing
of BIPOC culture and identity. The works present- to full-blown polyphony. While co-authorship is not
ed in this issue are examples of what collective framing, a new idea, our deeply collaborative approach valorizes
curation, authorship, and editing can look like. and celebrates the reality that design is always with com-
BIPOC creators embody a generative, joyful, and cre- munities, nature, other designers, and those that came be-
ative ethos that is rooted in both the collective struggle fore us. Nothing comes from a single person’s genius, nor
and the rich tapestry of cultures we descend from and rep- should it be credited as such. The works you’ll encounter
resent. Joy riffs on grief. Collectivity riffs on segregation. include:
Abundance riffs on scarcity. BIPOC expressions of joy, FEATURED ARTICLES: These co-authored features,
collectivity, and abundance are embedded in our designs, submitted through open call and selected through our
speculative and built works, as well as in the practice peer review process, cover a range of timely topics,
through which we lend these works their form. work, and practices from our national and international
Rather than putting out a conventional call for papers, network.
we put out a call for participation. Typically a call for pa- FEATURED PROJECTS: DMU’s network is made up
pers leads to a highly selective process based on obscure of members who represent some of the most exciting, ac-
criteria of merit or excellence, but we sought inclusion complished, and forward-thinking design practices today.
over competition and asked ourselves if we could find cre- While this entire issue contains work, practices and in-
ative ways to represent everyone’s voice—to resist erasure. dividuals that are pushing the built environment fields,
This meant creating a table of contents that intentionally we wanted to highlight some of the realized projects in
balanced levels of education and engagement, matching our network to underscore that design justice and design
authors together for collaboration on pieces that explored excellence are not mutually exclusive pursuits.
similar themes, and reaching out to DMU network mem- POLY PIECE: The “Poly Particles” floating through-
bers who did not have the capacity to engage to ensure out the issue are excerpts from the polyphony of DMU’s
their work was also represented. collective voice, drawn from a playfully structured set of
As a collective operating within and critiquing ineq- conversations that took place during group meetings in
uitable publication practices, we wanted to find ways Washington, D.C., and virtually in May 2023. Transcripts
to subvert the contested norms of the editorial process. of conversations were analyzed, deconstructed, and re-
What if we treated peer review more like peer mentor- stitched together with the goal of reconstructing the pow-
ship? In our version of peer review, we adopted DMU’s erful feeling of being immersed in a polyphony of joy,
Office Hours, a program for holding internal open-ended collectivity, and abundance.
conversations, to facilitate a series of discussions between NEXT PROGRESSIVES: In line with the collective
peers and authors about each piece. Rather than a dou- ethos of uplifting emerging voices, the organizing team
ble-blind review that focuses on critique and leads to ac- sought to highlight the threads among students who have
ceptance or rejection, we workshopped all texts through taken DMU-aligned courses and embodied the futures
a fully transparent and relational process. We also cred- that the field requires.
ited the reviewers, as this kind of labor is often obscured REFLECTIONS: Race, a concept invented to dis-
and uncompensated in academic publishing. As a means tinguish and exploit, and in many ways to erase, was
of blurring hierarchies of power, we alphabetized the necessarily agnostic to other identities across class and
names of authors and reviewers in order to emphasize profession. We hope you’ll hear the joy, abundance, and
the horizontal nature of the work that we do. The re- collectivity come through the voices speaking to you in
sult was that emerging and experienced scholars alike this issue of ARCHITECT. More so, we hope that some of
played multiple roles at ent times, radically co-cre- what you hear is familiar … and that you hear parts of
ating and exchanging knowledge throughout the entire your own voice in the words and images presented. If you
writing and editing process. do, we’re excited to be in community with you! And if
The content in this issue includes co-authored and you don’t yet, we hope you’ll embrace the abundance and
collectively authored pieces. This spectrum of reformed joy that BIPOC designers share—may this be an exciting
to radicalized modes of writing were facilitated through beginning for you!
 π
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12

CONSTELLATIONS OF CHANGE: CHECKING IN WITH A DESIGN JUSTICE CABAL

Reflections on the Creation of a Design Justice Network in Academia and the Zeitgeist of a Movement

EDITED BY TYA WINN IN CONVERSATION WITH VENESA ALICEA-CHUQUI,

GERMANE BARNES, IFEOMA EBO, JEROME HAFERD, BRYAN C. LEE JR.,
JUSTIN GARRETT MOORE, JENNIFER NEWSOM, AND QUILIAN RIANO I mean, mostly the seeds of this work
were happening prior to that moment,
Reflecting on the origin story of Dark Matter U, we visit but that moment in time gave us space
with some of the DMU Initiators who catalyzed and and opportunity and software, as folks are
participated in the earlier conversations to support the noting, to be consistent. And obviously,
Design as Protest education fieldwork around academic consistency is key to organizing anything.
organizing. In those early conversations, it was evident
BL
that more work was needed to comprehensively organize
around design justice in academia than DAP had
For sure. And I remember that while
capacity for at that time. That group continued meeting
there was a frenetic energy and urgency
over Zoom, inviting new voices into conversations and
during the beginnings of DMU ... there
chatting through the Design Justice Cabal WhatsApp
was also this deeper sense of longevity
group chat. Somewhere between the margins, DMU
and consistency. I remember Justin
emerged in June 2020, gaining momentum until the
saying that this is a marathon and not
group organized and began operating in August 2020.
a race. And that stuck with me, even
DMU is an anti-racist, design justice academic collective
during the arguments over WhatsApp
led by BIPOC practitioners in the design fields. Three
as to how this thing all started. ;)
years later, the collective has 187+ members, multiple
group chats, a business entity, and a bank account. This JH
excerpt from a recent DMU WhatsApp chat reflects on
the successes of the past three years and what comes It was a good moment to bring us together
next for the collective. to share our stories within educational
contexts, making it clear that change was
necessary.
AR
The following conversation was recorded on Aug. 21,
2023, at 5:05 p.m. EST in WhatsApp and edited for print: What have we accomplished though?
GB

I think it also created a galvanizing

Firstly, thanks for all y’all who are globe-
trotting and staying up late. I think it’s
been one of the stories of our DMU
life. I think about the digital community
we built and how unique it was. I don’t
think I’ve spent this much time talking to
people online since middle school.
TW
moment to ideate. We had a group chat
already—since 2018. Some of us have been
in other groups since before that.
TW Completely agree with this. We are all
connected in ways that are much more
tethered than before.
JN

I think the attack on recent Diversity, @Germane, what do you think?

Equity and Inclusion departments, the JH
banning of certain books, and how/if
race is talked about [at all, legally] makes Well, everyone’s price went up for sure.
DMU as a third space outside of an Almost everyone who is a core organizer
institution ever more important. has a new job.
VA TW

> To read an extended version of this conversation, visit bit.ly/DMUO23.


I’d also say that DMU was a holding pen
for a lot of ideas that we were all bringing
to the table and collectively, the point was
to materially alter the frameworks that
determine what architecture can be and
who it can serve.
BL
I think there is a new visibility and agency
to a new generation of people who are
able to voice new questions, ideas, and
practices to push the design and built
environment fields.
JGM
I don’t know, that’s what I’m asking. I think
a lot of people who would have had a
more difficult path to teaching got a boost.
I think [DMU’s Foundations of Design
Justice] courses have popped up more
in major institutions. I think more people
have gotten speaking engagements.
GB
New platforms for expression—perhaps
with increased visibility and funding to
say what we feel needs to be said. Who
is listening might be another question …
JN
And I think this has been able to be done
in a pretty explicitly anti-racist, decolonial,
and power-shifting framework that has
been uniquely positioned across several
generations.
JGM
But I don’t think any of that was the explicit
goal from the outset. The intentions were
much more radical from jump, and I’m
not sure we’ve found our way there yet.
BL
I think that in terms of opportunities
for BIPOC academics and interest in
social justice-oriented courses there
has been a definite expansion that is
refreshing to see. However, these changes
have not made their way into the core
curriculum which makes it seem fleeting.
IE
13
I know that DMU (and DAP), who and
what they represent, are referenced often
[across discourses in the field]. I think
perhaps, most importantly, as a model—or
nested models—of discourse, organizing,
mutual support, and professional and
academic culture (that is anti-colonial,
anti-racist).
JH
Yes, I am interested in how these models
can impact some lasting changes in
communities and within institutions. The
first is likely coming sooner than the latter.
JN
Many of us teach at [Predominantly
White Institutions] that are very resistant
to change—which is why we wanted this
“one foot in, one foot out” model in the
first place.
JN
And who is listening shifts quickly. I
remember looking in disbelief as thousands
of mostly white people marched down
the streets chanting, “Black Lives Matter,”
but years later the focus has shifted to
defending basic history, protecting basic
civil rights ... and I think there is still work
to do to get people to understand how
our prompts for “new models and forms”
translates to different communities and
power structures.
JGM
We have created a space where the
BIPOC thinkers feel valued and centered.
So much of teaching is being a thought
leader and guiding convos. I feel more
agency in DMU courses. It’s not radical
in space, the way it would be labeled at
some other institutions where I teach.
TW
Appreciate that about DMU, that the
leadership goes across the generations
and a few people have gotten their first
teaching opportunities through the DMU
infrastructure and are paying it forward.
QR
14

“Is it
recording?”

TRANSFORMING THE FUTURE OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

How Practitioners Can Hold a More Expansive View of the Architect’s Role Within the Design Profession

TEXT BY VENESA ALICEA-CHUQUI, KEKELI DAWES, GINA FERNANDES, AND VICTOR ZAGABE

Architectural practice needs a significant transformation interdisciplinary practices. For example, landscape archi-
to respond to the urgent issues of climate change, social tect Sara Zewde, an assistant professor at the Harvard
and racial injustice, unjust labor practices, and rapidly University Graduate School of Design, engages the legacy
changing new technologies. If we revisit our professional of slavery to produce new works at both her New York–
objectives as architects and embrace a more critical view based practice, Studio Zewde, and in classroom seminars
of our roots, tools, scope, services, and processes, we can like “Cotton Kingdom Now,” which wrestled with the leg-
be better equipped to dismantle oppressive structures and acies of Frederick Law Olmstead and the legacies of slavery
build a more just future. in the U.S. In recognizing our role not just as architects
The purpose of an architectural license is to ensure that but as part of a community of design practitioners respon-
the architect has met minimal competencies to protect the sible for shaping the built environment, we ought to better
safety, welfare, and health of related personnel (construc- recognize our collective responsibility to create restorative
tion workers, MEP professionals, contractors, engineers) places for the marginalized.
and the public. As service professionals, architects are con- Architects often see themselves as service-based pro-
tractually bound to their clients, and also have an ethical fessionals, limited to being merely reactive. However, we
obligation, per The American Institute of Architects code can spark change by preemptively arming ourselves with
of ethics, to the public, to their colleagues, to the architec- a critical re-evaluation of the instruments of service and
tural profession, and to the environment. To fulfill their whom they serve. Architectural conventions should be
obligations, design professionals need to confront design more than supplementary tools for the efficient assembly
inequities and foster a more inclusive narrative of their of building construction. What might we learn by seeing
obligation. They help do so by centering the experiences material legends, maps, specifications, and details as tools
of marginalized individuals and groups through storytell- for radical storytelling? What if architectural conventions
ing and counterstory-storytelling, through celebrating the demonstrated collaborative, inclusive practices tied to the
intersectionality of identities, and through embracing a implementation of new technologies? How might we re-
robust vision of co-creation and collective learning within think authorship to serve and include the many communi-
their practices. As practitioners, educators, and students, ties with the skills and knowledge required to complete a
we are expected to demonstrate technical competence and building project? By redefining who we serve, we redefine
critical thinking skills, while simultaneously navigating who we are. When we consider the impact of these new
our political, social, economic, cultural, and environmental conventions across different phases—from pre-design, to
contexts. This is no small feat, especially for those minori- site selection, to post occupancy—we will discover creative
tized in the profession. The 2020 Baseline on Belonging means of improving education and practice. These sugges-
study by the National Organization of Minority Architects tions should not be seen as universal either—there is no
and the National Council of Architectural Registration universal solution to specific legacies of harm. One only
Boards highlights obstacles faced by minority profession- needs to look at London-based Forensic Architecture’s
als on the path to licensure, reflecting the lack of diversity unconventional use of architectural tools to present evi-
in our field. We need to promote a more inclusive profes- dence of human rights violations. To address our ethical
sion. But how? concerns, our tools of practice should become increasing-
Through collaborations at all stages of an architect’s ca- ly particular to overcome the inadequacy of universalism.
reer, and by having a less self-referential and self-contained One model for this is the Community First Toolkit, a re-
set of processes, architects can effect meaningful change. source provided by Stephen F. Gray in collaboration with
We should embrace multidisciplinary development Caroline Filice Smith, the Urban Institute, and the
plans that provide opportunities to build produc- High Line Network that park organizations can
tive coalitions that are also actively included use to embed equity into public spaces.
“The National
in local communities. It is our responsibil- Architectural Accrediting As we foster opportunities for co-cre-
ity to expose students to inclusive design Board says … show me how each ation, and nurture our practices and the
individual student learns exactly
in the public interest as exemplified in the same thing. Such a waste. There’s
education of the next generation of prac-
practices like the Detroit Collaborative so many things to learn. And to have titioners, we can begin to transform our
Design Center at University of Detroit each individual student learning exactly profession. We call upon our fellow ar-
the same thing is a total waste of
Mercy. Academia can also help us forge personal power. So I want to somehow
chitects to join us.
understand [how] your collective
energy … validates and amplifies
REVIEWED BY GARNETTE CADOGAN, ALBERT student learning.”
CHAO, DEENA DARBY, ANDREW HART, LISA C.
HENRY, A.L. HU, CHRISTIN HU, JOYCE HWANG,
JUSTIN GARRETT MOORE, AND SCOTT RUFF
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How Dual Fuel Systems Can
Lower Construction Site Emissions
A year-long project to build a dairy facility goes off-grid with solar and propane.
The construction and dairy industries have little
in common, but what they do share is crucial:
Both are committed to lowering greenhouse gas
emissions.
Construction industry leaders are urging net-
zero building practices, just as the dairy sector’s
National Farmers’ Union set an ambitious goal to
achieve net-zero farming by 2040.
Both efforts were on full display in the heart
of cheese country, Little Chute, Wisc., where
a year-long construction project using clean,
renewable energies recently wrapped up.
Agropur is the fifth-largest producer of
cheese in the United States, with a target to
reduce GHG 30 percent by 2031. When it
came time to build a new 210,000-square-foot
cheesemaking facility in Little Chute, curbing
jobsite emissions was a priority. The solution:
two microgrids that harvest 40kW of solar, paired
with 176kWh of battery storage and backed by
a 35kW Generac propane-fueled generator. The
off-grid utility powered two jobsite trailers,
temporary lighting for a wastewater treatment
plant, charging for power tools, and engine block
heaters to keep construction vehicles operating
throughout the winter.
The results: nearly 77,500 pounds of
CO2 avoided—equal to the amount of carbon
sequestered by 43.1 acres of forests, according
to Menasha, Wisc.-based EnTech Solutions,
which supplied its Xcape microgrid units to the
jobsite. That’s thanks in part to propane, a low-
carbon fuel that powered the backup generator.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
READILY AVAILABLE ENERGY
While the jobsite could have been connected
to the grid, a temporary power cord to connect
the north and south sides wasn’t immediately
available, threatening to postpone the project
by six months.
“That’s a long delay, so they saw this as an
excellent opportunity to demonstrate renewable
power on a jobsite,” says Michael Voigt, EnTech
Solutions’ project development manager. His
team set up the microgrid system in under two
weeks, getting the project back on schedule.
“These can be rapidly deployed,” Voigt adds.
The system was also equipped with real-time
monitoring software, allowing the construction
manager to keep tabs on the amount of solar
power available and battery capacity, among
other metrics. EnTech Solutions, likewise,
could calibrate the system remotely to optimize
efficiency.
CLEAN BACKUP POWER
The 35kW Generac propane-fueled generator
was an integral part of the power puzzle. The
unit kicked on when cloud cover capped solar
power and the batteries drained down. But
even on the cloudiest days, the construction
team was able to squeeze out several kilowatt
hours of solar power.
When it was on, the propane-powered
backup generator operated at peak efficiency,
maximizing the amount of electricity it could get
out of the fuel. That’s because the generator
can run at nearly 100% of its capacity, which
is the most efficient. Compared to other job
Produced by Zonda Media, a Delaware corporation
marketing.zondahome.com
ARCHITECT INTEL
sites without solar and batteries, the required
generator constantly fluctuates with the varying
load demands, which is not good for fuel
efficiency, Voigt explains.
Curbing emissions also meant specifying a
clean fuel source. That decision came down to
diesel or propane for backup power. Propane
produces significantly fewer particulate matter
and NOx emissions than diesel, making it the
clear winner.
This microgrid system, combined with battery storage and
a propane-fueled backup generator, was equipped with
monitoring software so operators could track the amount of
available solar and battery capacity in real time.
BEYOND CONSTRUCTION
Microgrids for temporary power on construction
sites have proven to be an efficient alternative
to grid-connected power and, in some cases,
it’s more affordable, Voigt explains. EnTech
Solutions also deploys the microgrid units as a
power solution for concerts and EV charging,
using propane to make a renewable power
source even cleaner.
“When we’re remote and off-grid without
natural gas lines there, we move forward with
propane because it produces fewer emissions
than diesel,” Voigt says.
Scan the QR code
to sign up for news,
technologies,
and incentives for
building homes
with propane.
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22

CONTEXT: A SUBVERSIVE ACT OF COMMUNING

Rethinking Context as a Tool of Liberation Woven From Reflections, Thoughts, and Conversations
Within the Dark Matter U Network

TEXT BY SHALINI AGRAWAL, SOPHIE WESTON CHIEN, DEENA DARBY, AND LISA C. HENRY WITH TONIA SING CHI, ANDREW D. CHIN,
PEDRO CRUZ CRUZ, ANDREW HART, CHRISTIN HU, JOYCE HWANG, SHAWHIN ROUDBARI, AND BZ ZHANG

Engagement means developing long-term, reciprocal, and “ecosystem services” and human
“Architecture as a
transparent relationships with people, land, and mech- use-value toward a deeper en- collaborative process
anisms for accountability. At its root, the word “engage- gagement with the environ- can help generate real spaces
of belonging, care, memories,
ment” means to commit, so we should not be using it in ment. In this way, we create
and justice. A lot of people aren’t
architectural practice unless we are committing to relation- room for questioning and familiar with how a spatial practice
ships with people and land above power and profit. This redistributing power in ar- like architecture can intersect
with real lives. It’s an opportunity
idea opens up a question for the discipline: How does one chitectural practice through to facilitate a more participatory,
develop a working relationship with site and community the engagement process. honest and trusted engagement,
and for people to become real
based on trust, and not exchange? We need to start by fo- In Dark Matter U, the ar- stewards of the built
cusing on professional engagement. As in, how are we as chitect’s practice and social po- environment.”
professionals cultivating transparent, informed, meaning- sitions are also part of the context
ful, and anti-racist professional participation? We can start of a project, therefore introspection
to focus on how a project repairs, regenerates, and recon- is vital. Taking the time to know yourself and your position
figures the sociological, ecological, and spatial futures of clarifies the systems of power that everyone operates in.
the site and its inhabitants. By naming power dynamics and understanding who holds
The discourse around community-engaged design de- power, one can challenge and disrupt that power, reclaim-
ploys the idea of “context” as a tool to gain knowledge ing agency toward the goal of expanding agency for all. In
about how practitioners are going to design in, with, and addition to exploring our own position in relation to con-
for communities. Site is often reduced to geographic co- text, witnessing is one of the first steps in being truly crit-
ordinates and imagined lines on a map; it is abstract and ical to honoring what an experience, a space, or a cultural
disconnected. The way context is studied and used by de- practice is. There, we find ways to legitimize narratives and
signers is extractive. Site surveys and research documents other subjective perspectives. We become the tools of oth-
often foreground quantitative data, measurements, and ers to extend and amplify their agency, removing the cult
documentation. Additionally, these documents fundamen- of the professional/expert toward a more meaningful rela-
tally rely on colonial and capitalist ideologies such as the tionship of witness/scribe/participant/partner.
Doctrine of Discovery, usufruct rights, and dominion of Another take on context is as an epistemology or a way
humanity over nonhuman beings. In this case, it can be of gaining knowledge about a community, by embedding
productive to think about the weaponization of context, as oneself in a place. Lived experience becomes the knowl-
noted by Joe Bryan and Denis Wood in Weaponizing Maps edge that serves as the basis of engagement with place. In a
(Guilford Press, 2015). Just as maps of Indigenous lands just world, designers would be like every other community
are produced by geographers and leveraged by extractive member, contributing their unique skills toward broader
industries and militaries, so are the studies of context that goals. We could use our power to invest in creative, hu-
designers produce. Working in these frameworks will never man, and other resources to support communities in gen-
be sufficient without understanding their failures and vio- erating their own design process and outcomes and build
lences, but it is also possible to use our knowledge to lever- capacity, dignity, and ownership.
age these devices against the systems that created them. In DMU, we are reminded daily that the subversive act
We should redefine context as a way to question the of working in solidarity, trust, and love with each other is
locations of architectural discourse in order to redistrib- profound. Existing together and building our own context
ute power. This redefinition will open space for analyzing, is a way for us to test the limits and paradoxes of the sys-
critiquing, and creating new models of practice tems we live in, and push our interconnected web
that center shared knowledge. It is an oppor- toward liberation. Our DMU network is a dis-
“I have a very tactile tributed form of context. Being committed
tunity to overlay equity where community
way of engaging with space
voices have been erased and record the that is often focused on making, to DMU as a collective practice provides
daily lives of residents facing issues like touching, or exploring the material space and time for the work of culti-
qualities of a space, but this is always
the right to public space, discrimina- connected to a curiosity about the
vating the self- and collective knowl-
tion, racist policies, and land specula- history of places and how they came to edge required for genuine and critical
tion. Context moves beyond notions of exist in their current iteration. Tactile engagement.
engagement leads to storytelling, which
in turn leads to critical awareness
of the stories and experiences that
are obscured by the physical
reality of the place.”
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24

PROJECTS: Uplifting Practices Within the

Dark Matter U Collective

MULTISPECIES LOUNGE
Joyce Hwang and Nerea Feliz, Double Happiness
The Multispecies Lounge project by Double Happiness—a
collaboration between architects Joyce Hwang and Nerea
Feliz—encourages co-occupation between animals and
humans, aiming to amplify urban wildlife in and around
the Bentway and Canoe Landing Park in Toronto.
Comprising a field of public seating, the scheme offers an
urban “lounge” for human recreation, while acting as an
aggregation of spaces designed for animal inhabitation

FAITH FORWARD
Germane Barnes, Studio Barnes
The Set is a historically Black, 1,000-acre community
in the heart of Delray Beach, Fla. In 1935, it was desig-
nated as the “Negro Area or Settlement” in the adopt-
ed Resolution #146-35 by Delray Beach’s City Council.
Today, The Set remains home to the majority of Delray’s
Black population—one-fifth of Delray’s overall popula-
tion of 65,000 people.
The Coalition, a collective of Black church leaders from
The Set, has joined forces with Miami-based designer
Germane Barnes on the Regenerating Roots Project. This
project is defined by two pillar structures: The Market
and The Hall. Historically, The Set community has played
a significant role in fighting systems and institutions op-
pressing Black people and neighborhoods. While doing
so, The Set emerged as a self-reliant community led by
and awareness, including birdhouses, insect boxes, and
hibernacula for small terrestrial animals. Habitat condi-
tions in the project cater to familiar species of popular
appeal, such as American robins, barn swallows, and oth-
er songbirds. The spaces also provide shelter for less-rec-
ognized urban animals such as solitary bees and local
snakes. Using renewable resources such as red cedar, as
well as recycled and upcycled materials such as discarded
construction waste, the project’s material ecology advo-
cates for circular economies in design and construction.
Through QR codes mounted on the wooden struc-
tures and available on the Bentway’s website, the project
facilitates information-sharing about local urban wildlife
through links to an online video series titled “Lounge
Voices,” which features short, fictionalized narrations
from the perspectives of neighborhood species. For ex-
ample, the sweat bee (which is Toronto’s official bee)
tells viewers about how it lives in solitary settings such as
small holes, cracks, and crevices instead of in hives, while

okdraw studio; jack landau

pioneers of color. Regenerating Roots shifts the narrative
of this community from one of vulnerability and charity the northern mockingbird discusses how it uses trash to
to one of power and authenticity. Together, Regenerating build nests. To approximate nonhuman experiences, the
Roots acknowledges the impact of systemic racism and installation features UV reflective graphics as patterns on
supports the revival of a historically Black community. each birdhouse and insect habitat as a nod toward insects
A large, open-air structure, approximately 20,000 and birds and their ability to see beyond the light spec-
square feet in area, The Market will not only pay homage trum visible to humans. While the pattern appears static
to the Bahamian roots of this congregation but also acti- to human eyes, the use of UV or black light to illuminate
vate a vacant parcel that currently contributes to neigh- the structure at night will give visitors the opportunity to
borhood blight. Additionally, the project will serve as a experience the installation as
venue to showcase The Set community’s cottage indus- animals would, amplify-
tries, such as food, entertainment, and beauty products. ing visual perception
Also located in The Set, St. Matthew Episocopal through a nonhu-
church owns a parish hall that will be upgraded and man lens.
renovated. Aiming to preserve a beloved and
important venue in the community—and
“The [larger] challenges
give residents access to a space and place of social justice and the
that is not threatened with demolition— climate crisis that we are facing as
individuals in our fields, and society
the 3,000-square-foot Parish Hall will
at large, need new kinds of practices
be renovated as a commercial kitchen to meet them … The collectivity models
and event space that contributes to the that the DMU has been embodying [is
just that] … changing how we teach
collective power-building efforts of its and how we practice, by beginning to
residents. experiment … [and get concerned]
with how we do things as
much as the outcomes.”
 25

“I would really love

SANKOFA
Jerome Haferd Studio
to see the definition of
what it is to be an architect
expanded ... and the potential
of imagining new models
to get things done might
Sankofa is the first of multi- broaden accessibility.”
ple interactive installations in
Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park
to serve as centerpiece nodes of the
Mellon Foundation–funded Culture, Creativity, and Care
initiative. The project is being led by Harlem Grown, a
local food justice nonprofit. Designed by Jerome Haferd
Studio, a Harlem-based, Black-led public art and archi-
tecture practice, the project is on view for the summers
of 2023 and 2024. The word “Sankofa” derives from
the Akan African folklore, symbolizing remembrance of
things forgotten and the importance of learning from the
past to build our future. The installation is simultaneous-
ly Afro-futuristic and ancestral.
The design concept, inspired by working in collabora-
tion with members of the Park Alliance and other commu-
COLUMBUS COLUMBIA nity groups, draws upon intersectional cultures including

COLOMBO COLON
Jennifer Newsome and Tom Carruthers,
African, Afro-Caribbean, and Indigenous craft traditions,
as well as the everyday histories and contemporary life of
the park. The 32-foot, circular steel-frame structure incor-
Dream the Combine porates a gathering space below a striking mesh-fabric
canopy that features a complex printed design depicting
Sitting at the intersection of I-65 and State Road 46 near
archival images and digitally composed layers evoking
Columbus, Ind., a landscaped sign encourages travelers
what Haferd and team describe as “a new mythology” of
to “Discover Columbus!” Its message links Christopher
Marcus Garvey Park, as well as other Harlem-inspired
Columbus’ efforts “discovering the new world” to the
motifs.
world discovering this small city in middle America.
Haferd conceived of the piece as a community engage-
The play on words references the 15th-century papal
ment device itself—a process that will unfold, evolve, and
decrees that established the Doctrine of Discovery—
showcase Harlem-focused programming. Visitors pass
edicts that enabled the slavery of non-Christians and
underneath to discover a ring of mounted artwork, a ro-
gave empires total rights to the lands they encountered
tating exhibit that will feature the work of numerous local
through exploration, disregarding the long histories of
artists over the course of the summer. Despite its bespoke
Indigenous peoples. These texts fuel the origin myths
appearance, the installation is based on a modular system
used to support the extractive and exploitative practices
and uses sturdy, reusable materials including bolted steel
hadley fruits; anna dave

that are still present in our global landscape. Our ability

frame and solid wooden seating that can be reconfigured
to persevere through the everyday reach of this violence
for a number of future uses or sites. The project involves
counters our involute history.
planning and collaboration across groups and trades.
Through an installation consisting of 58 flagpole-like
props without their flag-images, we portray the complex-
ity of “Columbus” as both a physical place (in Indiana
and elsewhere) and a system of signification extending
in every direction. The location of the props, made
of aluminum with Mylar lettering, corresponds to
a specific Columbus, Columbia, Colombo, or
Colón place name mapped using a Mercator
projection. Carefully researched text spe-
cific to each locale spirals each pole,
overwriting the network with new as-
sociations. Reading these fragments
induces a spiraling movement, pro-
pelling the visitor to form a unique-
ly constructed story.
26
ROOTING JUSTICE
María A. Villalobos H.
The project embodies an urban movement where agri-
culture is culture, driven by a collective landscape design
and research practice. This vision emerges from a collabo-
ration between the Master in Landscape Architecture and
Urbanism program at the Illinois Institute of Technology,
the City of Chicago Planning Department, and local non-
profit Grow Greater Englewood. Today, the project team
includes multiple entities: Gensler, Planning Resources
Inc., TranSystems, Botanical City, Studio Barnes, among
others. The 1.75-mile nature trail repurposes the Loomis
Embankment, built in 1905 for freight traffic and used
for that purpose until the 1970s, as a continuous agro-bo-
tanical space to support urban farming businesses and
institutions, address environmental issues such as soil
pollution and seasonal flooding, and provide moments of
relaxation and learning.
The process proposes transferring planning power to
community organizers, enabling a neighbor-led land-
scape framework grounded in ongoing activities and pro-
grams around three principles:
Multiplicity of agro-botanical identities: Landscape walks
tell the evolutionary story of plants in order to develop
agro-business and promote community growth and ur-
ban biodiversity by preserving cultural and biological
heritage.
Continuous support systems: Soil and water systems ad-
dress flooding, stormwater management, and wildlife
support. The project respects existing hydrological and
topographical features and preserves native plants.
Interconnected sacred groves: New public spaces cele-
brate ancestors by welcoming trees with unique bioreme-
diation capacities such as Populus tremuloides.
The Englewood Agro-eco District and Nature Trail in-
tegrate science and art, fostering a connection with the
land and enhancing cultural belonging. In four years, the
initiative has raised $80+ million. In September 2023, the
first poplars arrived at the Englewood Plaza to continue
rooting justice.
“How architecture
is defined broadly,
beyond just the built
environment includes, you
know, community engagement,
it includes a deeper history and
understanding, it includes… trauma
informed design… it becomes like
‘community multidisciplinary
project x’ instead of just
architecture.”
MIDLAND LIBRARY
Bryan C. Lee Jr., Colloqate
Set in the East Multnomah County of Portland, Ore.,
Midland Library attempts to move beyond a conven-
tional space. In collaboration with local firm Bora
Architecture & Interiors as architect of record, the New
Orleans– and Portland-based firm Colloqate served as
the design architect on the 24,000-square-foot renovation
and 6,000-square-foot addition that weave the profound
narratives of a multifaceted community into a space tai-
lored to an eclectic community.
Honoring Lived Experiences: East Multnomah,
enriched by communities of color, immigrants,
refugees, and those impacted by the gentri-
fication of Portland’s city center, required
spaces that resonate with its values. The
library renovation connects the stories
of its residents into its architectural
fabric.
Distinct Architectural Elements:
Woven community spaces: The de-
sign intricately crafts outdoor plaza
spaces, collective seating, and flexi-
ble program rooms, reminiscent of the
strength of intertwined basket strands.
Interactive engagement: Drawing patrons
into a world of interactive play and discovery,
the library incorporates sliding art walls, multi-
sensory play areas, and versatile workshop zones.
Cultural homage: At its core, the library champions a
Community Art Showcase, fostering a deep connection
to the local narrative through prominent art by regional
artists and cultural collection displays.
Ecological and well-being nexus: Nestled seamlessly with
Midland Park, the design accentuates native plantings
and elements inspired by rivers, water, and trees, resonat-
ing with life and adaptation.
botanical city and grow greater englewood; nephew
Deep-Rooted Community Involvement: A standout fea-
ture of the Midland Library design process is its unwav-
ering commitment to community inclusivity throughout
its design journey. The foundation was laid with Design
Justice training early in the project, sensitizing team mem-
bers from library staff and community advocates to our
partners and contractors to potential systems of injustice.
Directly bridging the project with the community
pulse, interviews with library staff and the instrumental
role of Community Design Advocates have been invalu-
able. Their engagements ensured the Midland community
remained at the forefront.
The redesigned Midland Library affirms East County
residents as authors of their own stories and active creators
of a shared future. By weaving many voices into one vi-
brant communal fabric, it will help build a stronger, more
equitable, and resilient community.
 27
“In community design
and participatory design,
multiple voices come together
at the table, equipped with tools to
actively participate in their community's
development and sustainability. It's
like a constellation of collaborators
BROWNSVILLE FUTURES
Cory Henry, Atelier Cory Henry
that always moves back and forth. Your
individual decisions have long-term
The 9 Gammon building sits at the site
public health implications for yourself,
your family, your community, and of the 1906 Brownsville Race Massacre
your neighborhoods.” in Atlanta. The structure originally served
as a community center for Brownsville and
the surrounding Atlanta neighborhoods in the
1950s. However, in the 1980s, the building, land, and
surrounding neighborhoods changed due to deepen-
ing poverty, violence, and public health crises. In 1996,

THE QUILTING OF ARCHITECTURE

Curry J. Hackett
Over the last few months, I have been using Midjourney,
an image generator powered by artificial intelligence, to
visualize surreal scenes of row houses, phone booths, and
cathedrals—all clad with intricately patterned quilts. The
images, purposely intended to be photorealistic, manage
to weave nostalgia and absurdity into worlds that feel
plausible, while also difficult to place in time and space.
Media artist Alisha B. Wormsley states on her bill-
board in Pittsburgh that “there are Black people in the
future.” For me, conjuring these alternative worlds reveals
the imagination embedded not only in everyday Black
life but in the more futuristic effort of Black liberation.
Bearing Wormsley’s charge in mind, my series invites
Black folks to embrace the exuberance of the present in
order to construct futures that serve them.
Quilting, in particular, offers a useful shorthand for
the sophistication and resourcefulness embedded in
Black material culture. For over a century, the community
of Black women in Gee’s Bend, Ala., have been making
a case for quilts as both a metaphor for and a material
of warmth, care, remembrance, and durability. The quilts
are collectively constructed, repurposing old shirts and
feed sacks into compositions that seem somehow both
meticulously planned and improvisational, traditional
and contemporary. My series of Midjourney images—
uniquely generated for this issue—suggests how architec-
ture might hold space for Black futures through the Gee’s
Bend quilter’s approach to quilting. The Black women
depicted in the images have reappropriated quilts as a
provocative architectural material: They cloak the down-
curry j. hackett; atelier cory henry
two community-serving nonprofit organizations, Project
South and the Hunger Coalition, moved into 9 Gammon.
By 2016, both organizations envisioned a shared space
that would anchor and fuel a new process of neighbor-
hood power building: the Mutual Aid Liberation Center.
In 2022, the Community Foundation for Greater
Atlanta transferred the deed for 9 Gammon to Project
South, which started planning the revitalization of the ex-
isting brick building that would become the Mutual Aid
Liberation Center. The Los Angeles–based firm Atelier
Cory Henry was asked to design this expansion and
adaptive reuse, known as the Brownsville Futures Project.
However, after community discussions and research into
regional conditions, the design team asked to widen the
vision to include master planning the 4.5-acre parcel.
This allowed the team to increase the Hunger Coalition’s
urban agriculture production area by 200%, develop mi-
cro-housing, and create a park, a health trail, and an activ-
ity hill that will be available to all community members.
Atelier Cory Henry aimed to support the needs of the
community and enhance the work of the organizations
and social justice movement leaders within it. The ex-
tension is clad in weathered steel panels, paying homage
to the rail line that once served as a supply route for the
community, including during the 1906 massacre. The
changing light and shadow throughout the day activate
the building’s façades, revealing perforated patterns that
form Ghanaian Adinkra symbols specifically selected
to embody the work of Project South and The Hunger
Coalition. For example, Nea Onnim represents knowl-
edge and learning, and Dwennimmen signifies strength
and resilience. As of this writing, Project South is in the
capital campaigning phase of the development project.

town buildings of Birmingham, Ala., while also rendering Visit ProjectSouth.org for more information.
them hyper-visible. One can also imagine the quilts being
patched and reapplied over time, recasting the architec-
ture as something less static—instead being continuously,
and perhaps socially, maintained.
Ultimately, this work prompts us to envision new
modes of stewardship, while looking to the quotidian to
inspire emergent aesthetics in the built realm. Because as
Gee’s Bend quilter Mensie Lee Pettway notes, “a quilt is
more” than an aggregation of material. It is an invitation
to redress notions of beauty, labor, and permanence.
28 Preservation, Storytelling, and Place
KEEPING AND SHAPING OUR PLACES
A New Mellon Foundation Program Supports Designers
Who Are Preserving and Building More Just Communities
TEXT BY JUSTIN GARRETT MOORE AND ALEX WHITTAKER
At the Mellon Foundation, the nation’s largest supporter
of the arts and humanities, a commitment to social justice
grantmaking guides efforts to address the historical inequi-
ties embedded across disciplines, institutions, and places.
The New York–based organization’s newest program area,
Humanities in Place, has deployed $136.6 million since its
inception in 2020 to expand the capacity of communities
to keep and shape their places and built environments
through grants for design projects and the social and cul-
tural infrastructure they provide. In embracing this respon-
sibility to create and care for spaces ethically, Humanities
in Place asserts that we must learn from, and contribute
to, existing community- and grassroots-led efforts to em-
bed social justice in the practice of designing a more just
future. Across the spectrum of work that Mellon supports,
human connection in place is the driving force of dynamic
change, allowing communities to challenge which struc-
tures and spaces are valued, what histories are
kept and shared, and how we expand
knowledge and design sustainably
for future generations.
This work includes organi-
zations like Ekvn-Yefolecv
(pronounced ee-gun yee-
full-lee-juh), which means
“returning to the earth, re-
turning to our homeland”
in Maskoke and refers to
a group of Indigenous
Maskoke people who are
establishing an intentional
eco-village on 2,648 acres of
their ancestral land in Alabama.
With the support of a Humanities
in Place grant in 2021, Ekvn-Yefolecv
was able to begin construction of its Vla-
hoke project’s main lodge, which will serve as a space for
visitors holding retreats, board meetings, and other gath-
erings upon opening in 2027. A museum that centers In-
digenous justice will also be housed in this building. Social
justice–informed grantmaking is called to address the press-
ing inequities of our world, and the issues faced by places
at the forefront of environmental catastrophe are some of
the most urgent. Often these communities are people of
color who have experienced decades of displacement and
environmental injustice, as was the case of the Maskoke
Reviewed by Lisa C. Henry and Victor Zagabe
people who
were forcibly
removed from
their homeland
by the United States
federal government 180
years ago.
Ekvn-Yefolecv proposes an
alternative to extractive economies that
have abused their ancestral lands, committing to an eth-
ical stewardship of natural resources and relationships.
Marcus Briggs-Cloud, co-director of Ekvn-Yefolecv, states,
“Embedded in our language is a traditional Maskoke onto-
logical worldview that mandates living in right relationship
with all beings of the natural world. Thus, for the Vlahoke
eco-lodge, we seek to embody these values in the built
environment by coupling traditional Maskoke ecological
knowledge with sustainability science, which is why we’ve
registered to achieve the Living Building Challenge
4.0 certification, the most rigorous green build-
ing standard in the world.” Adding urgency
to this regenerative project is the potential
loss of the Maskoke language, which has
become endangered as a result of the on-
going violences of settler-colonialism.
from top: ekvn-yefolecv; jo banner
Reclaiming land and building upon it
sustainably, with natural building con-
struction, renewable energy, and low-
tech integrated regenerative systems, is
both the means and the end to advance
environmental, linguistic, and cultural
conservation.
Another Humanities in Place grantee, the
Descendants Project, represents the Black com-
munity of Wallace in St. John the Baptist Parish,
La., which is enduring the burden of toxic pollution and
destructive land use under heavy in-
dustrial facilities. The immediate
environmental crises in this
landscape are haunted by
violent echoes of the plan-
tation system, as more
than 200 petrochemical
and industrial agricul-
ture facilities lining the
Mississippi River occupy

“The DMU Network
former plantations. In addition to threaten- is intentional about
ing the health of frontline communities, in- taking care of each other
and creating a place … for
dustrial complexes enact a suppression of faculty of color to imagine
relational ties to land and history, in certain ... where I can just show
cases transgressing unmarked burial grounds
of those enslaved. In 2021, the London-
based multidisciplinary research group Forensic
Architecture published a report on the environmental
racism occurring in a region between Baton Rouge and
New Orleans that residents call “Death Alley.” Through
a method of cartographic regression, which involves an
analysis of historical maps and contemporary satellite and
aerial imagery, Forensic Architecture has helped to locate
unmarked burial grounds of the enslaved
in order to preserve ancestral sites
and simultaneously legitimize
demands to halt the expan-
sion of petrochemical fa-
cilities. Many residents
of St. John the Baptist
Parish are descen-
dants of enslaved
people who labored
on surrounding
plantations. This is
true for the founders
of the Descendants
Project, sisters Jo and
Joy Banner, whose or-
ganization is undertak-
ing the restoration of a
19th-century house that will
provide educational programs,
genealogical research, and archae-
ological training. These programs will
from top: kevin harris architect; jo stallings/cross street
equip residents with the skills and knowledge to protect
the land upon which they live, the air they breathe, and the
sites and histories they steward. Empowering communities
with knowledge, material culture, and land counters the
partners, sulton campbell britt & associates
dominant methodologies of destructive architectures and
systems.
In the Texas cities of Socorro and San Antonio, Mellon
Foundation grants are supporting new cultural spaces
through the rehabilitation of two unique sites: one a
former processing center for migrant workers, and
the other a shuttered neighborhood meeting place.
The nonprofit group City of Socorro Community
Initiative is leading a preservation and reinterpretation
project at the Rio Vista Farm Bracero Reception Center,
likely the last remaining processing center in the United
States for the Mexican Farm Labor Program, or Bracero
Program, that was created to address labor shortages
during and after World War II. Between 1942 and 1964,
nearly 5 million Mexican guest workers participated in the
29
Bracero Program to work primarily in agricul-
ture and on railroad construction, and those
that passed through the Rio Vista Farm center
were subjected to dehumanizing working and
up as myself.” living conditions that included low quality food
and harsh medical examinations. To ensure that
the contributions of braceros are not erased, the re-
habilitated center will house the Bracero Museum, offering
exhibits that engage with visitors from both sides of the
U.S.-Mexico border. Ruben’s Ice House, a cultural space
located in San Antonio, will also receive a reimagined de-
sign and function. Once a cherished community space for
the Mexican immigrants of San Antonio’s Westside barrio,
today the ice house stands abandoned following its closure
in 1987. Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, a multicul-
tural arts and social change organization, is converting
the building into the Museo del Westside, an institution
that will document, preserve, and share the histories of
the immigrant, working class, and poor populations in the
Westside barrio, which today are threatened by develop-
ment and displacement. Humanities in Place funding has
made possible the renovation of Ruben’s Ice House and
the construction of a compressed earth block addition
to the structure to serve as a gallery space.
Through understanding historical and
unused places as opportunities for
cultural investment rather than
barriers to development, the
communities of Socorro and
Westside are cultivating
new spaces of education,
investments that will lead
to a more complete narra-
tive of Mexican American
history.
A significant barri-
er to social justice is the
propagation of incomplete
narratives about our coun-
try’s places and communities.
This is prevalent for the city of
Baltimore, a majority Black city
that is often reduced to recurring
and oftentimes racist narratives about
crime, violence, and disinvestment. Here,
two developing humanities-centered projects funded
in part by Humanities in Place will provide radical
spaces for the abundance of Black Baltimore stories to
flourish. The Upton Mansion, a landmark building in the
Old West Baltimore National Register Historic District, is
the future home of the Baltimore AFRO-American newspa-
per, or the AFRO, the longest-running Black family-owned
newspaper in the country. In past lives, the mansion has
been an estate, a radio station headquarters, a music
30 Preservation, Storytelling, and Place

school for Black students, and a Black residents

Baltimore City Public School
System administration build-
ing. Notably, it is also situ-
ated on what was once a
10-acre plantation. The
redeveloped building
will invite city resi-
dents to explore these
and other histories, as
it will contain the ex-
tensive archives of the
AFRO newspaper and
give the public unprece-
dented access to the collec-
tions. AFRO Charities, the
nonprofit partner of the news-
paper, hired local Black-owned
architecture firm Sulton, Campbell,
Britt & Associates for the restoration of
the extant structures and a new addition for expand-
ed office and public uses.
Nearby, Baltimore-native artist Derrick Adams is like-
wise establishing social and cultural infrastruc-
tures to support collective memory in
place, but with the construction of an
“DMU is ... a
entirely new built project. The pro- collective of
posed space of the Black Baltimore people that look like
me ... making up new, less
Digital Database will be located in hierarchical ways to engage
the Waverly neighborhood, where one another ... and that
Adams has already established the idea of collectivity
at all levels.”
Last Resort Artist Retreat, a residency
space that will host an inaugural cohort
of artists in 2023. Consisting of a digital ar-
chive and a physical center located in a historical black
of Baltimore,
this innovative
archival proj-
ect will center
and celebrate
narratives that
have long been
undervalued.
There are gaps
in how and where
histories are preserved
and told, and the design of
built spaces needs to be respon-
sive to the multitude of experiences in “By redistributing
place. In addition to supporting built resources from the
university back to
projects, Humanities in Place grants communities ... we can
have advanced the work of architec- prompt new questions
within the discipline.”
tural education and training groups
like Colloqate in New Orleans, LOUD-
READERS Trade School in the Caribbean,
and the Accra, Ghana-based African Futures
Institute. AFI founder Lesley Lokko shares that “through
the Humanities in Place grant, we have been able to re-
alize a long-held ambition to bring Africa closer to the
global conversations on social, racial, and environmental
justice, and vice versa. For Africa, the world’s youngest
continent, education is our battleground and our fu-
ture. With so few resources in place locally, support
of this kind is a lifeline. Now, more than ever, the ties
that bind us are necessary and deeply cherished.” AFI
exemplifies disruptive practice in ensuring that the de-
sign discipline does not become beholden to the singular
dominant voice, and that the multitude of perspectives in
the built environment reflect the intellectual power of the

from top: courtesy african futures institute; jo stallings/cross street

neighborhood, the Black Baltimore Digital Database Black Atlantic Ocean—the confluence of cultural identities
building will reference the visual and spatial elements of formed through migratory connections across the Atlantic.
Black life that surround it, as seen in features such as the Only through a social justice lens can the interests of so-

partners, sulton campbell britt & associates; lindsay marshall

large porch and the interior design of the kitchen. This vi- cial, racial, and environmental justice be prioritized in
sual language, developed with East Coast–based designers design education and practice. As Humanities in Place
and Dark Matter U members Jelisa Blumberg and Curry grantees attest, the true liberatory power of design lies in
Hackett, is purposeful; it will create a place for continual evaluation and interventions of the
local residents who may feel unwelcome in systems and relationships of power that
traditional institutions and inform the shape our world—a call to engage in
co-creation of the archive through visionary teaching and learning,
community connection. Digital practice sustainable design,
labs will occupy the second floor and act on a renewed under-
of the building for the pur- standing of place, history,
poses of collecting and pre- and one another.
serving the archival projects
brought by local creatives
and community members.
In preserving the genera-
tional accomplishments of
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32
THE JOYS OF JUST PRESERVATION
TEXT BY FALLON SAMUELS AIDOO, MICHELLE MAGALONG, AND ANDREA ROBERTS
Historic and cultural preservationists design the future of tangible and intangible heritage. Our ways of working and
knowing—and making them more just and sustainable—include practices and pedagogies of architecture, planning,
history, law, anthropology, and archaeology. We also work toward multivocal, multigenerational, multicultural
preservation praxis—a labor of love at odds with the measures of work worthwhile in academia and these professions.
While engaging communities affected acutely by injustices of these disciplines and professions, we find joy connecting
with what’s been left behind by engaging with who has been left to care for it.
FALLON, THE COMMUNITY STEWARD
Long before academia recognized or rewarded communi-
ty-engaged scholarship, I researched places and properties
with the people shaping histories and futures of these lo-
cales. The pandemic supercharged these engagements in
ways I could’ve never predicted when I started research
consulting to community-based organizations as a grad
student of architectural history in 2006. Once season-
al and local in New England and then in New Orleans,
my engagements with stewards of Black heritage became
year-round, national, cooperative endeavors—especially
once I began research and outreach under a National Trust
A plaque of the African American Heritage Trail of Martha’s Vineyard, with
text co-authored by Fallon Samuels Aidoo. A cottage owned and occupied
by African Americans in the late 19th century stands in the background on
swampland.
for Historic Preservation grant to the African American
Heritage Trail of Martha’s Vineyard. The list of engage-
ments ran the gamut: I helped heirs of property owners
contest demolition orders, advised legacy businesses seek-
ing renovation permits, and reported heritage vulnerabili-
ty and sustainability drivers to policymakers and planners,
among other endeavors. And I ran myself ragged.
I’ve learned an important lesson in aid-
ing community stewards to navigate
“I think the
moments of joy harmful institutions and helpful incen-
really show up when tives for community survival. When
we all get really excited
scholarship involves stewardship, the
about something. That
energy hits a peak; it’s
almost tangible, you
can feel it.” REVIEWED BY PEDRO CRUZ CRUZ, NINA FERNANDES, STEPHEN F. GRAY, LISA C. HENRY, AND JESS ZIMBABWE
research engagements are more enriching and enduring
than exhausting. I’ve found it’s not enough to have faith
that “joy comes in the morning,” as written in Psalm 30:5.
Scholarship performed by “other-ed” stewards of culture
and communities that identify as Black, Latina/o/x, Asian,
MENA, Indigenous, or immigrant requires caretaking—
not just self-care, but also planning for rest, even the final
rest, of individuals, initiatives, and institutions that pre-
serve heritage at risk.
Teaching real estate, preservation, and design profes-
sionals to document and develop a community’s architects
of resilience—not just its architecture—is one way I prepare
for these eventualities. So too is building capacity and rais-
ing capital for culture bearers and community stewards to
advise each other on how to combat economic disinvest-
ment, environmental disasters, infrastructure degradation,
regulatory disparities, taxation-induced dispossession, and
market-driven displacement. Academia rarely rewards “do-
ing the work” to prepare the people who preserve places
for succession and success, but ever rewarding is working
with and learning from octogenarian stewards of their de-
scendants’ joy.
ANDREA, THE TIME TRAVELER
I spent the last year reflecting on my past eight years of en-
gaged scholarship with historic Black communities, seek-
ing not just the academic metrics of progress but also the
joy of the work. Amid loss, COVID, and the racial uprising,
some of the joy got lost, and this has been a year of reclaim-
ing. What’s surfaced is a need to elevate the hidden past
(no matter how it complicates conventional wisdom about
race and place), while finding new ways for the past to in-
form the turn toward futurity among younger scholars. In
short, I started to identify less as a historic preservation
or planning scholar and more like a time traveler. If we
recall early Black futurists like W.E.B. Du Bois, we realize
that this search for meaning, impact, and transcendence
isn’t new. What’s different is the power we have through
technology to convene and connect deeply and honestly
without forced performance, with the vulnerability that it’s
been dangerous to operate with in academia.
To operate in joy and vulnerability is to contest that
and to foster hope and confidence in those with whom we
 33

in the Heart: The Making of the Filipina/o “Just searching for

American Community in Stockton, Cali- a group of people ...
spaces of belonging, spaces
fornia (Duke University Press Books, of memories. I get the most
2013) and George Lipsitz’s How Rac- joy and the ability to feel
safe, being vulnerable
ism Takes Place (Temple University
in a space.”
Press, 2011). Both of these scholars
were pivotal in shaping my own work
and how I navigated the field of historic
preservation as a scholar. I worry about teaching critical
race theory in how students may perceive its contents but
highlight tenets of intersectionality in my readings where
I incorporate examples of NRHP nominations of diverse
layers of histories, like the Japanese YWCA in San Francis-
co, which included Japanese American, Black, queer, and
gendered perspectives.

In 2015, freedom colony descendants Gwen Bluiett and Herman Wright

lead Andrea Roberts through the Clear Creek Community in Jasper
County, Texas, where only church and cemetery remain.

collaborate. My joy has emerged from The Texas Freedom

Colonies Project volunteers, many of whom have flourished
and grown their own public history agendas throughout
rural Texas. Through our virtual and in-person training on
oral history interviewing, these volunteers have taken what
they have learned about documenting freedom colonies
and applied it to create their own museum projects, lead
local trainings, and collaborate with descendant commu-
this page: andrea roberts; michelle magalong. opposite: fallon samuels aidoo

nities from neighboring freedom colonies. Is it all because

of me, no. But I do think that I did contribute to making
them feel less alone and more supported, which in turn af-
firmed the validity of their local knowledge, which is so
often not the case in local preservation. Building capacities
and reciprocities. That is when justice is happening. That’s
where the joy exists.

MICHELLE, THE INTERSECTIONAL EDUCATOR

I find joy in my classroom as I teach a graduate course on
race and ethnicity in historic preservation at the University
of Maryland, where I’ve developed learning modules that
coincide with heritage celebrations. This includes a site vis-
it to the National Museum of African American Heritage
and Culture in Washington, D.C., and the Harriet Tubman
Underground Railroad National Historical Park in Church
Creek, Md., during Black History Month. I also focus
on nominations to the National Register
of Historic Places written by BIPOC
scholars and on BIPOC communi- “DMU creates a space
for educators to
ties, including one for the Carter G. discuss the importance
Woodson Home National Historic of addressing issues
relevant to underserved
Site here in Washington, D.C., writ-
BIPOC communities
ten by Amber Wiley. in architectural
For assigned readings, I am elated to education.”
include Dawn Mabalon’s Little Manila Is
In 2018, Dawn Mabalon and Michelle Magalong visit the César E. Chávez
National Monument in Keene, Calif.
I believe in sharing personal perspectives of BIPOC
preservationists in my teaching. For example, as students
read Mabalon’s text, I also had them watch the documenta-
ry, Little Manila: Filipinos in California’s Heartland (2013), so
they got a chance to hear Mabalon’s voice (as she passed
away in 2018).
A key takeaway moment was when a student shared
with me that he taught other students about Mabalon
and Lipsitz, and he was thrilled that he could apply it
to other readings and assignments. Joy in this recol-
lection is when I felt like the lessons resonated with the
students and were reflected back to me.
34
IS THERE SUCH A THING AS ASIAN DIASPORIC ARCHITECTURE?
What Would It Look Like for Our Asian Diasporic Communities to Experience a Deep Affirmation of
Who We Are in the Buildings, Landscapes, and Everyday Spaces We Occupy and Shape?
TEXT BY TONIA SING CHI AND BZ ZHANG
While co-writing and co-teaching DMU’s first Foundations
of Design Justice course, the two of us began an ongoing
conversation about our positionalities as Asian bodies
working in racial justice spaces, where dominant power
structures often render us invisible or irrelevant. Here, we
call on our design colleagues of Asian diasporas to join us
in imagining new directions and orientations for co-creat-
ing liberatory diaspora spaces outside of what we’ve been
told exists.
For centuries, Asians have been dispersed from our
ancestral lands through imperialism, colonialism, war,
indentured labor, immigration, and globalization. Across
British settler colonial states—the so-called U.S., Canada,
Australia, and New Zealand—our refugee and immigrant
communities inhabit and shape cultural centers and land-
scapes that are predicated on Indigenous
dispossession and deeply intertwined
“DMU is a collective with Black, Brown, and multiethnic
of people who want to Asian communities. As Taiwanese and
change existing systems of
inequity, white supremacy,
Chinese diasporic practitioners in the
marginalization, and oppression. U.S., we orient ourselves from our
I wasn’t convinced that own diasporas’ entangled spatial his-
there was a space for me in
architecture to do that tories, in which waves of migrations
kind of work.” to the Americas were, in one century,
imported and weaponized by British
and American imperialists against Black
liberation and Indigenous sovereignty, and in
another, enabled and empowered by Black-led civil rights
and Global South solidarities. It is within this context that
we are interested in imagining Asian diaspora architectures
that center our own visions of collectivity, plurality, and
cross-racial solidarities. Here is how we might begin:
We invite our colleagues to see our identities be-
yond the Black-white binary and honor our experiences
through transcultural, decolonial, and anti-imperialist
frameworks in service of liberating spaces for all mar-
ginalized communities. The label “Asian” flattens a range
of identities, including Southeast Asian, South Asian,
Central Asian, Southwest Asian, and East Asian, as well
as immigrant, refugee, adoptee, and multiracial. How
do we further break down the monolith of a
so-called “Asian American” experience and
actively construct expansive claims to
Asianness? What have we lost and
what have we gained through dias-
pora and displacement? How do
we individually and collectively
REVIEWED BY THERESA HYUNA HWANG
“As we start to evaluate
and assess the curriculum,
it’s crucial to recognize the
understand, occupy, and otherwise violent historical connection
transform space as Asian bodies? between space and race. The
unjust organization of cities
We challenge our colleagues to plays a significant role
dream about collective diaspora fu- in this context.”
tures that are free from caricatures, fe-
tishes, and the harmful myths that have
shaped dominant narratives about Asians
in the U.S. What new imaginaries must be constructed to
reflect our entangled pasts, presents, and futures with each
other and all racialized peoples? How do we build new
lived ideas of home, belonging, and safety as diasporic,
displaced, and dislocated communities, “perpetually for-
eign” in the places we live? Can a space, an architecture,
or a landscape be Asian diasporic? In doing this work, we
honor first-generation Asian diasporic experiences while
acknowledging that emergent ones exist and evolve be-
yond them, and thus our architectural practice, history,
and preservation must be expansive across generations.
We permission to ourselves and our colleagues to
acknowledge, embody, and share contradictory feelings
of both joy and melancholy as acts of resistance. While
our experiences of silencing and shame may stem from dif-
ferent roots—both within our ancestral cultures and in our
survival in the West—we recognize that many within our
diasporas are not allowed space for emotional breadth and
depth. It is through cultivating this spaciousness that we
can transform our spatial practices.
Imagining ourselves and our environments outside of
what we have been told is a challenging, complex, and
ongoing process. We may not be fully ready to make and
take space that is truly liberated from internalized racism,
cultural assimilation, and the white gaze. As Asians in this
country, we have been disappeared or othered through
how others perceive us to be rather than how we perceive
ourselves. This makes it all the more empowering and ex-
citing to start conversations, take control of our own narra-
tives, and explore infinite opportunities to experiment and
co-create affirming, liberatory spaces for ourselves and our
diaspora communities.
Please join us in conversation at Storytelling
allowing many forms
Spaces of Solidarity in the Asian Diaspora,
an initiative that engages Asian diasporic
designers in learning, building, and
practicing intra- and inter-communi-
ty solidarity through storytelling,
memory work, and knowledge
sharing: sssad.space/survey.
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36
DMU X GOWANUS
Building Relationships to Design Spatial Justice
TEXT BY SAMENDY BRICE, ALBERT CHAO, NUPUR CHAUDHURY, A.L. HU, AND JEROME HAFERD
In 2021, members of Dark Matter U began working with
residents of Gowanus in Brooklyn, N.Y. As educators and
practitioners, DMU worked both inside and outside of
university institutions and curricula to center the people
within the neighborhood. Through a series of workshops,
seminars, and studio coursework that extended over two
years, DMU explored how an alternative entity can build
ongoing, collaborative processes in working with and sup-
porting people and neighborhoods as they move toward
creating forms of spatial justice.
In partnership with New York–based Van Alen Insti-
tute, DMU collaborated on the 2021 Neighborhood De-
sign Fellowship in Gowanus, Brooklyn. The six-month
program provided a stipend for the fellows, all of whom
were Gowanus residents, to participate in workshops that
centered community knowledge and visioning of goals
and objectives for collective spaces. DMU adapted its
Foundations of Design Justice semi-
nar, which had been collectively
2 developed and co-taught in
universities, for the fellow-
ship. By listening to the
experiences of the fellows,
3 pacity to assess, address, and grapple
1 Brandt : Haferd and University at Buffalo School
1. Digital collage by Torri Smith for the University of Michigan
spring 2021 Foundations of Design Justice seminar.
2. Tour of the Gowanus Houses Community Center as part of
the 2021 Neighborhood Design Fellowship: Gowanus.
3. Collage workshop, 2021 Neighborhood Design Fellowship.
4. Strategic Mission Pamphlets by DMU and the Fellows from
2021 Neighborhood Design Fellowship: Gowanus.
5. Design proposal for the Gowanus Houses Community Center
developed by students at the University at Buffalo.
REVIEWED BY SHALINI AGRAWAL, FALLON SAMUELS AIDOO,
ANDREW D. CHIN, IFEOMA EBO, ANDREW HART, AND LISA C. HENRY
5
4
“It is a radical thing
to do things not only
for yourself, but for
the people that you care
about. This gives Individuals
opportunities to grow and
learn about new things. I
feel like that has really
broadened my world.”
DMU began building collective ca-
1: torri smith; 2: jerome haferd; 3: van alen institute; 4: a.l. hu; 5: john lauder, jaidon
with the complexity of issues specific to the networks
ramirez zeno, lydia ho, rene franqui, robert whipple, katelyn broat, adrian cruz
within Gowanus. One specific result of the efforts
was a co-developed pamphlet that outlined is-
sues and existing conditions of the underutilized
Gowanus Houses Community Center.
Responding to the fellows’ call for alterna-
tive community center designs, DMU solicited
the skills of New York–based architecture firm
of Architecture and Planning architecture stu-
dents in the fall 2021 semester. Students listened
to, learned, and processed fellows’ experiences to
collaboratively develop visions for the community cen-
ter. DMU hosted academic review sessions with fellows to
foreground their interests and needs. During the spring
2022 semester, UB architecture students continued to col-
laborate with the fellows to assess, support, and expand
on ongoing work by existing networks within Gowanus,
including Gowanus Mutual Aid and Gowanus Houses
Residents’ Association.
Throughout the process of working with Gowanus
Neighborhood Design Fellows, DMU adapted and ex-
panded processes of co-design and co-creation. At each
stage, from initial relationship-building, to visioning and
designing spaces, to ongoing work over time, DMU’s
process continually revisits and re-centers the experience
and knowledge of community members in order to build
collective capacity for change.
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38
“I’m very interested
in transforming
architectural education
from individualistic models

APALACHICOLA HILL NEIGHBORHOOD DESIGN GUIDELINES to more collective ones that

DMU embodies by teaching
new modes of practice and
BIPOC Professors and Professionals in Service of Rural Communities experimentation.”

TEXT BY ANDREW D. CHIN

The city of Apalachicola, Fla., is typically described as

either a source of fresh seafood or a symbol of Old Flori-
da heritage. While both characterizations are correct, the
Southern heritage tourism frame selectively highlights sites
of racist power and ignores the history of its African-Amer-
ican community, the Hill. Like much of the segregated
South, the Hill was a self-sustained Black community with
a commercial district, education landmarks, religious in-
stitutions, and social networks. Yet, the more published
history of Apalachicola ignores it.

The team recognized that the value of the community

engagement was not the final drawings or the 3D-printed
models, but the empowerment of a local nonprofit called
the North Florida African American Corridor Project. The
organization ensures sustainable change, encourages local
leadership, and strengthens the community’s ability to ad-
vocate for its needs. In two years, the NFAACP secured a
permanent building and external grant funds, established
historical markers, and hosted exhibits and oral history
events on the history of the Hill. The residents of the Hill
are rewriting the history of Apalachicola.

The Apalachicola Hill Neighborhood Design Guide-

lines were developed by the Florida Agricultural and Me-
chanical University architecture program. The BIPOC
team included professors of architecture, landscape ar- from top: june a. grant; andrew d. chin
chitecture, African-American history, and food sciences; a
documentary filmmaker; an urban planner; and Hill res-
idents. Funded by the Florida Department of State, the
project highlights the potential of community engagement
by BIPOC design professionals in the design and planning
of rural minority communities.

“The huge opportunity

lies in untapping the
potential to establish a strong
relationship between practice,
research, and community while
fostering a sense of ownership
and pride in both a personal
identity and the work
accomplished.”

REVIEWED BY NUPUR CHAUDHURY AND LISA C. HENRY

40

“Because of DMU
there’s a possibility
of changing things for

DESIGN JUSTICE 101

the next generation of
students. The hope and the
promise of DMU makes
Teaching Anti-racist Models of Design Education to the Youth it feel possible.”

TEXT BY KIKI COOPER

“I think we can make our world better than ever. I think we can As designers and educators, it is our duty to co-create
actually do the things we are planning to …” physical and intellectual learning environments that en-
courage interrogation while actively centering the youth
Design As Protest is the sister organization of Dark Matter voice. In spring 2022, DAP Youth organizers worked with
U birthed from the same design principles and a hand- 12 high school students from the Charmaine and Robert
ful of Black designers. Since then, DAP has grown to be Career Institute South in Dallas. Over the course of five
a collective of designers from different backgrounds who weeks, students were introduced to the Design Justice
mobilize strategy to dismantle the privilege and power Demands and explored how they relate to their own
structures that use architecture and design as tools of op- communities through lectures, design exercises, and dis-
pression through radical visioning of racial, social, and cul- cussions with DAP organizers. Students conducted site
tural reparations through the design process. DAP exists analysis, created posters rooted in design justice cam-
to hold the design profession accountable in reversing the paigns, and invited their neighbors to join the design pro-
violence and injustice that architecture, design, and urban cess by providing feedback on their proposals. Students
planning practices have inflicted upon Black people gravitated toward thought-provoking topics such
and communities. as stopping gun violence, promoting cleaner
All of DAP’s campaigns and organizing environments, best safety practices, and host-
“Empowering communities,
teams stem from the same Design Justice ing art workshops that centered community
empowering youths,
principles (turned Design Justice Demands) empowering people—that’s mural making.
that were originally developed with the where I see DMU trying to go. For
me, as somebody who’s really
founders of DAP and DMU. DAP Youth invested in those things, I want REVIEWED BY ALBERT CHAO , DEENA DARBY,
organizers are a part of the field-organizing to be part of that change.” GINA FERNANDES, ANDREW HART, LISA C. HENRY,
A.L. HU, JOYCE HWANG, AND VICTOR ZAGABE
division of the DAP organizational structure.

MORE THAN JUST US

NOMA Youth Summer Camps Train Tomorrow’s Design Justice Advocates

TEXT BY MICHELLE BARRETT AND CHRIS DAEMMRICH

Each summer, in community centers and classrooms across “The wonderful thing about Project Pipeline is its incor-
the country, K–12 students of color in the National Orga- poration of culturally responsive pedagogy,” says Tame-
nization of Minority Architects’ Project Pipeline camps en- ka Pierre-Louis, a high school administrator in Suffolk
gage design justice issues like policing, homelessness, and County, N.Y., who studied the program for her doctoral
mass incarceration. dissertation. “Students enter safe spaces with, primarily,
practitioners of color. This may open them to worlds they
never would have considered.”
“We provide project examples where they live, bring-
“DMU provides students
and communities the ing architecture to the level of their lives,” San Francisco
opportunity to … regenerate or NOMA camp coordinator Julia Weatherspoon says. “We
revitalize their spaces or … their
understanding of their spaces ... I’ve
say, ‘These are the things you’ve been seeing. Here’s how
also seen communities physically, they’re related to architecture.’”
changing their environments in “Project Pipeline empowers future changemakers to
very material ways ... I want to
be empowered to do that. And
champion justice in their communities,” says Bryan Brad-
“DMU is a peer-ship
I want to learn ... from the shaw, coordinator of NOMA Louisiana’s New Orleans
or mentorship network
community.” camp and part of the program’s national coordination
of built environment
designers that are really team, “whether they want to be an architect or not.”
interested in being part
of the world they want
to see.” REVIEWED BY DEENA DARBY, LISA C. HENRY, AND CHRISTIN HU

> To read extended versions of these articles, visit bit.ly/ARDMU23.

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 43

Building on the work of Dark Matter U, the

next generation of design justice advocates
are bringing their own experience and situated
knowledge to transform the classroom and
the discipline, making it more inclusive and
community-centered.

DMU’s student-centered model of design ed-

TEXT BY Tonia Sing Chi ucation encourages students to see themselves
and Lisa C. HENRY; BIOS BY
FEATURED STUDENTS as co-creators not only of a shared learning en-
vironment in the classroom but also of design
justice in their own communities and creative
work. We do this through disrupting student/
professor hierarchies, academic/community
power dynamics, and conventional practitioner/
client definitions. Our Foundations of Design
Justice course was co-authored by 20 scholars
and taught by 27 co-facilitators and guest lectur-
ers across multiple institutions and semesters,
reflecting and affirming a diversity of thought.
Our DMU workshops are learn-ins rather than
teach-ins, disrupting the notion of expertise in
favor of multidirectional knowledge exchange
among students, instructors, and communi-
ties. And, our students are invited to co-create
knowledge through curriculum and project de-
velopment throughout the course.
Here, by sharing their words, we feature

CHAYAREI MARIE some of our students who ground and inspire

BALDONADO
DMU’s work and evolution.

SYDNEY ROSE THE

MAUBERT
STUDENTS
JANA BAWABA OF DMU
courtesy featured students

REGINE LAURYN CATHERINE

SWANSON CHATTERGOON
KENDRAH BENDER
44

CHAYAREI MARIE BALDONADO “Restoring the Potomac:

3

Reclamation,” by Chayarei Marie

DMU Course: Fugitive Practice
Baldonado and Louis Conte.
(City College of New York and Yale University)
DMU Instructor: Jerome Haferd

I’m a recent graduate of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architec-
ture at the City College of New York with a bachelor’s degree in architecture.
My interests include sustainability, inclusivity, contemporary design, interior
design, furniture design, and fashion. My work prioritizes inclusivity through
meaningful design that provides spaces for education and inspiration, stimulat-
ing interest and desire, and eventually building connections and relationships.
Specifically, in my project titled “Reclamation,” my partner, Louis Conte, and I
focused on building the relationships between different communities through
cultural exchange and storytelling. DMU changed my view on how I see any-
thing “creative,” what it really means to create, and my thought processes as a
practicing designer.

7
Jana Bawaba’s design for an urban
forest knowledge center for Ottawa’s
Experimental Farm and Arboretum.
KENDRAH BENDER
DMU Learn-in: Talking Race + Architecture
(AIA New York)
DMU Instructors: Jerome Haferd, Justin Garrett
Moore, Quilian Riano, and Camille Sherrod

My journey goes beyond the realms of architec-

tural aesthetics; it extends to my commitment to
recognizing the urgent need for change. Through
my work, I am dedicated to creating spaces that
resonate with all individuals, transcend bound-

JANA BAWABA
aries, and invite a sense of belonging. By fos-
“We can make tering a supportive atmosphere that celebrates
DMU Course: Material Translations
education more BIPOC experiences and achievements, I aim to
accessible for
(Carleton University) educators and for
empower future architects to enrich their designs

courtesy jana bawaba; kendrah bender; chayarei marie baldonado

the people being
DMU Instructors: Jelisa Blumberg
and Victor Zagabe
In all my work, I try to maintain an attitude of
continuous learning, questioning, and experi-
mentation. I believe one of the most important
traits to have in architecture and education is a
complete lack of arrogance in order to have the
willingness and ability to learn and grow. We
have a lot to learn from the people and world
around us and from those that came before us.
Continuous questioning allows us to disman-
tle notions that we may take for granted with-
out really understanding how and why.
Working with DMU taught me to further
investigate and try to understand the context
of any project or community we may work
with. I learned to look beyond the surface into
history, culture, people, commodities, and all
other aspects of our existence. I hope to con-
tinue trying to see the world and my work
through this lens.
through cultural awareness and appreciation.
educated … ” My commitment to anti-racism and the pur-
suit of BIPOC joy isn’t a choice; it’s a respon-
sibility. I am determined to leave a mark that
extends beyond physical structures, one that
transforms the architectural landscape into a
space of equity, unity, and shared happiness.
With every project and interaction, I’m driven
by the conviction that architecture can be a cat-
alyst for change and a source of inspiration for
generations to come.
3
“Project Breathe,”
by Kendrah Bender
and William Bush,
in Newark, N.J.,
reimagines work
environments.
 Industrial
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46

7
“A Future We Can Feel,” by
Catherine Chattergoon and
CATHERINE CHATTERGOON
collaborators at Wagner DMU Network Course: ARCH 101 - Design I
Houses as part of “Re:Play.” (Pratt Institute)
DMU Instructor: christin hu

I’m a fifth-year B.Arch. student at Pratt Institute with minors in pho-

tography and social justice/social practice. I have always been drawn to
the way bell hooks describes being a seeker on a path as what funda-
mentally informs her life, and this is how I see myself and my journey:
I am a dreamer, designer, and seeker on a path for love, joy, and justice.
In my educational work, I have been part of leading curricular and cul-
tural change at Pratt as well as supporting diverse students through the
National Organization of Minority Architecture Students and the Ameri-
can Institute of Architecture Students. My design projects in school have
been opportunities to understand how architecture is connected to peo-
ple and place and how design is a tool and process that has the power
to build community-centered futures and bring people together. In my
participatory design work, I have worked with New York residents to re-
imagine and reshape spaces in their community for joy, play, and healing.

SYDNEY ROSE MAUBERT Regine Lauryn

Swanson’s design
3

DMU Course: Fugitive Practice of the Leon County

(Howard University + Yale University) Student Success
Center and Museum.
DMU Instructors: Curry J. Hackett and Jerome Haferd

My ongoing work centers the rhetorical knowl-

courtesy catherine chattergoon, sydney rose maubert, regine lauryn swanson

edge that my family gifted me. Being in institu-
tional spaces for so many years, I learned how
to articulate daily life’s decolonial or liberatory
potential. Many of the domestic rituals I do
and observe within my community inform my
teaching and practice.
I knew I was interested in Black placemak-
REGINE LAURYN SWANSON
ing in my work, and being a teaching assis- DMU Course: Foundations of Design Justice
tant during the height of Black Lives Matter, (Florida A&M University + University of Utah)
I was able to witness a pedagogical shift that “ ... by tying
academia and practice DMU Instructors: Tonia Sing Chi,
truly shaped my research and teaching inter- with things that are Chat Travieso, and Jati Zunabi
ests. It permitted me to introduce Black and happening in the real
world and the theoretical DMU Course Coordinators: Andrew D. Chin
Indigenous knowledge into my research and
frameworks and influences and Lisa C. Henry
teaching. I’ve gifted students the joy of self-dis- that are being spoken
covery, and I learned these teaching methods and written about.” I am dedicated to the cultural distinction of
while co-teaching DMU courses at Yale. people of color throughout the built envi-
ronment. What is most important when ap-
proaching design is to ensure the visibility of
inspiration drawn from BIPOC individuals. In
my work, I want the built environment to act
7 as a mirror to stakeholders of color so they can
Sydney Rose see themselves, their history, their ambition,
Maubert’s “Queen and a bright future. DMU’s influence has led
of the Swamp”
installation, for
me to seek projects and collaboratives that are
Artists in Residence interested in design that addresses racial and
in Everglades. socioeconomic issues through architecture.
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ferguson.com/build
 October 2023 AIANow 51
Architect
EVA WOOLRIDGE
Expanding the Narrative
How can architects prioritize health and equity for all communities?
As told to Katherine Flynn
Venesa Alicea-Chuqui, aia, noma, has
devoted her career to encouraging
community engagement through
design practices. Alicea-Chuqui is a
current Equity in Action Presidential
Fellow at Kean University in New
Jersey, as well as a core organizer
of Dark Matter U, where she works
toward an anti-racist model of
design education and practice with
her colleagues. We talked with
Alicea-Chuqui about how she’s
making strides for a more inclusive
profession, for both architects and the
people they serve.
I spent my first four years in
Puerto Rico while my uncle and
grandfather were building the
house that I would spend my
summers in [during childhood]. In
my head, it was always part of this
family dream to have the ability
to build a house for your family. I
think I was drawn to architecture
because I wanted to build a house
for my mom, and I watched my
AIAFeature 52 AIAFuture 56
uncle do that for his dad.
That house was destroyed by
Hurricane Maria. That was a big
catalyst for me in transitioning my
practice—trying to rethink where
and how I work, or what the role of
architects could be.
A lot of my current work has
been trying to figure out, how
do you support communities to
[meet] the needs that they have
for architects or planners? How
do you create policies or funding
mechanisms that will support
the community’s hiring of a
designer? Maybe their building
needs to be retrofitted for energy
efficiency reasons. Maybe they
want to reconsider the design of
the neighborhood, or the business
improvement district. How do we
make sure that these businesses
have the tools they need to be
up to par with code or with new
energy requirements?
A lot of the architect’s work is
for the client and the developer.
AIAPerspective 58
So many projects in New York
that I’m in proximity to are so
developer-driven. They feel
disconnected from the final
stakeholder. Part of what I’ve
been looking at in my research is,
how do we prioritize people in
this process and create spaces
that are healthy and equitable?
I’ve observed that communities
have sometimes had very bad
experiences with buildings that
don’t work, and there can be
a lack of trust. Design justice,
for me, means that we can use
design as a tool to ensure that the
spaces of the built environment
are equitable for the people using
them—and defining that equity is
different for different people.
I’ve been involved with DMU
since its inception in the summer
of 2020, when there were a series
of collective conversations and
unrest related to the murders of
George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
We wanted to think about what
an anti-racist design education
would look like—about how policy,
systemic racism, and what we’re
taught in architecture school are
one-sided. How do we include
more voices and expand the
narrative? AIA
49
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 A I A N O W
RACHEL KAPISAK JONES

Employment for architects

is expected to grow 5%
over the next 10 years.
The impact of new technology is still an unknown quantity.

By Katherine Flynn

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,
the field of architecture is expected grow 5%
between 2022 and 2032, faster than the average
for all occupations. About 8,200 new openings for
architects are projected each year, on average, over
the decade. Many of these openings are expected
to result from the need to replace workers who
transfer to different occupations or exit the labor
force for retirement or other reasons. The impact of
new technology like artificial intelligence on these
statistics is still emerging.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational
Outlook Handbook 2023

51
A I A F E A T U R E

JUN CEN

52
Is AI a Tool or a Taskmaster?
Designers are confronting changes in practice and purpose wrought by sweeping technological shifts.
By Patrick Sisson
“Architecture was more of a hand-
crafted object, like [during] the
Renaissance, when I first emerged,”
said architectural pioneer Beverly
Willis, 95, during a recent phone
call as she discussed the impacts of
technology during her long career.
“And then it blossomed into this
business, this science: the science
of the soil, of the air, of things we
didn’t consider when we started.”
The big pivot during Willis’s
career was the adoption of
technology into architectural
workflows, a shift that holds
lessons for the ways artificial
intelligence could reshape the
profession today. In the early
1970s, Willis spearheaded the
development of Project CARLA
(Computerized Approach to
Residential Land Analysis), an
early digital tool that allowed for
relatively rapid site evaluations for
large-scale projects.
At the time, architects were
being tasked with designing
and planning larger and
larger developments, adding
complexity that was challenging
to navigate with existing tools.
CARLA helped devise a plan for
Aliamanu, a 525-building housing
community in Honolulu near Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii, that required
significantly less earth-moving
than similar projects, shrinking
the development footprint and
lowering construction costs. Willis
saw the potential immediately:
The program condensed hours of
work into mere minutes.
The experiences Willis had
decades ago with Project CARLA
mirror architecture’s shift toward
AI today and offer still-relevant
insights into the ways technological
sea changes challenge pre-
concieved notions of creativity,
labor, and business practices.
Architectural theorists and
practitioners are divided over
visions of the future of their work.
Do new technologies have the
potential to open opportunities for
more creativity and community
outreach, or do they devalue
the work of architects and
further stratify an economically
precarious industry?
Everyone agrees on the
inevitability of change. It’s only
a matter of time, says Daniel
Koehler, an architect and professor
at the University of Texas at
Austin who studies AI, before
programs will be able to create
drawings and blueprints based on
a designer’s prompt that comply
with code restrictions and result in
workable blueprints.
These predictions have fueled
a rush toward AI by established
tech design players like Autodesk,
which has invested in generative
design startups, while at the
same time inspiring trepidation
and anxiety from architects over
their future roles in this design
landscape.
“You can see [AI] as being
fantastic or consider it terrifying,
but it’s going to radically change
everything, and we’ve just
started,” says Neil Leach, a British
architect and theorist with a more
pessimistic view of these tools.
“Architects aren’t engaging with the
bigger picture. They’re ostriches
with their heads in the sand.”
For decades, architects
have leveraged technological
advances to realize their visions
and gain new opportunities and
commissions. Peter Eisenman’s
1987 Biocenter design for J.W.
Goethe University in Germany
included computer-generated-
design outputs that showcased
the potential of computer-aided
design, and Gehry Partners
created its own digital design
interface, adapted from
aeronautical technology, to realize
the starchitect’s swooping forms.
Bevan Bloemendaal, chief
creative officer at Atlanta-based
Nelson Worldwide who oversees
teams focused on retail design and
architecture, says he has observed
excitement from architects at being
pushed cognitively and creatively
by these tools, but also fear about
losing their jobs. He’s had his
employees experiment with AI
by placing the programs through
design sprints and has found that
his creative staff are seeking out
opportunities to learn and embrace
these tools. Many big-name
firms, such as the London-based
Heatherwick Studio, have already
noted their use of AI for pre-
planning and design concepts.
Amid the demands of a tool
that has the potential to both
liberate architects from busywork
and threaten job security,
Bloemendaal is most concerned
about maintaining human-
centered design.
“We’re businesspeople. [We]
want to do more and [do it] better,”
he says. “Do we want the client to
get the most for their dollar? Of
course we do.”
AI will save time and labor
costs, argues architect, author,
technologist, and Yale professor
Philip Bernstein, faia, especially
when it comes to image generation
and technical production, as well
as data and text management. But
as with previous technological
disruptions, the key will be how
firms decide to utilize freed
resources. He suggests three
53
scenarios: investing in refining a
design and finding better solutions
to design problems; improving
services through predictive
and performative delivery and
breaking away from commoditized
fee structures; or lowering
commoditized fees.
“If history is a guide, the
profession will find it hard to resist
the allure of the third scenario,
particularly in times of economic
stress,” Bernstein says.
Others believe these resources
will be reallocated in ways that
improve the profession. Adam
Tank is co-founder of Transcend,
a Princeton, N.J.-based software
firm that creates generative design
tools specifically for infrastructure
design and construction. Autodesk
recently invested in a $20 million
Series B round of funding for the
firm, part of the company’s string of
big acquisitions and investments in
AI, including a $240 million buyout
of Spacemaker, a generative design
planning tool relaunched as Forma.
Since AI software can do all the
repetitive work, such as making
calculations or reformatting Word
docs, that eats up the average
workday of an engineer or architect,
firms utilizing Transcend have
been altering their work processes,
Tank says. Designed by engineers
and architects, Transcend spits out
plans and designs complete with
engineering calculations, allowing
humans to double-check plans
before anything gets built.
Tank points to widespread
reports of talent shortages in the
industry—the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics predicts the architecture
profession will grow at a rate of 5%
per year through 2032, with more
than 8,000 annual openings, and
also forecasts an annual shortage
of 25,000 civil engineers—as
a sign that AI will enable more
productivity instead of cutting
jobs. He’s observed firms moving
existing engineers toward detailed
design and project execution,
instead of investing their time in
preliminary design work or budgets.
There’s also more room for what
could be called sales and marketing
54
work; teams, including architects,
are able to spend more time on
detailed bids, differentiating
themselves from other firms.
“[With AI,] architects can
focus on what’s more energy
efficient, or what has the smallest
impact on the surrounding
community,” Tank says. “That’s
how people will be spending their
time. That’s the future.”
But being able to do more for
less and take a larger portion of the
overall pie for human employees
doesn’t mean the pie gets any
larger. British architect Leach
predicts that marquee firms, like
those led by starchitects, will likely
still charge premiums relative to
the competition. Suddenly, they’ll
be able to take on more work and
do it with fewer people, becoming
what Leach calls “superusers”
who can afford more cutting-edge,
powerful tools.
“As far as design generation,
let’s hope that the ability to
have machines generate ‘first
ideas’ doesn’t create a race to
compete for work by presenting
more and more elaborate work in
interviews,” Bernstein says. “This
is an approach that I think may
be inevitable but still constitutes—
whether AI-inspired or not—giving
work away for free.”
The nascent union movement
in the architecture profession has
also noted the potential impact of
AI. When asked about technology’s
impact, the union at Brooklyn, N.Y.-
based Bernheimer Architecture sent
a statement noting that the union
and management “understand the
potential for artificial intelligence
to be integrated with design tools
in innovative ways. AI technology,
however, should not take the space
and place of human labor.” In
addition, the statement read, “This
work requires an understanding
of human relationships, physical
space, and emotional responses ...
something automated AI processes
can never replicate.”
For Leach, the most vital
calculation around the impact
of AI is labor and productivity.
Architectural offices tend to get
paid as a percentage of building
costs, roughly 5% or so in the
U.S. and Europe. He expects that
when AI becomes more ingrained
in studios, and firms have the
ability to do more with less, they
will be able to undercut that fee,
which will lead to a race to the
bottom. He says that in China, fees
already have approached 2% due
to more widespread use of these
technologies.
In a few years, he believes
there will be a single platform that
can take design and construction
from data through to fabrication,
evaluating structural, regulatory,
and environmental factors along
the way. He points to Xkool, a
Chinese architecture program that
has invested significant time in
the tool’s ability to label images to
better serve the needs of architects.
“What we need to design right
now is not another building, but
the future of our profession,” Leach
says. “We need to think of new
ways of operating.”
“There’s a fork in the
proverbial value-proposition road
here,” Bernstein says. “The firms
that use the resulting efficiencies
to lower fees will drive down
prices for everyone; the firms
that use the technology to deliver
greater value will make more
money. I hope for the former and
worry about the latter.”
The question facing architects
is how these tools get developed
and how industry economics grow
alongside technological evolution.
Some fear not only stratification
but, eventually, the potential for
certain projects to simply sidestep
the use of architects altogether.
Willis admits that throughout
her lengthy career, she sometimes
remained skeptical of the
technology she pioneered and
didn’t always shift her firm’s
focus toward tapping into its
potential. But she did believe that
technology was a great enabler.
“It helps you be more creative,
because you understand things
and can measure things that all
help you make good decisions,”
she said. AIA
LET’S KEEP
DESIGNING
A BETTER
WORLD,
T GETHER.
Renew your AIA membership for 2023.
aia.org/renew
 A I A F U T U R E
Balancing Act
As AIA’s latest Compensation and Benefits Report hits the streets, the story isn’t just about salary.
By Michele Russo
Workplace satisfaction is like a
stool, with three legs holding it
up: an employee’s relationship
with their boss, how fulfilling
they find their work and
growth opportunities, and their
level of satisfaction with their
compensation and benefits. If any
one of those legs falls short, the
stool tips and causes an imbalance
in the employee’s workplace
satisfaction, which can manifest
through burnout or resignation.
While AIA’s 2023 Compensation
and Benefits Report, released in
August, cannot fix a relationship
with one’s boss, it can provide a
glimpse into what it takes to keep
the other legs balanced. To that
end, we’ll unpack some of the
report’s findings.
Beyond salary
Much is reported on the hard
numbers in the AIA compensation
tables. This year, AIA’s Salary
Calculator reveals that the national
median base salary (not including
additional cash compensation)
of architecture firm CEOs and
presidents was $165,000 in
2022, while a new graduate had a
national median salary of $59,000.
The ratio of chief-executive-to-
worker pay at architecture firms
averages 2.8:1, nowhere near the
186:1 ratio in U.S. corporations,
according to an analysis of 278
S&P 500 firms by the Wall Street
Journal in 2022. Even for the
highest paid CEOs at the largest
architect firms (with more than
250 employees), that ratio is 4.6:1.
This is not to suggest that these are
the salaries that should be paid,
merely that the compensation
ranges in architecture firms are
not as disparate within a firm by
position level.
But there’s more to
compensation calculations than just
56
base pay. Additional considerations
include household expenses. There
are four areas of expenses that
compensation and benefits need
to cover—housing, health care,
food and services, and debt. There
are various views around the best
proportion of income that should
go to each of these areas, as well as
the amount to set aside for savings
and entertainment. Here’s where
things get a little complicated.
Where you live matters. We
know that expenses in cities across
the U.S. vary—housing costs are
the most obvious—but other goods
and services, such as gas prices
and dry-cleaning costs, also vary
by location. And indeed, the AIA
compensation data reflect those
regional differences. For example,
a firm CEO in Seattle has a median
base salary of $180,000, compared
with $150,000 in Philadelphia.
Some of that difference is driven by
the respective costs of living within
those cities, and some employers
adjust salaries accordingly; in fact,
Figure 1. Architecture firms are offering other benefits to employees
Percentage of firms offering insurance/plans to qualifying full-time employees in 2022, by firm size
98% 98%
100%
86%
80%
59%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Vision
insurance insurance
Large firms
(50 + employees)
Source: AIA Compensation and Benefits Report (2023)
61% of architecture firms report
that they do so.
The rise of remote work has
complicated some of the location
pay disparities and is part of a
larger trend. For architecture firms,
the remote working population is
now significantly larger than it was
before the pandemic, but the share
of firms that offer a fully remote
option is relatively small, at only
25%. In comparison, 59% of firms
(including 79% of the largest)
have employees working remotely
multiple days a week. That
translates to approximately 69%
of the workforce, including 82% of
workers at the largest firms, taking
advantage of remote working at
some level.
Health care and dependent
costs aren’t going down anytime
soon. One of the most important
benefits an employer offers from a
bottom-line perspective is health
insurance coverage. Even with
health insurance, it’s important to
map what a firm offers against the
100% 97%
91%
86%
79% 82%
60%
51%
43%
37%
22%
Life Healthcare Dependent Contribution
flexible spending care to retirement
account account savings
Small firms
Mid-sized firms
(10-49 employees) (Fewer than 10 employees)
needs of your family. For example,
do you have children who require
childcare or additional services?
Do you have elder care costs? Do
you require prescription medicine
to maintain a chronic condition?
Do you need vision, hearing, or
mental health coverage? These
are important benefit areas to
ask a prospective employer
about—and to advocate for from
a current employer.
According to AIA’s
Compensation and Benefits Report,
nearly all (97%) architecture firms
offer employee health insurance
coverage—100% of the largest firms
(with more than 50 employees)
and 92% of the smallest firms
(with fewer than 10 employees).
Most firms also provide dependent
health coverage (85%) and dental
insurance (86%).
Firms are also offering other
medical and financial benefits,
though it’s mostly larger firms
that have more leveraging power
(See Figure 1).
For many employees, debt
remains a profound and rising
concern. Student debt has soared
over the past two decades.
According to a 2022 report by U.S.
News, tuition and fees at private
national universities jumped 134%
over the last 20 years. However,
this increase significantly outpaced
the consumer price index inflation,
which rose only 65% during the
same amount of time (July 2002
to July 2022) according to the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. As a
result, new graduates are having
debt burdens at levels far outpacing
the economy.
Architects and those in the
architectural profession are not
exempt from that pain. Though
debt incurred from a master’s
in architecture is, on average,
lower than it is for students in
dentistry, visual and performing
arts, and communications master’s
programs, relatively lower salaries
translates to graduating architects
entering the profession and facing a
lifetime of student loan payments,
where interest rates are higher than
earning increases.
According to a 2022 study
commissioned by AIA, younger
architects and design professionals
have been most burdened by
student debt, with 89% of AIA
members under 35 reporting taking
out loans compared with 60% of
those aged 55 to 64. And among
those, it’s notable how much harder
first-generation college students
are being hit, as they don’t have the
exposure to or connections with
networks that can offer financial
advice. AIA’s study shows 78% of
first-generation students borrowed
money for architecture school
expenses, compared to 71% of other
students. Some firms are starting
to recognize this growing concern
for newer graduates in the form of
assistance with loan repayment.
More firms reported offering this
benefit in 2022—with 13% of larger
firms (more than 50 employees)
providing it, up from 5% in 2020.
While this percentage is still small,
it is a rising trend and may be a
benefit that a firm can cover in
lieu of or in addition to a higher
base salary.
What does culture have
to do with it?
Of course, the other two legs of the
stool are as important as the one
Figure 2. Architecture firms are engaging in some practices to help
increase transparency at firms
Percentage of firms engaged in each practice, by firm size
hip
Mentors ms
progra
rent ca
reer
Transpapportunities
pa th o
t 54%
& talen
ita b le hiringrocedures
Equ e nt p
recruitm ity
lary equder
ted a sa en
Conducessment by g
ass / 68%
faction s
ee satis y 65%
Employ gement surve
eng a
motion
rent pro es
T nspasation practic
ra
m p en
& c o ity
lary equ ity
ted a sa nic
Conduc t by race/eth
en
assessm
Source: AIA Compensation and Benefits Report (2023)
representing standard of living—
the people one works with, as well
as present-day work satisfaction
and opportunities for future
growth. This is the culture piece,
and it is essential as compensation
for the profession to thrive.
Studies of the architecture
profession reveal that it is not
exempt from bias in the workplace
when it comes to the effects of
firm culture on employees of
different race, ethnicities, and
gender identities. According to
the AIA-commissioned 2021
Elephant in the (Well-Designed)
Room report from the Center for
WorkLife Law at the University
of California Hastings College of
Law, half of women architectural
professionals state that taking
family leave hurt their careers,
versus only a quarter of men.
In addition, fewer women and
men of color report access to
desirable projects compared to
their white male counterparts,
and significantly fewer women
and men of color report career
satisfaction in their work.
Despite gender parity in
those graduating from National
Architectural Accrediting Board-
accredited architecture schools
over the last decade, the profession
does not reflect the same
67%
82%
63%
69%
80%
39%
66%
36%
37%
31%
62%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Large firms Mid-sized firms
(50 + employees) (10-49 employees)
57
 composition within a firm. AIA’s
2022 Business of Architecture
Report reveals that women
account for 46% of emerging
professionals on the licensure
path, 36% of licensed architects,
and 23% of principals. Even
more drastic was the drop-off for
architectural professionals from
ethnically diverse demographic
groups—they make up 49% of
emerging professionals on the
licensure path, but only 19%
of licensed architects and 18% of
firm leaders.
According to AIA’s Guides to
Equitable Practice’s Compensation
A I A P E R S P E C T I V E
Adaptive Reuse
AIA’s point of view as a client for our building renewal.
By Emily Grandstaff-Rice, faia, 2023 AIA President
Nearly half the carbon in the
atmosphere is created by the
demolition, construction, and
operation of buildings. That is
why, when making plans for the
future of its Washington, D.C.,
headquarters, AIA knew that the
most sustainable pathway was
renewing its existing building.
To develop our goals for the
renewal, we needed to understand
the aspiration of the original design.
AIA leased the historical Octagon
House as its headquarters in 1899,
purchasing it in 1902. When the
organization needed more space in
the 1960s, we made the decision
to complement the structure with
a compatible modern building—a
radical idea at the time.
AIA held a design competition,
and a jury selected plans from
New York–based Mitchell/
Giurgola Associates. However, the
U.S. Commission on Fine Arts,
the design review board for D.C.
buildings, refused to approve the
firm’s design, saying it was “out
58
Chapter, firms can employ a
number of strategies to help
eliminate bias in compensation
practices and provide transparency
in position descriptions, paths to
promotion, and performance review
policies. AIA’s two firm-focused
studies—the 2022 Business of
Architecture Report and the 2023
Compensation & Benefits Report—
track some of those practices
(Figure 2).
What’s next?
Architects are as affected by
societal conditions as any other
of keeping with the feeling of the
Octagon House.”
A committee to select a new
architect chose Cambridge,
Mass.-based The Architects
Collaborative, and the Brutalist-
style building was completed in
1973. The headquarter’s features
reflected what was then considered
a modern workplace.
Now, 50 years later, while the
building is still iconic, the way
we work and what the profession
recognizes as important has
changed. AIA’s headquarters must
embody our global message of
sustainability, diversity, equity and
inclusion. Decisions made during
the process also respect fiscal
responsibility to our members.
Renewing the existing building
sends the critical message that
adaptive reuse is possible, valuable,
and the right thing to do. The
design follows AIA’s Framework
for Design Excellence, which
seeks to inform progress toward a
zero-carbon, equitable, resilient,
profession—but we have the
advantage of being a relatively
small workforce (around
200,000 according to the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics) with
a mighty economic impact;
billings at architecture firms
are one of the best predictors
of U.S. construction activity,
the second highest contributor
to GDP. With a relatively small
number of enterprises, we can
be a profession that fosters high
job satisfaction and healthy
workplaces. The data can only
shine a light on where
to start. AIA
and healthy built environment.
The design electrifies all building
systems, while incorporating
on- and off-site renewable energy
to fully decarbonize the campus.
We also followed the 2030
Commitment and Materials Pledge.
Our goal is to create a
welcoming space with a dynamic
and flexible design that will foster
collaboration. A suite of amenities—
including drop-in coworking
space, meeting facilities, and VR/
media lounges—will be available to
AIA members, AIA staff, partner
organizations, and the public.
The design also considers the
building’s place within the local
community with a more open and
engaging courtyard. Designers
involved with the project reflect the
lens of equity, including a cohort
of interns from Historically Black
Colleges and Universities.
We look forward to welcoming
everyone to our new international
hub for design innovation and
excellence. AIA
BIRCH THOMAS
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CONTINUI NG E D UC AT I O N
Emergency Preparedness:
Risk and Resilience Planning
with Propane
IMPORTANCE OF RISK AND RESILIENCE
PLANNING
Business and society are coalescing
around the fact that climate change is a
current and real challenge to prosperity.
Energy resiliency and decarbonization
efforts are expanding due to frequent
and intense weather events, and the
influences of economic and political
pressure, consumer interest, and rapid
technological advances.
Economic and political pressure
Companies around the world are under
pressure to respond to global climate
change. Large institutional investors
agree that avoiding weather-related
damage helps the economy and
S P E C I A L A DV E R T I S I N G S E C T I O N
improves investor financial returns.
Environmental, social, and governance
(ESG) issues are driving corporate social
responsibility programs and guiding
investment decisions, with climate
change looming as the largest factor
driving these organizations toward real
change. The current U.S. administration
is taking the lead, using climate-friendly
technologies to grow the post-COVID-19
economy. Guidehouse Insights’ report
Destination: Net Zero says, “For example,
the $2 trillion American Jobs Plan
proposal includes provisions promoting
energy efficiency upgrades in buildings,
domestic manufacturing of EVs, and
grid modernization investments. The
current administration recently set firm
Sponsored By:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Explore the catalysts for rapidly expanding
decarbonization and energy resiliency efforts.
2. Understand why grid resiliency is imperative
and the current approaches to power
generation and resiliency.
3. Discuss the importance of backup power
for commercial buildings and fuel options
available.
4. Examine how propane can be used
as a partner in energy generation and
conservation and why it should be
considered over other fuel options.
CONTINUING EDUCATION
This course is approved for AIA Learning
Unit Credits. For details on the learning units
or credit information, and to earn credit and
obtain a certificate of completion, visit
http://go.hw.net/ARPERC1023 to view the
entire CEU and complete the quiz. Hanley
Wood University CEU courses are free once
you create a learner account.
emissions reduction targets, including
a 50% reduction in economy-wide net
GHG [greenhouse gas] pollution by
2030 and net-zero emissions economy-
wide by no later than 2050.”
Consumers are demanding action as
well, with millennials and Gen Z — who
have been tuned into climate change
since they were very young — now
representing the largest segments of
the global population.1 This demand for
change permeates all industries, from
the utilities homeowners use to keep
their lights on and water running, to
the clothes they buy and the food they
purchase. A national survey conducted
by Pew Research Center in April 2021
polled 13,749 U.S. adults, including 912
CONTINUI NG E D UC AT I O N
Gen Z adults, and found “a majority of
Americans (64%) say efforts to reduce
the effects of climate change need to be
prioritized today to ensure a sustainable
planet for future generations, even if it
means fewer resources for addressing
other important problems. Far fewer
(34%) say climate change should be a
lower priority, given other important
problems facing Americans today. More
than six-in-ten Americans say large
businesses and corporations (69%) and
the energy industry (62%) are doing too
little to address climate change.”2
Rapid technological advances
Organizations are now more willing
to tackle decarbonization and climate
goals because the cost of renewable
energy sources are going down.
Battery technologies are advancing and
becoming cheaper, while distributed
energy resources (DERs) offer clean
energy and grid resiliency. We will
discuss these technological advances in
more detail later in the course.
Growing prevalence of extreme
weather events
We can all agree that climate change
is no longer a problem of the future,
but of the present, as experienced by
a rapid increase in extreme weather
events ranging from hurricanes to off-
cycle wildfires, freak snowstorms, and
devastating droughts. Together, these
forces underscore the risks people will
face if nothing is done to address global
climate change, which is expected to
increase the frequency and duration of
extreme weather events, leading to more
power outages and stress on energy
infrastructure.
According to recent data from
NASA and the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), the earth was about
1.1 degree Celsius warmer in
2021 than the late 19th century
average.3
Over the past four decades, extreme
weather events have increased, on
average, by 4.4% each year in the
U.S.4 The most expensive disaster was
Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, when
1,833 people died and costs reached an
estimated $170 billion.5 A recent article
in The Washington Post shows that more
S P E C I A L A DV E R T I S I N G S E C T I O N
GLOSSARY
Distributed Energy Resources (DERs): Small-
scale energy resources such as solar panels,
battery storage, propane generators, and
micro-combined heat and power (CHP) units
that are usually situated near sites of electricity
use; these renewable energy sources help
meet the demand for clean energy, particularly
when customer demand peaks and fossil fuel-
powered peaker plants can’t keep up.
Critical Operation Power Systems (COPS):
The newest classification of backup power for
systems, operations, or facilities designated by
local, state, and federal government as “mission
critical,” including police stations, fire stations,
and other facilities that serve public safety,
national security, or business continuities.
Dual-Fuel System: A multi-source generator
system that utilizes multiple fuels to optimize
costs, performance, and code-compliance —
natural gas fuels the generator’s operation,
but the generator can switch over to propane
if the natural gas supply is cut off; this type of
design takes advantage of the utility-supplied
nature of natural gas, and the on-site storage
benefits of propane compared to diesel.
Hybrid System: System combining a high-
efficiency air-source heat pump with a high-
efficiency propane furnace, called a “dual-fuel”
system or “hybrid heat pump” system, which can
reduce energy costs for heating and cooling.
Generator: An engine that burns fuel to create
electricity for backup power.
Mandatory Grid Hardening: Upgrading and
expanding the current transmission system to
enhance grid reliability and resilience and enable
the cost-effective integration of clean energy.
Mixed-Fuel Building: A building with a hybrid
system that combines a propane system with
complementary technology (e.g., solar), which
optimizes the performance of both components.
Renewable Propane: Propane produced
from renewable cover crops like camelina,
used cooking oil, and animal tallow using
a hydrotreated vegetable oil process; it is
identical to conventional propane structurally
and functionally but can lead to a 50 to 70
percent reduction in lifecycle CO2 emissions
compared with conventional diesel and can
accelerate deep decarbonization.
Resilient Design: Planning and designing the
built environment to sustain probable impact
from progressive climate change and episodic
natural disasters.
Stored Power: A backup power technology
such as on-site batteries that is used in an
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) to provide
instantaneous backup power until other
sources like a generator are brought online,
or to provide just enough power to allow a
system to safely shut down.
CONTINUI NG E D UC AT I O N
than 40% of the U.S. population resides
in counties that experienced extreme
weather events in 2021. There were
more than 650 casualties in that year
alone, with a projected loss of over $104
billion.6 In addition, more than 13% of the
population was affected by fire-declared
disasters in 2020 and more than 15% was
affected in 2021.7
DECARBONIZATION GOALS
A growing number of stakeholders and
organizations are setting long-term
decarbonization goals and factoring
in resiliency when designing buildings.
These include municipalities, large
utilities, private sector companies, AEC
professionals, and homeowners. A major
push is to lower the carbon intensity of
buildings, which create approximately
40% of the world’s carbon dioxide
emissions, from the electricity used in
buildings to the manufacture, transport,
and construction of building materials.8
According to Edward Mazria, the founder
and CEO of nonprofit Architecture
2030, “More than 70% of all electricity
in the U.S. is destined for building
operations, but renewable electricity
generation is growing exponentially.
That increase, coupled with low-to-zero
carbon design and planning; new federal
climate programs and incentives; local
governments advancing electrification
and clean power plans; and zero carbon
standards for new buildings and major
renovations puts us on track to meet
or exceed a 50% building sector CO2
reduction by 2030.”9
Indeed, the amount of energy used
and emissions from building operations
seem to be decoupling from building
sector growth, a reversal of the trend
seen from the Industrial Revolution in the
late 1800s to 2005. Mazria says, “From
2005 to 2022, the U.S. added 62.5 billion
square feet to its building stock — the
equivalent of adding about six Boston-
sized cities each year — but building
sector operating energy consumption
did not increase (it decreased by 3.5%)
and CO2 emissions declined 28.4%.”10
There has been increased global interest
in locally generated renewable energy for
Commercial installation of tankless hot water heaters.
its security and cost benefits, partly due
to the war in Ukraine, higher fossil fuel
prices, and supply disruptions, with “the
International Energy Agency [projecting]
that worldwide renewable electricity
will double over the next five years and
become the world's largest source of
electricity generation by 2025.”11 It should
be noted that while natural gas, heating
oil, and diesel prices are increasing,
propane prices are actually dropping
and renewable propane technologies are
expanding.
Enter Propane
Electrification isn’t the only answer to
decarbonization and resiliency. High-
efficiency propane systems in buildings
provide a clean, nontoxic, efficient,
and affordable energy solution. High-
performance options include propane
tankless water heaters, heat pump water
heaters, high-efficiency tank systems,
and hybrid systems. Plus, propane can
work hand in hand with renewable
energy sources like wind and solar; this
versatility and low-carbon output make
it an ideal energy source. In addition,
mixed-fuel systems that combine
electric with a low-source-ratio energy
like propane can help achieve resiliency,
S P E C I A L A DV E R T I S I N G S E C T I O N
sustainability, and performance. Not
only can they help building owners
lower their monthly utility bills while
reducing emissions, but they allow for
the high performance of gas appliances
so builders can tailor hybrid systems to
the project’s specific needs. Mixed-fuel
systems typically have lower initial costs
and reduced ongoing energy usage
costs, making them an ideal solution
for builders and homeowners alike. In
addition, there has been an increase in
the production and use of renewable
propane, which offers an even more
carbon-friendly fuel option. We will
discuss renewable propane in more
detail later in the course.
Mixed-fuel building designs can also
incorporate hybrid systems that combine
a propane system with complementary
technology, which optimizes the
performance of both components. For
example, solar water heating is extremely
efficient, but these systems require a
backup water heater in most cases,
which can be served by an energy-
efficient propane storage tankless water
heater that would only be used when the
solar system couldn’t keep up. Another
example is a hybrid system combining
a high-efficiency air-source heat pump
CONTINUI NG E D UC AT I O N
with a high-efficiency propane furnace,
called a “dual-fuel” system or “hybrid
heat pump” system, which can reduce
energy costs for heating and cooling. The
heat pump-furnace hybrid system’s main
advantage over the heat-pump-only
system is allowing the high-efficiency
propane furnace to handle the heating
load at colder outdoor temperatures.
This replaces the inefficient electric
resistance backup heating used in many
heat pumps and results in energy cost
savings worth several hundred dollars
per year. It also greatly reduces grid
emissions, allowing operators to meet
their economic as well as emissions
goals.
WHY IT’S IMPERATIVE TO MAKE OUR
ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE AND
BUILDINGS MORE RESILIENT
In addition to the environmental and
economic impacts of extreme weather
events, these events strain the electric
grid infrastructure and can result in
severe power outages. For example,
Hurricane Ida caused at least 1.2 million
electricity customers to lose power in
2023, and Winter Storm Uri caused more
than 4 million Texans to lose power in
2021. U.S. electricity interruptions are on
the rise — according to the U.S. Energy
Information Administration (EIA), U.S.
electricity customers experienced a
little over eight hours of electric power
interruptions in 2020, which is the most
since EIA began tracking this information
in 2013.12
CURRENT APPROACHES TO POWER
GENERATION
There are several approaches to power
generation and making the power grid
more resilient. These include mandatory
grid hardening, electrification, and
distributed energy resources (DERs).
Ä
This article continues on
http://go.hw.net/ARPERC1023.
Go online to read the rest of the CEU
course, complete the corresponding
quiz for credit, and receive your
certificate of completion.
QUIZ
1. According to the Pew Research Center, what percentage of U.S. adults say efforts to
reduce the effects of climate change need to be prioritized to ensure a sustainable
planet for future generations, even if it means fewer resources for addressing other
important problems?
A. 34 B. 44 C. 54 D. 64
2. Over the past four decades, extreme weather events in the U.S. have increased, on average,
by _____ percent each year.
A. 1.2 B. 4.4 C. 6.6 D. 10.5
3. From 2005 to 2022, the U.S. added 62.5 billion square feet to its building stock while
energy consumed to operate the building sector ________ and CO2 emissions ________.
A. Increased, declined C. Decreased, increased
B. Decreased, declined D. Stayed the same, declined
4. Which of the following combines a high-efficiency air-source heat pump with a high-
efficiency propane furnace, which reduces energy costs for heating and cooling?
A. Heat pump water heater C. Mixed-fuel system
B. High-efficiency tank system D. Hybrid system
5. Which approach to power generation and making the power grid more resilient requires
upgrading and expanding the current transmission system?
A. Mandatory grid hardening C. Distributed energy resources
B. Mandated electrification D. Nuclear power
6. Which of the following is a benefit of using propane as a low-carbon fuel alternative?
A. Can be used to fully power buildings on the grid
B. Can be used to fully power buildings off the grid
C. Can generate backup power when the electric grid is unreliable
D. Can be combined with electricity in mixed-fuel designs
E. All of the above
7. Renewable propane is identical to conventional propane structurally and functionally but
can lead to a _____ reduction in lifecycle CO2 emissions compared with conventional
diesel and can accelerate deep decarbonization.
A. 10–20% B. 20–40% C. 50–70% D. 60–70%
8. Which type of backup power uses natural gas to fuel the generator’s operation but can
switch over to propane if the natural gas supply is cut off?
A. Hybrid system C. Bi-fuel system
B. Dual-fuel system D. Diesel generator
9. Remote microgrids often depend on diesel for fuel supply, but more recently, ________
has received significant traction due to its ability to reduce emissions and improve local
air quality.
A. Propane B. Natural gas C. Electricity D. Coal
10. Which of the following provides a decentralized and distributed energy resource for
facilities while enabling partial or total grid independence?
A. Multi-source backup power system C. Combined heat and power system
B. Microgrid D. Propane generator
SPONSOR INFORMATION
The Propane Education & Research Council provides architects, engineers, builders, and other
construction professionals with free and informative materials on propane and its applications,
installation specifics, and products. Visit propane.com to learn more.
S P E C I A L A DV E R T I S I N G S E C T I O N
64 Reflections

DMU x YOU STEP 1

Respond to the Dark Matter Issue
text by christin hu
Now that you have traveled through the Dark Matter
universe, we invite you to imagine and reflect with
us. Using the knowledge you have gained reading the
Dark Matter Issue, your goal is to co-create, support,
and organize cultural spaces and rituals of the global
majority toward sovereignty. Feel free to use whatever
medium makes sense for your ideas. Follow these steps
to participate.
CHOOSE A ROLE
Your role will determine your main activity and the
content you’ll be sharing.
CO-CREATOR: Craft a creative text or image
in response to thoughts shared in this issue.
SUPPORTER: Uplift authors by sharing their
quotes or stories in this issue.
ORGANIZER: Imagine a potential event in
one of the places mentioned in this issue.

You will need:

•
•
•
This magazine (printed or digital)
Six-sided die or dice rolling app
Something to write or draw with
STEP 2 ROLL FOR CONTEXT
Use your six-sided die or dice rolling app. Based on your
• A blank document dice roll, use the corresponding context to inform your
• Phone or QR code scanner content. For an extra challenge, include the last concept
• Your imagination as a word or image in your response!

1: environment, race, sustainability | mushroom

“What keeps us working is
the idea of community. that we 2: open, movement or travel | teleportation
are stronger as a group than we
3: liberation or justice, action or transform | multiverse
are as an individual or as a group
following one individual. One person 4: youth, leadership, education or teaching | spice
can leverage their power in service
to the collective aspiration in a 5: diaspora, together, heal or care | taste
way that the collective flourishes
without losing any individual
6: community, invitation, practice | river
autonomy.”

POLY PIECE AUTHORS:

SHALINI AGRAWAL, FALLON SAMUELS AIDOO, VENESA
STEP 3 SHARE WITH US
Scan the QR code below or visit darkmatteru.org/
ALICEA-CHUQUI, SAMENDY BRICE, JOSH BUDIONGAN, architect-magazine-2023-submissions to share
ALBERT CHAO, NUPUR CHAUDHURY, SOPHIE CHIEN, PEDRO your efforts with us. Check out what others have
CRUZ CRUZ, CHRIS DAEMMRICH, DEENA DARBY, KAMILA
submitted at darkmatteru.org/architect-magazine.
We appreciate your participation and contribution
DIAZ, IFEOMA EBO, GINA FERNANDES, ROB FLEMING, CURRY J.
to the Dark Matter universe!
HACKETT, JEROME HAFERD, LISA C. HENRY, A.L. HU, CHRISTIN
HU, JOYCE HWANG, SAMIA KIRCHNER, JUSTIN GARRETT
MOORE, ANDREW J. PADILLA, LESTER LI, QUILIAN RIANO,
SHAWHIN ROUDBARI, CAMILLE SHERROD, TONIA SING
CHI, SHARON SUTTON, MICHELE WASHINGTON,
SAMENDY WHATLEY, CRAIG WILKINS, TYA WINN,
VICTOR ZAGABE, AND BZ ZHANG.

Reviewed by Tonia Sing Chi, A.L. Hu, Lester Li, and shawhin roudbari
 3 EASY STEPS! and registration isn’t one of them.

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SpecWizard is a registered trademark of ARCAT, Inc, and is protected by US Patent No. 8,706,646
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