September 2010

Dear Friends of Public Architecture:

In July, Bruce Nussbaum posted an article,“Is Humanitarian Design the New Imperialism?” in the Fast Company design blog. While the article posed some interesting questions, the most fascinating aspect was not the article itself but the heated debate it provoked for well over a month. [If you are interested, the Change Observer did a great job tracking the responses.] While the reactions varied, what was abundantly clear is that we, as public-interest designers, need to become more comfortable with criticism.

We have all seen a lot of positive press around humanitarian design; Public Architecture has enjoyed its fair share. But it is time to start opening the conversation to the particular challenges and limitations that are inherent in this work. The need for real measurable change is too important not to scrutinize our weaknesses. If our goal is to provide design expertise to underserved communities, we are working in environments and cultures that are by definition new to us. There is a lot of room for error but also for innovation. Have humanitarian designers made mistakes? Certainly. Should we only offer our services in the places we are deeply rooted? I think that would short sighted and a great loss.

This debate particular timely for us here at Public Architecture, as Associate Design Director Liz Ogbu has just returned from Bolivia to launch our first international project. We are developing sustainability guidelines for a network of healthcare facilities in Bolivia for International Planned Parenthood Federation(IPPF).Working with Rupal Sanghvi of Health x Design and Marian Keeler of Simon & Associates, Liz visited two of the clinics that the Bolivian affiliate, CIES, operates, directed by Dr. Jhonny Lopez. Currently, CIES' clinics provide healthcare for over 30% of the country’s population.

Are we able to land in Bolivia and provide tools and insights that can improve the impact and capacity of their clinics? Well, with the humbling knowledge of how complex these problems are, the help of a great number of talented people both inside and outside the country, and the patience to see it through to a product that provides real results, we just might. Whatever the result we will be sharing the outcome of this and all of our design initiatives and working with our 1% members to do the same.


John Peterson, AIA
Founder & President

 Contents:

1.Publication Release: Design for Reuse Primer
2.Amy Ress Joins Staff Full-time
3.Videocast 03: John Peterson on Sidewalk Plazas
4. The 1% Nonprofit Featured Service Request
5. Volunteer Spotlight: Grant Alexander
6. Partner Spotlight: San Francisco Arts Commission
7.Interesting Reads This Month
8. Sign up for the Reconnex Conference
9. Upcoming Public Architecture Presentations & Participation

1. Publication Release: Design for Reuse Primer

Later this month, we will be releasing the Design for Reuse Primer. Sponsored by a Research Fund grant from the US Green Building Council and executed by a dedicated corps of staff and volunteers, the publication will be a free, downloadable resource available on our website.

The Primer will feature 15 case studies of innovative, reuse-intensive projects, ranging from a school for children with language learning difficulties in Seaside, CA to a center for neighborhood revitalization in New Orleans. In addition to the Primer, we will be releasing a number of related resources in the coming months. These resources will include an online, searchable database of projects that incorporate reuse as well as advice from veterans in the field. We will be sending out the Primer via email later this month to all newsletter subscribers.

2. Amy Ress Joins Staff Full-Time

After a year of service as an AmeriCorps*VISTA fellow, we are proud to announce that Amy Ress has joined the staff as a full-time employee. Amy will continue her work managing The 1% program and directing its growth as The 1% Program Manager.We would like to thank Bay Area Community Resources (BACR), which sponsored Amy's VISTA position over the past year. Amy has brought a number of improvements to the program over the past year, including increased outreach to new participants and solidifying new partnerships. Currently Amy is playing a lead role in a project to revitalize the cultural district on Mid-Market through our partnership with the San Francisco Arts Commission.  The project is described in greater detail in the Partner Spotlight section.

3. Videocast 3: John Peterson

 In the third episode of Public Architecture’s Videocast, we met
with Founder & President John Peterson to discuss the origins
of the organization, creating “mini-Venice beaches” in the South
of Market neighborhood, and whether there is a moral imperative
in architecture. 

4. The 1% Nonprofit Featured Service Request

Urban Homesteading Assistance Board: New York, NY
Services Requested: Facilities Needs Assessment

The Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) transforms renters into homeowners who collectively own and democratically govern true housing co-operatives that will remain affordable, in perpetuity, to people of modest means. UHAB is fighting predatory equity, a phenomenon happening in New York and other major cities in which investors purchase distressed low-income housing with the expectation to turn a high profit within a short timeframe. These landlords find ways to evict low-income tenants and raise rents to produce more income. New York tenants often find themselves fighting tactics of unlawful evictions, harassment, and lack of services.

To combat predatory equity, UHAB requests the assistance of an engineer to examine some distressed buildings in the Bronx. Recently featured in The New York Times, one building in the portfolio is on the verge of being overleveraged for the third time by a new landlord. UHAB seeks a 1% firm who can help them hold the new incoming owner accountable to make necessary capital improvements

The 1% growth remains strong with 818 firms and 398 nonprofits. To see a list of new 1% participants since July, including UHAB, click here

Visit www.theonepercent.org for more information.

5. Volunteer Spotlight: Grant Alexander

Grant Alexander is halfway through a Master’s in Architecture at the University of New Mexico. Grant’s has worked on a diverse array of projects during his ten weeks at Public Architecture. His primary focus was on developing resources for users of The 1% website, including handbooks for designers and nonprofits explaining the pro bono design process, as well as a sustainability for nonprofits guide. 

The circuitous route to Public Architecture found Grant planting trees in Western Australia, interning for a UN sustainability group in London, working for a climate change exchange in Portland, OR and performing traffic engineering in Boston. The thread tying these experiences together is the built environment. Grant hopes to be able to use architecture to tie together these
diverse threads as a means of achieving environmental and social action that improves the world.

5. Partner Spotlight: San Francisco Arts Commission

The San Francisco Arts Commission is the City agency that champions the arts in San Francisco. The Commission is fueled by the underlying belief that a creative, cultural environment is essential to the City’s well-being. The Arts Commission works towards making the arts more accessible and vibrant through a number of programs from the murals and monuments under the care of the Civic Art Collection to the teen poets’ work published by WritersCorps.

Recently Public Architecture partnered with the San Francisco Arts Commission on a grant proposal to develop the Mid-Market Cultural District for 25th anniversary of the Mayor’s Institute on City Design, an initiative of the National Endowment of the Arts. San Francisco was one of twenty-one grants in support creative placemaking projects in America.
Public Architecture is contributing to two components of the arts-centered redevelopment plans, including organizing three environmental lighting designs to mark the district's gateways as well as leveraging the services of The 1% program to provide architectural services for arts nonprofits seeking to move into underutilized buildings in Mid-Market.

6. Interesting Reads and Events This Month

Good Magazine | “Whose Sustainability Is This, Anyway?”
A framework for evaluating sustainability guidelines.

Change Observer | “Frontiers: On the Edge in Merced and Malibu”
Photos from unfinished suburbia.

Dezeen | “Land of Giants by Choi Shine Architects”
Powerlines, reimagined.

New York Times | “Utopian Dream Becomes Battleground in France”
Why design success will never be just about design.

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts | “Something from Nothing: Films on Design and Architecture”
Two months of Sunday matinees, all about design.

SFMOMA | “New Topographics: Photographics of a Man-Altered Landscape”
A restructured version of a 1975 exhibition.

 
7. Sign up: ReuseConex, 1st National Reuse Conference

This October, the Reuse Alliance will host a first-of-its kind conference bringing together reuse experts and enthusiastists from across the country to learn, share and engage. The conference offers up a broad array of workshops and sessions, from historic preservation to DIY green roofs. The adaptive reuse sessions are designed for design and construction professionals, while the “Reuse 101” sessions are designed for students and DIY enthusiasts looking to learn more about how reuse fits into their green building projects.

Public Architecture will be presenting the Design for Reuse Primer at the Conference, disseminating the lessons learned from case studies on reuse in construction. The presence of US Green Building Council, Building Materials Reuse Association and Reuse Alliance members on the plenaries and panels offer up a dynamic learning environment. To register: click here. Pricing: $150, full conference. $100, single day.

8. Upcoming Public Architecture Presentations & Participation

Aedes am Pfefferberg | Berlin, Germany | Aug 12-Sept 23, 2010
Featured project, Day Labor Station, "Measures of Man—Measure of Architecture: Responsibility in Architecture & Urbanism"

Teknion | Seattle, WA | September 24, 2010
Invited speaker

MoMA | New York, NY | Opening: October 3, 2010
Invited participant, "Small Scale, Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement"

Teknion | Atlanta, GA | October 5, 2010
Invited speaker

ReuseConex | Raleigh, NC | October 18-19, 2010
Invited speaker

Brownsville Charrette | New York, NY | November 1-4, 2010
Invited speaker

GreenBuild | Chicago, IL | November 15-17, 2010
Invited speaker

Click here for a complete list of upcoming presentations.

Established in 2002, Public Architecture identifies and solves practical problems of human interaction in the built environment and acts as a catalyst for public discourse through education, advocacy, and the design of public spaces and amenities. Visit www.publicarchitecture.org for more information.