In this episode, we catch up with #archimoms Anta Miranda AIA, NOMA, ARB (UK) and Veronica Elizalde-Molina on balancing architecture and parenting in the pandemic.
Listen to the original Season 1 episode on our website here or on your favorite podcast app.
Nakita Reed, AIA, CPHC, LEED AP BD+C, NOMA, is an Associate at Quinn Evans. Her career has focused on the preservation and revitalization of historic buildings, restoring them to new purpose and economic vitality while also incorporating cutting-edge design strategies for sustainability.
Barry Farms and Hillsdale community is one of Washington, DC’s most historic black communities. Originally founded after emancipation by the Freedmen’s Bureau, the legacy of this community included the development of public housing. Designated as a historic landmark, an advisory committee was formed to integrate the original architecture and preserve residents’ stories. In this episode, Sabiyha Prince (a visual artist, cultural anthropologist and founding director of AnthroDocs) and Sarah Jane Shoenfeld (co-founder of the digital public history project Mapping Segregation in Washington DC) talks about the upcoming documentary and history of this community.
Kelly Beamon has spent 18 years producing architecture and design content, with focuses on historic house styles, building materials, and kitchen and bath trends for Architectural Record, This Old House, Interior Design, Surface and HD magazine. An additional area of constant research and curiosity has been the impact of the A&D community on such issues as affordable housing, building decarbonization, design education, and the schools-to-practice pipeline.
Reverend Christopher Tobias is the Executive Director of Hands Up Outreach Ministry (HUOM), a faith-base organization, meeting the needs of individuals living in underserved communities. Guided by a servant’s heart, HUOM seeks to empower, strength and improve the lives of individuals in their journey towards an improved quality of life. Hands Up Outreach Ministry has worked extensively with Tyler House through social engagement as well as hosting holiday meals and provide financial literacy programs for the Northwest One neighborhood.
“What if Black neighborhoods were defined by the beauty of the architecture that represents Black culture?” This question is on the ‘About’ page of the OffTop Design website. In this episode, we explore answers to this question with Demar Matthews, a Los Angeles based architectural designer, founder/Principal of OffTop Design, as well as the benefits and challenges of running a design firm.
Earlier this year, Architecture is Political Podcast had the opportunity to present at Pyatok's Skull Session, a weekly meet-up where various guests come to discuss topics related to architectural practices, emerging innovations, and everything in between.
Gabriela Gonjon and Nicole Bass are undergraduate B. Arch students and NOMAS (National Organization of Minority Architecture Students) chapter members at City College of New York. Together, they are host/producer of Talks at NOMAS CCNY, a podcast about architecture school, professionalism and entrepreneurship.
Christina Schaller is a passionate and ambitious project designer currently pursuing licensure in the state of Massachusetts. At her role at Flansburgh Architects, her work focuses on designing K-12 schools that encourage a desire for learning as well as address the needs of the greater community. Rosalie Shen is a visual storyteller. She has a passion for creative marketing and media, telling stories through imagery & design. Her interests lie at the intersection of art, commerce, and culture. Rosalie currently works as a Marketing Manager for Flansburgh Architects, headquartered in Boston.
The Reclaiming Indiana Avenue Planning Initiative goal is to bring residents and stakeholders together to design a community-driven future, one that prioritizes people over projects and seeks to address past harms. Reclaiming Indiana Avenue is an important and rare opportunity to lay the framework to collaboratively chart a new course for the Indiana Avenue and MLK Corridors.
Designing in Color (DCo), a collective of architects and designers of culture. Their mission aims to diversify the way architecture is taught and practiced to amplify marginalized communities who’ve been historically silenced and erased throughout the design process.
In the context of multifamily and affordable housing, does the architecture aesthetic represent the culture or the historical context of the neighborhood? Melissa explores this topic with two articles: A city within a city and Architecture and Racism: A Conversation.
Become an insider by supporting the show at https://glow.fm/archispolly where you can support the show on a recurring or one-time basis!
Through her first love, Architecture, Dominican-born and raised designer and entrepreneur Ellen Abraham aims to push the needle forward. This MBA graduate and Senior Project Technical Lead at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, nurtures her passions through leading various community-building initiatives, design-based philanthropy and high impact social justice & design advocacy projects. She co-founded and co-leads a new initiative at SOM called the Equity Design Lab.
Ellen currently serves on the NYCOBA NOMA Board focused on finance management for the NY chapter, the Architexx Board focused on gender equity and the historic & landmarked Ephesus Church campus Board in NYC, as Building Committee Chairwoman, where she leads a 15-member committee.
She is the Founder of Architect Pins & Elle Abōd, two companies focused on the celebration of diverse design identities and the promotion of BIPOC Architect and Designer Guest Editors, respectively.
Links:
Architect Pins
Website: https://www.architectpins.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/architectpins/
Elle Abod
IG: https://www.instagram.com/elleabod/
Professional Contact
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellenabraham/
Become an insider by supporting the show at https://glow.fm/archispolly where you can support the show on a recurring or one-time basis!
Carolyn Swope MPH, Well AP, is a doctoral student at Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Her research interests focus on the relationship between housing and health disparities, with particular attention to historical housing policies producing present-day housing inequities. Prior to pursuing doctoral studies, Carolyn worked at various organizations promoting healthy housing and communities, spanning the private, nonprofit, and local government sectors. Carolyn received her MPH in Sociomedical Sciences from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and BA in Anthropology and International Studies from Washington University in St. Louis.
The Problematic Role of Public Health in Washington, DC’s, Urban Renewal
Carolyn Swope is an MPH, Well AP, and a doctoral student at Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. Her research interests focus on the relationship between housing and health disparities, with particular attention to historical housing policies producing present-day housing inequities. Prior to pursuing doctoral studies, Carolyn worked at various organizations promoting healthy housing and communities, spanning the private, non-profit, and local government sectors. Carolyn received her MPH in Sociomedical Sciences from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and BA in Anthropology and International Studies from Washington University in St. Louis. To listen more to Carolyn’s back story, tune in at 03:15.
At 5:28, Carolyn explains the anthropology phenomenon, what it’s and its importance in the history of any society. Anthropology is a broad field, and apart from dealing with human evolution, it also covers human differences across many forums and how communities have created others. The aspect that interests her most in this field is recognizing how artificial some of the categories are yet very consequential in how things are able to thrive within society.
Carolyn worked in healthy housing before shifting to public health, where her awareness and interest in the intersection and demystification on the rapidly transforming corridors was grounded. She explains how urban developments have transformed the urban environment. According to her, there is a significant displacement of that what was there before, but many businesses that have been around for decades are still thriving in the new environment. To hear more about Carolyn journey in healthy housing and the transformation in housing and architecture, tune in at 06:22
Carolyn did not grow up in the city; she grew up in the suburbs, going back and forth from environments with different levels of investments and advancements sparked up her passion for healthy housing. At 08:45, she shares how recognizing abandonment and disinvestments changed her desires into a passion. She envisioned how investment put in place, or lack of investments can reflect demystification in the environment.
Health is not all about behaviors, diet, fitness, or genetics; it covers a broad scope, including your surroundings. According to Carolyne, our physical and social environments also have a huge influence on our health. She arguably says that the sum of all different exposure that we come to in life, such as racial discrimination, displacement, chemicals, and contaminated water, can affect a community’s health span over a different period. Carolyn also talks about her research findings on urban renewals in DC and how it has impacted health. To hear more about how people’s attachment to their location, physical neighborhood condition, and how structure without higher safety standards can affect your health, go to 11:06.
At 16:45, Carolyn talks about how the federal government has worked significantly to protect the urban renewal to enhance long-term healthy housing. She also describes how urban renewal displaced early homes, which directly affected people’s health due stress and trauma that resulted from an entire community been uprooted and detached from its neighborhood. Lastly, Carolyn explains urban renewal catalysts and models that were followed in moving the people to different places, how segregation in some areas made it easier for them to be denied resources, and how displacement affected people’s ability to access more resources.
Investment in Tyler House during the 1990s was a real urban renewal crisis whose fall was not only shocking but also very impactful as people lost their assets tremendously. Poor management and irresponsibility made the building a safety concern and raised insecurity in the neighborhood. At 21:25, Melissa shares her story on how she went through trauma during childhood because of poor decisions that were made to save money as opposed to providing a high-level safety structure. This inspired her toward public health, and she created a go-back to ensure she don’t forget the moment to help the next generation.
Carolyn describes how public health investments have been privatized to ensure there are adequate funds. The presence of sufficient resources ensures there is the proper enhancement of healthy housing. There is so much priority placed on housing conditions and people in power should ensure they keep the conditions healthy and provide stability by keeping unhealthy conditions from happening and addressing them to help them retain people in their homes. To hear more on how health housing concerns can affect people well-being and tear down communities, listen at 27:12
According to Carolyn, in public health a technical orientation process has thrived for a long time, and it does not adequately account for urban manual. The American public housing association created different strategies to identify neighborhoods targeted for urban development. Priorities are given to neighborhoods based on the recommendations provided after an assessment score on the physical conditions. She arguably states that past experiences have been an eye-opener to many people, and the public is more aware of the processes and effects of urban renewal. To learn more about urban planning processes and public health, go to 29:45.
At 33:55, Carolyn shares the roles of architect in urban renewal and planning for the buildings created in the neighborhoods in the context of ideologies, overall design, and structures can achieve a concentric neighborhood for people to live effectively. She stresses that all professions, including architecture, should have goals for their work and strategies on how to arrive at and develop their goals. Their culture and ideologies should make the neighborhood better than before.
Architects design buildings and decide on the projects to undertake and they should ensure they have phasing projects to create housing for people without displacing them from their property. This way, everybody will be happy; they will not be wiping out the community, losing the school system, or anything that matters to the neighborhood. To listen to Melissa’s thoughts on how architectures should strategize urban renewal to keep the community intact in the context of demystification, go to 41:28
There is a fundamental housing attempts to address housing affordability but developers view them as low income-generating projects. According to Carolyn, despite the high number of people struggling with housing affordability in DC and New York, the government fears that if it tries to make it a requirement for the developers to provide affordable housing, they will not undertake such projects. Carolyn argues that promoting different models for delivering affordable housing by moving housing outside the speculative market and the pressure that drives up the prices can help resolve housing problems. To hear more about urbanization and affordable housing, listen at 48:07.
When people think about displacement, they often think of it in the sense of physical displacement from their neighborhood. But according to Carolyn, we should also think about it in terms of the removal of neighborhood that people knew and lived in. When everything changes around us, that is a formal displacement, and it can leave us feeling like our neighborhood is leaving us.
Changing the system of how things are done in urban renewal will take time, probably our lifetime, but according to Carolyn, neighborhoods that experience demystification so rapidly often has appropriate conditions and opportunities that allow that to happen. To listen more on how and why neighborhoods are changing and the aspects that should be retained, tune in at 53:23
KEY NUGGETS:
[03:15] Carolyn back story
[05:28] The mysteries behind anthropology
[06:22] The transformations in urban development
[08:45] The inspirations that cultivated Carolyn interest in public health
[11:06] Urban renewal and the problematic public health
[16:45] The impacts of urban renewal
[21:25] Greedy algorithms and quality structures cannot coexist.
[27:12] Resources allocation and priority setting in public health
[29:25] Urban planning, displacement, and health impact
[33:45] The role of architects in urban planning and urban resilience
[48:07] Divergence in planning for affordable housing
[53:23] The facts about displacement
‘Decolonise Architecture’ is a collective of students and alumni from the University of Bath driven to tackle institutional racism within architecture and its education.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/decolonisearchitecture/?hl=en
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/decolonise-architecture-uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DecoloniseArch
TANYARADZWA CHIGANZE (@Tanya.etc_) Background: Zimbabwean and Welsh. Architectural education needs to acknowledge its role in shaping society and the barriers students may face as a result of it being an exclusive profession. In order to give our global student population a holistic and empowering format of education, it must challenge the consequences of white privilege and shift away from eurocentricism.
JASMINE LAWRENCE (@Luceaalawrence) Background: British and Caribbean. Throughout my time in architectural education, it has become increasingly apparent that architecture is far from a level playing field. I feel ever more fortunate to have studied it in a top university as a minority ethnic and want to help make this change so that this is not such a special circumstance in education or in practice.
MOHIT BUCH (@Mohitbuch) Background: Indian and British. Learning about the ways in which different cultures have adapted to their conditions and climates will only make you a better architect and your designs more responsive.
HARSHA GORE (@harshag_) Background: Indian and Swiss. Much of the world today faces the lasting repercussions of dominating Western practices and media. We cannot change what we look like or where we come from - so it is our responsibility to make the world a more equal place, one reflective of our ethnic and traditional cultures.
Not on the call
KYALE MAKAU MWENDWA Background: Kenyan. Architecture education can be seen as particularly isolating for minority ethnic students, even when compared to the already skewed number for higher education in general. I believe that by celebrating POC architects, we can give minority students the courage and confidence that is indeed possible to break through the glass ceiling.
FLORA JING LIN NG (@atelier.fn) Background: Singaporean and Chinese. Providing a platform for underrepresented groups to share knowledge and discuss their architecture in a very crowded Eurocentric room. The architectural culture is changing, and we have a chance here to do the right thing.
Tenille Bettenhausen is a business developer serving the Los Angeles market for the American Institute of Steel Construction. She earned her BS degree in Architecture from Arizona State University. After graduation, Tenille started her career in architecture with Callison Architecture, where she worked on a wide variety of projects including design rollout projects for Nordstrom and Washington Mutual Bank. She has 18 years of previous experience as an architectural project designer, project engineer in construction, and for the last four years, has been the Business Development Manager for a local architecture firm. She is heavily involved in her local chapter of the AIA and is currently the co-chair for the Women in Architecture committee. Tenille is also a podcaster for her new show Death By Architecture. Her passion is marketing and building design, and she finds business development and relationship building of the utmost importance.
Website: http://deathbyarchitecturepod.com/
Instagram: @deathbyarchitecturepod • Instagram photos and videos
