Conversations

Two online conversation events in March 2022 extended the global community created by the Design for the Common Good International Exhibition and the 2022 Structures for Inclusion Conference. In this forum public interest designers, community members, and leaders in the field came together to discuss exhibited projects and the stories behind them.

Conversations Day 1

On 3 March 2022 a selection of five project teams and communities from the Design for the Common Good International Exhibition reflect on and share the stories of community design projects that support team members and communities around the world.

Full Session: 3 March 2022

Keynote speaker: Professor Akiko OKABE
Project Presentations: Ger Innovation Hub, Fish River Rangers Accommodations, Imagine Castlegate, Ah Ma Drink Stall, Vertical University
Ger Innovation Hub: Rural Urban Framework, University of Hong Kong

The Ger Innovation Hub provides much-needed community infrastructure to residents living in the ger districts of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The project is the first of its kind: a community center that does not directly involve the government and is independently funded and managed. In a place with limited basic spaces and a culture that has no word for “community,” the project aims to enable residents to construct a community identity.
Fish River Rangers Accommodations: University of South Australia

The Fish River project on the remote Fish River Indigenous Protected Area, Northern Territory, is a project undertaken for Aboriginal rangers employed on traditional land as part of the Australian Government’s Working on Country program. Fish River is a culturally significant landscape for the Ngan’giwumirri (Labarganyin), Wagiman, Malak Malak and Kamu people, who are the Indigenous landowners for the property.
Imagine Castlegate: Sheffield School of Architecture, University of Sheffield

“Imagine Castlegate” is a collective, community-focused coproduction process to envision, campaign for, and support the development of a new neighborhood, accessible to all, that celebrates the rich heritage of Castlegate while creating a sustainable future. Since 2014, SSoA students and graduates have been coproducing design work and participatory research with local groups to develop a vision for future development of the site.
Ah Ma Drink Stall: TAN Beng Kiang, CHUNG Er Pei Ethan, LAM Ching Yan, Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore

The Ah Ma Drink Stall Project is a design/build reconstruction project on Pulau Ubin, an island off mainland Singapore that is one of the last places in urbanized Singapore with kampong (a Malay word meaning “village”) houses and lifestyle. The project is significant as the first ground-up public structure in Singapore designed and built by volunteers in collaboration with multiple stakeholders. It also paved the way for subsequent restoration of timber houses on the island.

Conversations Day 2

On 19 March 2022 a selection of six project teams and communities from the Design for the Common Good International Exhibition reflect on and share the stories of community design projects that support team members and communities around the world.

Full Session: 19 March 2022

Keynote speaker: Professor Nabeel Hamdi
Project Presentations: Agbogbloshie Makerspace Platform; Chamanga Cultural Center; Restore Oakland, LLC; Infozentrale Auf Dem Vollgut; Naidi Community Hall; Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes’ George Hawkins Memorial Treatment Center
Agbogbloshie Makerspace Platform: Dk Osseo-Asare, Yasmine Abbas, AMP Makers Collective

The Agbogbloshie Makerspace Platform (AMP) is a design experiment that links recycling with making to empower Africans to make inclusive futures. To design and prototype the AMP platform, a “transformal” approach was used, which mediates “formal” global systems and networks with locally adaptive “informal” modes of production and distribution.
Chamanga Cultural Center: Portland State University, Tokyo University, Munich University of Applied Sciences, Atarraya Taller de Arquitectura, Opción Más

The Chamanga Cultural Center is the result of a long-term collaboration among academia, civil society organizations, and the community of Chamanga, Ecuador, starting with postdisaster relief efforts and research activities after the earthquake in 2016. The center anchors itself to its context by taking cues from local vernacular architecture, but it also stands out by means of its scale and reinterpreted use of traditional building systems.
Infozentrale Auf Dem Vollgut: Natural Building Lab, Technical University of Berlin

The Infozentrale is a public, collectively organized, noncommercial “space for all” on the Vollgut site in Berlin Neukölln. It was designed and built by a group of 36 students as a design/build project of the Natural Building Lab at the TU Berlin. The building serves as a prototype for resource-positive construction in an urban context and embodies a new method of architectural production for a postconsumer society.
Naidi Community Hall: CAUKIN Studio

The Naidi community has been without a space for seven years following the gradual decay of its previous hall, which was eventually deemed to be unsafe for use. As a result, the Naidi Community Hall was built to serve the village of four hundred people and 75 households. The brief was to create a space that enabled the members of the Naidi community to express themselves creatively while providing a structure strong enough to give shelter in the event of any future natural disasters.
Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes', George Hawkins Memorial Treatment Center: Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes, Blue Star Integrative Studio

This project represents a rare collaborative effort between indigenous designers, contractors, and local cultural wisdom keepers. The mural design features a round medicine wheel window that faces to the east and features sun rays washing over a Cheyenne and Arapaho village landscape. It is the centerpiece for recovery and healing programs at the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes’ George Hawkins Memorial Treatment Center in Clinton, Oklahoma.

Structures for Inclusion Conference 2022

The SFI 2022 conference in March 2022 featured two days of inspiring events including panel discussions, network presentations, and keynote speakers. In this forum experts promote systemic change in the practices of design to amplify positive change in communities around the world. Thank you to Design for the Common Good Network conference collaborators DesignBuildXchange, Pacific Rim Community Design Network, SEED Network, Live Projects Network, and Curry Stone Foundation. Conference hosts and sponsors Design Corps and MSU Denver. Special thanks to sponsors AIA Colorado, Community Development Partners, Curry Stone Foundation, Center for Public Interest Design, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Conference Day 1

Hosted at Metropolitan State University of Denver and in organized in partnership with Design Corps, the 4 March 2022 convening featured work of five international design organizations who have joined efforts to create the Design for the Common Good Network which functions as an incubator for best ideas, projects, practices, and education in public interest design. Keynote addresses and presentations are included in Day 1 proceedings below.

Welcome: The State of Public Interest Design

Presenter: Bryan Bell, Executive Director; SEED Network (Design Corps)

Bryan Bell provides an introduction to the conference and discusses his own research on the state of public interest design.
Keynote: Rethinking Housing: A Client Centered Asset Based Approach to Affordability Center for Public Interest Design

Presenters: Sergio Palleroni and Todd Ferry, Portland State University

Sergio Palleroni and Todd Ferry discuss their work with underserved communities through Portland State University School of Architecture’s Center for Public Interest Design that address sustainable solutions to houselessness that are centered on community building, safety, and dignity.
Keynote: Hands-on Social Activism in Architectural Education

Presenter: Peter Fattinger, design.build studio, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria

Peter Fattinger shares perspective on his work with students and communities through Vienna University of Technology’s design.build studio which he founded in 2000. He discusses a range of projects and design build processes that are informed by student decision-making in context.
Keynote: Unwalling Citizenship

Presenters: Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman, Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman

Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman discss their work on citizenship culture at the United States-Mexico border and the network of spaces they have co-developed with border communities to cultivate regional and global solidarities.

Conference Day 2

Day 2 of the SFI conference on 5 March 2022 featured facilitated open discussions, guest speakers, and a series of Pecha Kucha presentations provided below.

Pecha Kucha: Cultural Healing–A Medicine Mural at the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes’ George Hawkins Memorial Treatment Center

Project Team: Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes, Blue Star Integrative Studio
Presenter: Scott Moore y Medina

This project represents a rare collaborative effort between indigenous designers, contractors, and local cultural wisdom keepers. The mural design features a round medicine wheel window that faces to the east and features sun rays washing over a Cheyenne and Arapaho village landscape. It is the centerpiece for recovery and healing programs at the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes’ George Hawkins Memorial Treatment Center in Clinton, Oklahoma.
Pecha Kucha: Passerine Pavilion

Project Team: Dirt Works Studio, University of Kansas
Presenter: Chad Kraus

The Passerine Pavilion is a universally accessible pavilion perched atop Wells Overlook Park that brings the experience of the landscape to all who appreciate it. Like a grassland bird it projects horizontally with upturned wings and spine sloped backward toward its tail. The result is an expansive view from a level platform, affording all visitors, regardless of their mobility, an experience of beholding the Wakarusa River Valley.
Pecha Kucha: InterACTION Labs

Project Team: Community of Claverito, Traction, Pennsylvania State University, University of Washington, Centro de Investigaciones Tecnológicas Biomédicas y Medioambientales
Presenter: Jeff Hou on behalf of Leann Andrews

InterACTION Labs is a collaborative design activism, research, and education program partnering with the informal amphibious community of Claverito in Iquitos, Peru. A community-driven program, the interdisciplinary team of designers and researchers works closely with residents to implement a built environment intervention each year and longitudinally measures changes in human and ecological health, or One Health. Now in its fourth year, the project includes a waterfront park with community center, amphitheater, and medicinal habitat garden as well as 60 household floating gardens with medicinal and edible plants.
Pecha Kucha: Chamanga Cultural Center

Project Team: Portland State University, Tokyo University, Munich University of Applied Sciences, Atarraya Taller de Arquitectura, Opción Más
Presenter: Ursula Hartig

The Chamanga Cultural Center is the result of a long-term collaboration among academia, civil society organizations, and the community of Chamanga, Ecuador, starting with postdisaster relief efforts and research activities after the earthquake in 2016. The center anchors itself to its context by taking cues from local vernacular architecture, but it also stands out by means of its scale and reinterpreted use of traditional building systems.