Social Architecture
Reconstructing social and public space through design and architecture
This Track is supported by the Jonathan D. and Mark C. Lewis Foundation.
Architecture is more than the built environment. Architecture reveals how we see ourselves, how we relate to each other, and our hopes or dreams for a place. How can a practice rooted in design or architecture bolster community-centered, place-based initiatives to ensure social or public space is representative of the people and ecological systems inhabiting them? Members of this track are invested in the practice and slow work of designing with people, natural environments, and collective histories at the center.
Who Should Apply: We seek architects, designers, creative studios, community organizers and leaders, land artists, urban planners, and artists working in the public realm. We are seeking members who use design or technology to divine new, abundance-oriented paths for the future of our private and shared spaces that are equitable, accessible, and joyful.
Expectations: Commit to participation in NEW INC’s full year-long program, Sept 2024-August 2025, which includes required orientation and a multi-day onboarding experience September 11-13, monthly track meetings, seasonal day-long intensives, monthly meetings with a dedicated mentor, and a handful of other touchpoints.
Benefits: Expert track mentorship and opportunities to present work in private and public settings including our annual DEMO festival.
Cost: $60/month subsidized by the Jonathan D. and Mark C. Lewis Foundation with a required 12-month commitment.
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Office Party is an international design collective specializing in the production of temporary events, installations, and exhibitions. The office uses comprehensive design and production strategies to limit the environmental impact of its work, catering to a range of sustainably-minded corporate and cultural clients. Office Party further investigates the ways that parties provide insight into the development of architecture as a temporary and responsive mode of space-making through written and editorial work such as their annual journal, Party Planner.
Studio VISIT is a creative platform for the production of landscapes, art, and ideas. Founded by landscape architect and artist Melody Stein, Studio VISIT’s mission is to create experiences between people and land that capture a sense of wonder and beauty, that allow people to engage with place and land-based practice in new and old ways, that connect to memory and tradition, and that respond to identities and ecologies that are occasionally universal, often specific, and always evolving.
Cara Michell is an Assistant Professor of Race & Social Justice in the Built Environment in at Northeastern University's School of Architecture. Outside of her teaching and academic research, Cara is the founder of s l o w p r a c t i c e, an urban planning and public art studio that prioritizes community participation. Her current art and research projects focus on community-led cartography and participatory map-making.
Header image credit: Philip Poon