A discussion of American architecture cannot be complete until Frank Lloyd Wright enters the conversation. One of the most prolific and renowned architects of the 20th century, he was a radical designer and intellectual who embraced new technologies and materials. Largely focusing on organic architecture, he believed that structures should be in harmony with humanity...
Interview with Toni L. Griffin and Chris Reed, who collaborated on the Detroit Future City Strategic Framework—an innovative planning model for urban revitalization.
Interview with Corinne Hill, director of the Chattanooga Public Library, who created a unique maker space and civic commons in the Library's downtown branch.
Talk by Amy Peterson, cofounder and CEO, and Patricia Caldwell, production manager, of the Detroit-based jewelry design studio Rebel Nell. Conversation to follow with Cynthia E. Smith, Curator of Socially Responsible Design and curator of the exhibition By the People: Designing a Better America.
After Hurricanes Dolly and Ike left many families in Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley with damaged housing, a team of designers, policy makers, community developers, and organizers worked with the communities to foster social, cultural, and economic resilience. Two of these individuals, Juanita Valdez-Cox, Executive Director, LUPE (La Unión Del Pueblo Entero), and Brent Brown,...
Amy Peterson, a Detroit lawyer, envisioned Rebel Nell—an enterprise that creates unique jewelry from scrap pieces of graffiti—after moving next to one of Detroit’s shelters. While walking her dog, she began talking to women she met, and after listening to their stories and challenges, Peterson started a social enterprise with a vision to help women...
In 2013, architectural designer Deanna Van Buren and social scientist Barb Toews established Designing Justice+Designing Spaces (DJ+DS) to facilitate the design of more restorative and healing criminal-justice environments through community engagement in jails and prisons. Their work is featured in the exhibition By the People: Designing a Better America, curated by Cynthia Smith, Curator of...
Cynthia Smith, Curator of Socially Responsible Design speaks with architects Rosanne Haggerty and David Baker about community building through innovative affordable housing design.
Suzani, meaning “of needle” in Persian, are large-scale embroideries central to Central Asian domestic culture. Young girls learned to sew at an early age, often beginning to work on textiles intended for their own marriage dowries. Suzanis were considered the most important textiles in a dowry. Indicators of skill and family wealth, they were status...
Humberto Campana discusses Estudio Campana’s work in conversation with Caroline Baumann, Director of Cooper Hewitt. Estudio Campana, founded in 1983 by Humberto and Fernando Campana, is renowned for its use of every day or discarded objects to create expressive new forms. The São Paulo-based design firm has explored a wide range of disciplines, from architecture...
Liz Ogbu in conversation with Curator of Socially Responsible Design at Cooper Hewitt, Cynthia E. Smith. From designing shelters for immigrant day laborers in the United States to a water and health social enterprise for low-income Kenyans, Liz Ogbu has a long history of working with communities in need to leverage the power of design...
A special evening discussion on design, community, authorship, and beauty with The Haas Brothers and The Haas Sisters of Monkeybiz—together for the first time in the United States—and Andrea Lipps, Assistant Curator and co-curator of Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial. The Haas Brothers is the partnership of designer and twin brothers Nikolai (Niki) and Simon Haas....
By Andréa Pellegrino, Worldstudio Design Ignites Change, an initiative of Worldstudio, promotes and encourages talented high-school and college students across the country to use design thinking and innovation to develop actual projects that will benefit their own communities while giving them a voice on important social issues. The winning projects of the Fall 2011 Design...
Over the next months while the Design with the Other 90%: CITIES exhibition is on display at the United Nations Headquarters in New York several individuals whose own research explores the exhibition’s subject matter have been invited to write blog entries sharing their insights, related research and projects. – Cynthia E. Smith, Curator of Socially...
Over the next months while the Design with the Other 90%: CITIES exhibition is on display at the United Nations Headquarters in New York several individuals whose own research explores the exhibition’s subject matter have been invited to write blog entries sharing their insights, related research and projects. – Cynthia E. Smith, Curator of Socially...
