Maryam to Speak at this Year's Association of Architecture Organizations - Miami Rising

2016 DESIGN MATTERS CONFERENCE: Miami Rising

Presented by Association of Architecture Organizations
November 2-4, 2016 - Miami, Florida

The Design Matters Conference presented by the Association of Architecture Organizations is the world’s only dedicated annual meeting that seeks to bring top designers, journalists and civic leaders into exploratory dialogue with those not-for-profit professionals and volunteers charged with creating cultural programs (exhibitions, tours, lectures and symposia, festivals and films, youth outreach) to spur broader public interest in architecture and design.

If you’re involved with a not-for-profit architectural, design or educational institution, come join your peers at the Design Matters Conference and enjoy 2.5 days of workshops, presentations, tours and networking events. See below for preliminary Schedule, initial list of Featured Speakers, Open Call for Presenters, Lodging and Registration information.

Conference Theme: Miami Rising

Comparatively speaking, Miami is a young city. It is a place beset with urban challenges, but a place on the make, and evolving much more rapidly than your average American city—therein lies the excitement. At this year’s Design Matters Conference, we investigate four Miami experiments that point to realities all urban centers are certain to face sometime soon. Let’s get out and explore and meet the designers and civic leaders pushing Miami into the future. Read More

Cultural Diversity:
Museums have become less object centered and more visitor centered, pushing for social change, community well-being, and service to ever-broadening audiences. In this famed Gateway City to Latin American and the Caribbean, see how Miami cultural institutions engage visitors of diverse backgrounds to foster a sense of both individual and collective identity.
Resiliency:
Florida is the lowest lying state in the US and a poster child for climate change. Learn how the City of Miami Beach is pioneering an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to managing sea level rise.
Placemaking:
In just the past decade, entirely new neighborhoods like the Design District and Wynwood have arisen from moribund industrial zones. The massive and forthcoming Underline bike path is poised to add a thrilling next chapter.
Design:
From Art Basel and Design Miami to Hadid and de Meuron, Miami hasn’t just become an art city, it's become a full-fledged design capital. We explore some of the new showstoppers and the timeless neighborhood gems.

Register Here

Maryam to speak at this year's AMCC Conference

This year themes at the AMCC conference are the role of entrepreneurs play to develop the American Muslim market, the global influence of the millennial Muslim consumer, and the trends of innovation at the intersections of this market.

Amidst exponential technology advances, serious global conflicts and shifting demographics, businesses are being forced to rapidly pivot and innovate new business models to cater to changing consumer behaviors which are increasingly driven by their faith and values. Entrepreneurs and businesses who recognize this change in economic and social narrative are bound to thrive in this globally disruptive environment.


No theory, no fluff, just quality content. Explore the future with us at#AMCC2016.

Learn more and register at http://2016.AmericanMuslimConsumer.com/

14 Most Picturesque High School Campuses in the U.S.

LawnStarter, a new e-commerce tech company recently named 14 of the most picturesque High School Campuses in the US. Among the list, was Fairfax High School. 

View all 14 High School Campuses Here.

Children's Museum of Manhattan honored by New York City Council

From left to right:  Andrew Ackerman, Halley k Harrisburg, Council Member I. Daneek Miller, Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Mohamed Q. Amin, guest, Council Member Carlos Menchaca, Rabbi Marc Schneier, Imam Shamsi Ali, Mubarak Abdul-Jabbar, Dean Oeidallah.  John McCarten

Congratulations to the Children's Museum of Manhattan for being honored for the Muslim Cultures: America to Zanzibar Exhibit. 

At last week’s NYC Council’s EID UL-FITR 2016 celebration, the Children’s Museum of Manhattan was honored by NY City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Council Member I. Daneek Miller and the City Council. We were recognized for our America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far exhibit and for the way it celebrates the various cultures within the Muslim community. As the sole cultural institution to be recognized, we are delighted to promote the importance of arts and culture in the lives of our city.

Executive Director, Andrew Ackerman and Museum Board Chair Halley Harrisburg were thrilled to accept this proclamation in honor of the optimism of children.  Ackerman said “At the Museum we believe that now more than ever, our children need to be hopeful and confident about the future. Or as one little girl described it, “Optimism is when you expect all the crayons to be in the box…Through our many exhibits and programs that reflect the diverse cultures of our great City, the Children’s Museum helps children learn about themselves by learning about others. If you haven’t stopped by to see America to Zanzibar yet, I hope you will!” 

Fast Company names Maryam as Recommender

In the June 2016 issue of Fast Company's '100 Most Creative People in Business', Maryam was named at one of the 'Recommenders'. 

MIT's James Wescoat partners in Pakistan on a critical issue: Water

Irrigated plains of the Punjab province in Pakistan, viewed from a Mughal tower in Sheikhpura Distric

The historic gardens of the Mughal Empire in India and Pakistan first drew James Wescoat to the Indus Basin four decades ago. A landscape architect and professor in the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture in the MIT Department of Architecture, Wescoat has returned to the region many times for research that spans studies of 17th-century waterworks and 21st-century water systems, policy analyses, and multilateral water agreements.

His partners in Pakistan include the new Centre for Water Informatics and Technology (WIT) of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). “WIT has devised innovative canal management and data transmission technologies that monitor water flows precisely and in real time,” says Wescoat, who chairs the WIT Advisory Group. “WIT’s pioneering systems can revolutionize water management.”

Read a profile of Wescoat at MIT News.

Tackling Built Environment Challenges With Participatory Design #iOpenArchitecture

Currently, 3.5 billion people are living in cities, while the rest are residing in the countryside. However, by the year 2050, over 75% of the world’s population will be residing in cities1. This growth does not come without challenges. Lack of resources, natural disasters, and political and economical circumstances are obstacles that prevent the majority of the world’s population from finding a livable place to reside. Design and architecture are to play a critical role in overcoming these challenges which grow increasingly complex due to (1) Global Warming (2) Gentrification and Segregation (3) Migration and Refugee Crises and (4) Inadequate Farming. The role that Public Interest Design, and more specifically, the Open Architecture Collaborative will play is to tackle these challenges within our built environment before the goal of creating livable spaces for everyone becomes tougher to achieve.

The purpose of design is to understand the challenges. We start by allowing the community to take on a participatory role in elucidating the challenges that arise within their neighborhoods and offering solutions. We ask, what can we learn from the communities to improve their living conditions? It can be as simple as contributing to sustainable design solutions – what is the right amount of light, airflow and natural ventilation to keep homes a steady temperature year round. It can also be complex. How can design respond more quickly and effectively in times of natural disaster? How can design become preventative, yet, still be one with the Earth? The questions do not stop there, nor are these necessarily the “right” questions. Every project has its own set of challenges and the designer must discover the right questions for each one. Moreover, given the resources at hand, s/he must also coordinate the best use of local materials, traditional crafting methods and also figure out how to build with recycled materials.

Read More on Open Architecture Collaborative
 

Being 3 Years Old Again…

How CMOM Can Bring Your Inner Child Out, Too.

When Wall Street Journalist, Ralph Gardner Jr., visited our exhibition design, he stated:

“There are few occasions when I wish I was 3 years old. But I did during a visit to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan’s new exhibit called ‘America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far.’” He wasn’t the only one that got to be 3 years old this past week. Many politicians stopped by this past week to play.

Presidential candidate, Hillary R. Clinton, decided to experience what Gardner was talking about herself. Clinton spoke to New Yorkers at the center of the chahar bagh – the square garden – following the custom of community leaders in past Muslim societies. Many people from the community, who all wanted to be 3 years old again, came to as well. They all learned about sharing, love, and respect.
 Before having to leave, Clinton stopped by to write her wish on the "drops of hope" paper.
So, the only question we have for Hillary is: what was her wish for the wishing fountain?

A couple of days later, several of Clinton's childhood friends came to learn about sharing, love, and respect . New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Council Members Helen Rosenthal, Jimmy Van Bramer, and I. Daneek Miller, all stopped by to play at the Children’s Museum’s America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far exhibit today. They even learned the importance of cooperation and team. They set off to make a song together with tanbour, tabla, and sitar. Rumor has it that they might even start a new band soon. Wonder if we will get to hear their new album?

As Huffington Post Islamic Studies Scholar Rose Deighton wrote:

 “Today more than ever, it is of immense importance that we begin to appreciate the complexity and great differences that exist within Muslim societies. [This exhibit] … is a timely contribution to our collective experience of the Islamic world and an important reminder of the diversity here at home among American Muslims.”

More on the MIIM Designs CMOM Exhibit

TONIGHT: BLAIR KAMIN TALKS ABOUT THE HARVARD GATES

via Harvard Gazette

Tonight at the Harvard COOP, Blair Kamin will be offering the complete, never-before-told story of the twenty-five gates that form portals to Harvard Yard, this beautiful gift book recounts the aesthetic vision for America's preeminent university, developed by renowned architecture firm McKim, Mead & White.  

Curbed Magazine fantastic description of the book, wrote “In the flurry of architecture and activity that greets those entering Harvard Yard, it’s easy for visitors to miss the 25 gates that ring the university grounds. But as Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin examines in his new book Gates of Harvard Yard (Princeton Architectural Press), there is so much more to these 25 gateways in Cambridge, Massachusetts, than their roles as ceremonial entrances and exits.

‘To see these gates is to appreciate hat gateways aren’t something out of the dim architectural past," says Kamin. "They should be part of the present and future. There’s always a human desire to demarcate and declare that this space is mine, and that won’t go away. They key is having those structures and expressions make a contribution to the public realm and not merely be utilitarian eyesores. Harvard’s gates set a standard. They’re made for a private institution, but have a public purpose, announcing you’re entering into a unique place with incredible artistry.’"

How To Get Creative

‘In pre-modern epochs, renewal of practice was always initiated by looking backwards, as a return to the fundamentals. The cult of the new/young first came with modernity. Are young offices still obsessed with the ideas of idols, former employers and teachers? Or are young practices in architecture today considered to be especially innovative? Are they generating new knowledge or just recycling winning formulas? If truly innovative new practices still exist, from what fields of knowledge do they get their input?’ Conditions Issue #9, New Knowledge – New Practices?
 

status: commissioned by Conditions magazine

team: Konstantinos Pantazis, Marianna Rentzou, Lida Stamou

collaborator: Joana Sá Lima

year: 2011

By Gregory Ciotti

When it comes to doing creative work, it’s important to not only look for ways to let our creativity thrive, but to also be mindful of insidious “creativity killers” that can sneak up and strangle our ability to come up with our best ideas. According to research from Harvard University, there are five main culprits that are responsible for killing our creativity.

It’s important to recognize these impediments to the creative thought process because many are insidious, and worse yet, most can be made on the managerial end, meaning we may be stifling our creative workers without even realizing it. For those of us doingcreative work, we must be mindful of these deterrents of the creative process so we can continue to put out our most novel ideas.

1. Role Mismatch

As Einstein said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Placing people in roles that they are not fit for is a surefire way to kill creativity. Although this may seem like a managerial concern, there are personal consequences here as well. Additional research has shown that we are at our best when we are “busy” (and pushed to our limits), but not rushed. In the wrong role, we can struggle to keep up and live in a constant state of creativity-crushing panic.

2. External End-Goal Restriction

Although self-restriction can often boost creativity, the Harvard study shows thatexternal restrictions are almost always a bad thing for creative thinking. This includes subtle language use that deters creativity, such as bosses claiming “We do things by the book around here,” or group members implicitly communicating that new ideas are not welcome.

3. Strict Ration of Resources

While money and physical resources are important to creativity, the Harvard study revealed that mental resources were most important, including having enough time. Creative people re-conceptualize problems more often than a non-creative. This means they look at a variety of solutions from a number of different angles, and this extensive observation of a project requires time. This is one of the many reasons you should do your best to avoid unnecessary near-deadline work that requires novel thinking. Also, when we are faced with too many external restrictions we spend more time acquiring more resources than actually, you know, creating.

4. Lack of Social Diversity

Homogeneous groups have shown to be better able to get along, but it comes at a cost: they are less creative. This even applies to the social groups you keep, so beware of being surrounded by people who are too similar all the time, you may end up in a creative echo-chamber.

5. Discouragement/No Positive Feedback

It’s tough to continue working on novel ideas when you haven’t received any positive feedback. This feeling is backed by psychological research that shows people who’ve started a new undertaking are most likely to give up the first time things come crashing down, also known at the “what the hell!” effect. Creative people thrive on having others impacted by their ideas. Without feedback, their motivation begins to wither and die. — How about you? What kills your creativity?

 via 99U

FORUM ON EUROPEAN CULTURE An initiative by DutchCulture & De Balie

What is Europe? This question can be answered in countless variations on the theme. Rem Koolhaas and Luuk van Middelaar will go in search of the answer within the brackets of 12 hours, hoping to find it in nonstop conversations with impressive guests from the worlds of art, philosophy, and politics. What does Europe mean to them? Is there such a thing as European culture and identity to begin with, and if so, what should define it?

Get TICKET HERE

Architectural Review - Typology: Multifaith

In the most recent Architectural Review magazine, Tom Wilkinson is History Editor of The Architectural Review and the author of “Bricks and Mortals: Ten Great Buildings and the People They Made”, investigates some of the questions that we have been researching at MIIM Designs:

‘What defines a place of worship?

Does it have to be sacrosanct?

Must it display certain signs?

Or is it enough that it feels ‘spiritual’?’

In AD631 (or AH 10) a delegation of Christians from Najran, in present-day Yemen, arrived in Medina to negotiate a treaty with Muhammad. He received the Najrans in the mosque and, although they were unable to agree on certain doctrinal matters, invited them to pray there nonetheless, which they did – facing east.

This episode demonstrates some of the possibilities – and the problems – inherent in the idea of adherents of different faiths sharing spaces of worship. First, there is often no intrinsic impediment to taking the occasional dip. Muslims can pray anywhere, as can Christians, although Mass should only be celebrated on consecrated ground (according to Canon 933, churches of other denominations may only be used in extraordinary circumstances). Catholics aside, Christian worship is now more likely to take place in a light industrial unit or megachurch than in a cruciform building, basilica, rotunda, or any of the other forms that have been developed and disputed across the centuries. As for architectural objections to shacking up on a more permanent basis, despite there being great regional traditions in mosque design, there is no essential mosque-form. As the above list demonstrates, the same can be said for Christian churches.

Read More HERE

METROPOLIS: Pritzker Laureates: We Must Rescue the Role of the Architect

On Tuesday night, seven Pritzker Prize laureates—Richard Rogers, Glenn Murcutt, Christian de Portzamparc, Wang Shu, Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel, and the newest among the group, Alejandro Aravena—gathered at the United Nations headquarters in New York to discuss what they thought to be the greatest challenge facing the built environment.

Australian architect and 2002 laureate Glenn Murcutt chose not to discuss sustainability, which he has spent his career championing, and instead delivered a rousing, emotional speech about a project that has occupied his mind for the better part of a decade: the Newport Mosque. The mosque has been the source of much controversy in Victoria, Australia, where it will be built. "The real issue," said Murcutt about the public discontent surrounding the project, "is fear"—fear of the unfamiliar that underpins social and religious prejudice around the world. 

Read More HERE

Maryam writes about Fast Fashion buildings

From Stranded to Standard: Who’s to Blame for the Failure in Bangladesh Fire

STRINGER/BANGLADESH/REUTERS

Rescue workers attempt to rescue garment workers from the rubble of the collapsed Rana Plaza building, in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka April 28, 2013. Fire broke out on Sunday in a garment factory that collapsed in the Bangladeshi capital, complicating attempts to find any survivors of a disaster that has killed 377 people

Since designer brands, whether in clothing or custom-made products such as furniture, textile and home goods, are not the fundamental basis of priority goods to sustain a living, often these goods are categorized in secondary or tertiary needs. Therefore, the cost and demand fluctuates based on the consumers market. With today’s economic turmoil, consumers are not in immediate need to buy clothing, let alone “designer” clothing. Thus, retailers such as JC Penny, Mango, Walmart, Fresh Joe, etc. are under pressure to keep overhead of their companies to a minimal low while selling products with a 300%-1000% markup (a profit is made even if the product is on “sale” for a consumer in Europe or the United States). In order for overhead to be kept minimal, sacrifices are made. There are three categories in which the designer can make sacrifices to meet the market’s demand and still gain profit: the quality of the product, the employees, and the factory. Designers will never sacrifice their product. Take Louis Vuitton, for example; rather than selling their product after several years above the marginal price, each year if their line is not sold, they burn the line to avoid sacrificing their brand.

Savar building collapse, Bangladesh. On April 24, 2013, in the Savar Upazila of Dhaka, Bangladesh, an eight-story commercial building named Rana Plaza, collapsed. (Photo Credit: rijans / Flickr)

Sadly, this 8-story building which had over 3,122 employees, ” most of them female garment workers between the ages of 18 and 20″, did not have adequate walls, based on the 1-hour rating and typical standard doors, which allow for a minimal 1-hour rating and adequate circulation space. By U.S. standards in any given space, there needs to be an emergency exit route without the use of elevators or electrical lifting, down to the ground level. Typically at every 20′-0″ in either direction there must be an emergency exit door for evacuation. This building failed to meet that standard as well.

Originally Published in TIM

Huffington Post features MIIM's CMOM

Rose Deighton, Ph.D. candidate in Islamic Studies at Emory University and blogger for the Huffington Post critic of Children's Museum of Manhattan's America to Zanzibar exhibit: 

America to Zanzibar is a new exhibit at the Children’s Museum of Manhattandesigned to highlight the vast diversity of Islamic cultures. Today more than ever, it is of immense importance that we begin to appreciate the complexity and great differences that exist within Muslim societies.
America to Zanzibar’s visual beauty and interactive qualities provide children and adult visitors with a tangible experience of Islamic diversity that will certainly expand our imaginations of “the Islamic.” For this reason, it is a timely contribution to our collective experience of the Islamic world and an important reminder of the diversity here at home among American Muslims.

Read More HERE

Memory Matrix at M.I.T.

The Memory Matrix is a monument that explores the possibilities for future heritage creation, employing new fabrication techniques and transcultural workshops. The Matrix is made of border fences carrying over 20,000 small fluorescent Plexiglas elements. This solidarity-building and educational enterprise was conceived by ACT Assistant Professor Azra Aksamija and is produced with the help of MIT students and a diverse range of partners within the MIT community and participants from the Maker Faire in Cairo and Syrian refugee camps in Jordan. This collaborative making process is a seed for a longer-term mission of the project – to benefit the education of Syrian refugees.

Tickets for Opening Ceremony

Learn more about the project

YouTube-er "Fun for Louis" visits Humayun's Tomb

British film-maker and YouTube "Fun for Louis", is traveling around the world. As part of his YouTube v-log, he stops by one of our favorite projects: Humayun's Tomb. 

Garrett Jacobs in GOOD Magazine

This spring, GOOD Magazine is celebrating innovators who are tackling pressing global issues. They are known as the GOOD 100. This group of influential global citizens are rolling out insights and personal stories on the projects that they are working on to better our world. We’ll be highlighting GOOD Citizens will be highlighting them once a week. This week, Garrett Jacobs, Executive Director of The Open Architecture Collaborative, reflects on his time with "Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools". 

Read More HERE

ZADY IN VOGUE

Our friend, Maxine Bedat, makes beautiful, effortless, sustainable clothing! Check out this article by Vogue, and check out Zady, one our favorite brand! 

MARYAM TO LECTURE AT GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

As part of George Mason University Lecture Series, Maryam will present "American Mosques: In Search for a Historical Model" at George Mason University as part of the their 2015/2016 COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES  Lecture Series. The lecture will be on Wednesday April 13th at 12:00pm in Johnson Center Room A.