OAC Awarded $20,000 from the National Endowment of the Arts

On Tuesday, February 7th, 2018, Open Architecture Collaborative was awarded $20,000 from the National Endowment of the Arts. The grant will go towards a pilot program called Pathways to Equity: A leadership development program for community design practitioners.

Jane Chu, NEA Chairman stated, “…projects [like] this one of Open Architecture Collaborative, are good examples of how the arts build stronger and more vibrant communities, improve well-being, prepare our children to succeed, and increase the quality of lives…”

Read the full press release HERE.   

MIIM Designs' America to Zanzibar Exhibit Starts its National Tour

We are very excited that the exhibit that we designed for the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, America to Zanzibar, is starting its national tour in January 2018. After two years of it being housed in New York City, its first stop will be back at Maryam’s home state – Tennessee and will be opening on February 3, 2018 at the Creative Discovery Museum in Chattanooga. It will then move to Kentucky to be celebrated at the Muhammad Ali Center for the rest of 2018. We will keep you posted on upcoming adventures as it makes its way across the US. We are so grateful to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan for trusting in our design and forever allowing us to become a part of the CMOM family. We are also very grateful for the amazing coverage on our work this year in New York Times, New Yorker (with DJ Khaled) and the various videos.

Garrett Jacobs featured in Architectural Record

Garrett Jacobs, Executive Director of Open Architecture Collaborative, was recently featured in Architecture Record magazine. Read the full interview that he did with Fred Berstein HERE.

Maryam to Speak at National Humanities Conference

The Federation of State Humanities Councils will be holding its annual National Humanities Conference 2017 on 'Islamic Art', sponsored by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston . The 2017 Working Group will be:

* Introduction: Considering Islamic Art History and the Question of Public Impact - Laura Weinstein

Teaching about Islam through Art in the Museum and Classroom - Walter Denny

Children's Museum of Manhattan - America to Zanzibar: Presenting Islamic Culture to Children and Families - Maryam Eskandari

Students, Art and the Middle East Refugee Crisis - Pamela Karimi

Advocacy and Art - Nadeem Mazen

New York Magazine: DJ Khaled's son approves MIIM Designs work

New York Magazine recently interviewed DJ Khaled's son, Asahad Khaled, the busiest baby in Hip-Hop as he took a tour at MIIM Designs exhibit, America to Zanzibar, at the Childeren's Museum of Manhattan. 

Truly, Asahd is a natural ham. Right now, for example, in the “America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far” exhibit, he’s atop a fake camel, dancing to “Wild Thoughts,” his father’s hit single featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller, which someone has playing on an iPhone. Asahd starts clapping his little hands and scooting back and forth. Then he really gets into it, teetering side to side, waving a single finger in the air, his signature move. “He came out of the womb holding his finger up,” Tuck says, and I’m pretty sure she’s not joking.

“Yes, boy! Yes, boy!” Khaled chants. And Asahd starts “Ah-ahhh-ahhing” along to Rihanna’s “Wild, wild, wild.”

“Get it on Instagram!” someone cries out. (It will be on Snapchat later.)

Read it HERE.

New York Times Review of Children's Museum of Manhattan

The New York Times wrote a fantastic review of MIIM Designs work on the America to Zanzibar exhibit at the Children's Museum of Manhattan. The show has been so popular since its opening in February 2016 that its run has been extended another year, and plans are underway to take it on a nationwide tour in 2018. “I’ve been here 26 years and I can’t remember another exhibit that had a sustained heavy attendance over a period of a year like this one has,” said Mr. Ackerman [Executive Director of CMOM], noting that more than 350,000 people have visited. “It’s been a surprise blockbuster for us.” Read the Complete Review HERE. 
 

Maryam to Speak at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

As part of the continuing "The City Talks" series at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), Maryam (MIIM Designs) will be joining MFA's Laura Weinstein, Ananda Coomaraswamy Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art and Acting Matsutaro Shoriki Chair, Art of Asia along with  Michael Dwan Singh (SubDrift Boston) and Robb Johnson (Fenway Health) to discuss "How do we unlearn differences within communities"?
 

Join Boston-area thinkers, institutions, entrepreneurs, activists, city officials, and artists at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston for a free discussion inspired by themes in the exhibition “Political Intent,” on view now.

Archinect's Executive Editor, Nick Korody, Interviews Maryam

Nick Korody, the Executive Editor of Archinect Magazine, recently sat down and interviews Maryam on weaving her values into MIIM Designs. 
Recently, Archinect has been taking a look at the relationship between faith and architecture. In this interview, we speak to Maryam Eskandari, Principal of MIIM Designs and Adviser in History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University. A practicing Muslim, Eskandari views her practice as an extension of her faith—which means, basically, to make "good architecture" for the 99%.

Read the FULL INTERVIEW HERE. 

Grateful to the 150 people who have supported the OAC

This past year Open Architecture Collaborative laid out the infrastructure, defined its niche, and now is turning to you for support to build the programs that will help us all reach and assist more marginalised communities.

Your gift of at least $25 can make all of the difference, providing tools, connecting and engaging architects around the globe. Make your donation today to help us reach a groundswell of support of 2000 donors.

A note from Maryam, our Principal and Board Member of Open Architecture Collaborative: 

Harvard Islamic studies scholar Celene Ibrahim talks Feminism

"Ibrahim, a scholar in residence at Hebrew College and Andover Newton Theological School and a Muslim chaplain at Tufts University, addressed the stereotypes at “Muslim Feminism,” the second of three Faculty of Arts and Sciences Diversity Dialogues.

Ibrahim also challenged the misconception that Muslim women are not allowed to pursue education. She pointed out that Muhammad directed that every person must seek knowledge, regardless of gender.

'Seeking knowledge is a duty upon every Muslim,” she said. Citing as examples Farah Pandith, the State Department’s first ever-special representative to Muslim communities; architect Maryam Eskandari; sitcom creator Zarqa Nawaz; and Ghazala Khan, the gold star mother of a U.S. Army captain killed in Iraq, Ibrahim said, “For Muslim women there is not a single path. Their influence is broad and takes many different paths.'”

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

Fast Company features OPEN ARCHITECTURE COLLABORATIVE

Earlier this month, Fast Company Magazine named Open Architecture Collaborative as one of the best Design Non-Profits to donate too. 

And if those interests happen to be design-related, we've done your research for you. Below are design and architecture nonprofits that are doing great work and need your money. A note on our methodology: Since we're a national publication, we limited the list to organizations that have a national presence (though we encourage you to donate to local organizations, too). 

the newly relaunched Open Architecture Collaborative is an international nonprofit that provides grassroots advocacy, planning, and socially responsible design to communities where those services are needed the most. Volunteer architects and designers working with the 30 chapters worldwide have done everything from building a neighborhood arts center in Chicago to providing post-Hurricane Katrina reconstruction in Mississippi…. The organization put humanitarian design on the map, and with its new structure and leadership, it's poised to keep doing so. Donate here. 

source: FASTCOMPANY

The Boston Society of Architects Syria Initiative

What is the place for childhood in the midst of survival?

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 4.8 million Syrians have fled to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq since the Syrian Civil War began five years ago. More than half are under the age of 18. The average stay of refugees is 17 years—an entire childhood. Global displacement has surpassed that witnessed in the wake of World War II, and children remain its most impacted victims.

What roles can design—and designers—play in the face of such overwhelming challenges? What is the agency of architects in establishing stability in these contexts? Can public space support family resiliency? How might this relate to challenges faced by Boston? Please join a panel discussion and reception to launch the BSA Syria Initiative.

The BSA Syria Initiative aims to address a need for child-focused public space facilities to help improve the quality of life for Syrian refugee families in Lebanon, as well as their local counterparts. The initiative will establish a collaboration with design professionals in Beirut and the Boston area, in partnership with the Karam Foundation and Sawa for Development and Aid.

Moderated by Ramzi Naja, adjunct professor, Roger Williams University; MArch II, Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD).

Panelists:
Dr. Atyia Martin, chief resilience officer, Mayor's Office of Resilience and Racial Equity, City of Boston
Majed Abdulsamad, graduate student, Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
Miho Mazereeuw, assistant professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); director, MIT Urban Risk Lab

Introduction by Nathalie Beauvais Int’l Assoc. AIA, lead climate change projects, Kleinfelder.

Next steps include a design workshop in early 2017. 

For more information, contact Gretchen Rabinkin AIA, director of civic initiatives for the BSA/AIA and BSA Foundation.

Venice Biennale Closing Remarks - Land: A Declaration

At the closing ceremony of the Venice Biennale, several of our friends, Malkit Shoshan, James Taylor-Frost, Pierre Bélanger, Hamed Bukhamseen and Ali Karimi,  used their voices to express the role we play, as architects, in the world we live in and the how we can be effective.

  “The so-called refugee crisis across Europe is not a crisis of citizens or citizenship. The real crisis is one of the imperial mind—the State, one of statelessness and borderlessness. It is the nation-state that is at risk. After all, we—the people—are all immigrants.”

—Please read this declaration on the images below:

Maryam to speak at Women in Design Symposium @ ABX

The Women in Design Symposium at the 2016 ArchitectureBoston Expo (ABx) will explore the impact of public interest design on the evolving building industry. As designers, we shape our built environment by providing spaces for living, learning, working, and playing. While we collaborate with our clients to achieve their vision, we also assess the impacts and opportunities of their projects in the greater civic realm. With an ever-growing focus on public-interest design, practitioners engage in human-centric projects that address social, economic, and cultural dynamics as critical factors to the design inquiry and to the project’s success. While there are numerous examples a practitioner can look to for inspiration, the process remains enigmatic. How does one define “public-interest”? Is it a typology of architecture, a business model, or a funding strategy? What players are necessary to assess the socio-economic needs of a community and navigate the politics of the process? What do public-interest methodologies offer professionals working within the private realm? As this sector expands, it broadens the impact and expands our opportunities to make critical contributions to our built environment.

AIA pledges to work with Donald Trump, architects across the country disturbed

Following last Tuesday’s election results, Robert Ivy, AIA executive VP and CEO released the following statement on behalf of the national AIA apparatus and membership: 

The AIA and its 89,000 members are committed to working with President-elect Trump to address the issues our country faces, particularly strengthening the nation’s aging infrastructure. During the campaign, President-elect Trump called for committing at least $500 billion to infrastructure spending over five years. We stand ready to work with him and with the incoming 115th Congress to ensure that investments in schools, hospitals and other public infrastructure continue to be a major priority.

We also congratulate members of the new 115th Congress on their election. We urge both the incoming Trump Administration and the new Congress to work toward enhancing the design and construction sector’s role as a major catalyst for job creation throughout the American economy.

This has been a hard-fought, contentious election process. It is now time for all of us to work together to advance policies that help our country move forward.

The Architect’s Newspaper strongly disagreed with Ivy’s conciliatory note and along with Latent Design (started #NotmyAIA), Arch Lobby and the Equity Alliance; MIIM Designs’ principal put out the following statement: 

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

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'.