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