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Brooklyn 'Broken Angel' - DBI, Developers, and Folk Architecture

3/30/2013

Check out this interesting story via NPR

"Self-Taught Architect Behind Brooklyn's 'Broken Angel' Faces Eviction" by JOel Rose

It's a prime example of those charming projects that engage the public, that make us stop and think about the creative possibilities in architecture...and that make us wonder why we have building codes.

Image 1 - Photo by builder/designer Chris Wood

Teddy Cruz's Lecture at CCA, "I believe in zoning; I am against stupid zoning."

3/17/2013

Image 1 - Estudio Teddy Cruz, Neighborhood Urbanism: The Informal as a Tool to Transform Policy, 2008.

Ila Berman, the director of CCA’s Architecture Department, opens Teddy Cruz’s lecture by asking if “architects [can] be designers of political processes and re-imagine invisible powers...?” The answer is yes. The example is Teddy Cruz.

Teddy Cruz practices in the San Diego-Tijuana border, and his work reflects and is inspired by the intelligence, creativity, and resourcefulness of everyday people along the border. Teddy Cruz speaks ephatically about everything: from the connection pins to an existing factory metal frame that his team is adapting, to the skate park that a myriad of skaters organized at the unincorporated site underneath a highway, to the Korean project that his team undertook as a case study to prevent the demolition of an entire neighborhood, to the border tour that he led from the US to Mexico through a massive concrete drain that destroys Tijuana River wetlands and dumps garbage on the Mexican side of the border.

At a philosophical scale, Teddy’s work focuses on urban projects that engage what he calls the Public Imagination. Some of his big questions are: “Can we imagine infrastructure differently?” The answer is yes and parts of the solution involves electing the right political leadership and “radicalizing the local.” Is it possible to consider the number of “social exchanges” as a factor in density calculations? The answer is yes, but moreso, it’s necessary to plan and build successful projects. How do we challenge exclusionary politics and economics of growth that ignore complete swaths of the polulation [especially poor people]? The answer is that we confront privatization that is camouflaged as public, and we propose inclusionary models of development.

If you aren’t mildly confused or simply overwhelmed by the task at hand, then maybe you haven’t payed attention. On the confusion part, it’s possible to wonder if Teddy is totally out of touch, because everyone knows that any poor person prefers to live in a McMansion rather than a shantytown. On the overwhelmed part, the task at hand is MASSIVE. Is Teddy too ambitious? It’s, as my architect friend put it, “like reimagining everything possible.” To answer the confusion part, Teddy is not out of touch and his ideas are not high-phalutant theories. His response is “well, when will that poor person get the McMansion?” Until those fictional keys are turned over for the fictional McMansion, this process of inclusionary design seems more practical. To answer the overwhelming part, once you get past the theory, Teddy Cruz is actually full of practical advice.

I’ve created a short list of this advice. It is completely plausible to compile other lists if you sat at the SFNOMA reception, or the CCA lecture, or one of the many lectures that Teddy gives around the world. However, these four points stand clear as pillars of practicality:

“Artifacts Mediate the debate.” The models, visual studies, and other deliverables that constitute an architect’s work matter immensely. This work helps visualize the issues, creates concrete proposals that stakeholders can reference, and advances imaginary projects into reality.
Bundle small projects into larger projects. In an SFNOMA reception that preceded the lecture, Teddy walked us through an exercise of bundling projects. He began work on small projects, noticed the social adjacencies relevant to all projects, and bundled the small pieces into a larger project. In essense, this is the structure for co-operatives. The practical part is that the bundled project provides more financial stability to the smaller stakeholders. The architect therefore addresses a larger audience while solving the problem for the smaller stakeholder.
Take the necessary detours. Always have the end-goal in mind. However, you should devote the necessary time and effort to these detours to gain a stronger footing to address the bigger problem.
Ask for the returns. When we become involved in civic projects, it’s important to ask that factories, corporations and similarly large stakeholders who stand to profit greatly return something to the public. This very week, the stock market reached a record high. With all these gains, it’s an auspicius time to ask for the returns. Returns for the Public Imagination. To reference a previous phrase, it’s important that these returns not be camouflaged as public good when they are principally private profit.

I acknowledge that even if Teddy’s ideas can be listed in ‘practical lists’, the work that Teddy Cruz undertakes is indeed ambitous. But perhaps the bigger issue is that the work elsewhere may simply not be ambitious enough. I’m sure that we can all agree that for architects of this generation, and for the public today, it is of much more benefit to ascribe to piles of ambition than to rubbles of irrelevant work.

Article Written by
Abel "Diego" Romero
Contact [email protected]

Image 2 - SFNOMA reception with Teddy Cruz - March 4, 2013

SFNOMA executive board members caught on camera!

3/16/2013

SFNOMA president Tiana Robinson and treasurer Rommel Taylor bumped into Deborah McKoy and her Rhs Health Academy Y-Plan class at Oakland Farmer's Market today. Ms. McKoy along with Rhs Health Academy instructor Jose Irizarry and several Y-Plan mentors were taking the students to visiting various sites in Oakland and San Francisco to study good urban design solutions to inspire the work they are doing in Richmond. We were asked to briefly speak to the students about architecture and urban design. We can't wait to see what great ideas the students come up with to revitalize Richmond. Below is a video clip Mr. Irizarry posted on Facebook.

NOMA participates in White House Workshop on STEM Minority Inclusion

3/14/2013

On Monday, February 11, 2013, the Obama Administration held a White House Workshop on STEM
Minority Inclusion, at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. NOMA and
twenty-five representatives from STEM professional societies that focus on
increasing participation of underrepresented minorities were invited to attend.
Among the groups attending were American Assn of Blacks in Energy (AABE), Black
Data Processing Associates, MAES: Latinos in Science & Engineering, National
Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists & Chemical
Engineers (NOBCChE), National Society of Black Engineers-Alumni Extension
(NSBE), National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP), National Technical Assn
(NTA), and Society for Advancement of Chicanos & Native Americans in
Science (SACNAS), Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), National
Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME), American Indian Science
& Engineering Society (AISES), The National GEM Consortium, National Assn of
Black Geoscientists, Institute for Broadening Participation, National Society of
Hispanic Physicists, Hispanic Heritage Foundation, Hispanic Youth Institute
(part of Hispanic College fund), Excelencia in Education, Asian Pacific Islander
American Assn of Colleges & Universities, National Congress of American
Indians, Great Minds in STEM, and the National Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Assn.

Dr. John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and
Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy opened the meeting with
remarks about the desire of the Obama Administration to make inroads to better
equip graduates for the demands of a high-tech economy and create classes
focused on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) studies.

The three-hour long session included discussions regarding Leadership
and Policy Opportunities, K-12 Education, Out-of-classroom science experiences
for youth, STEM jobs of the future, Increasing federal employment opportunities
for minority STEM professionals, media campaigns, and entrepreneurship &
innovation. Kathy Dixon AIA, NOMA, the current NOMA President, attended the
workshop on behalf of the organization. The group is expected to move forward
on ideas developed during the Workshop. Ideally, the next steps will involve
implementation strategies.

Outside observers included representatives from the White House HBCU initiative, White
House Initiative on Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders, White House
Initiative on Historically Black Colleges & Universities, Bureau of Indian
Education, Commodities Futures Trading Commission, American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS), Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the
Department of Education.

NOMA

Scholarship Opportunity USC Ross Program-$5,000

3/13/2013

Ross Minority Program in Real Estate
The ICSC Foundation and Gap Inc. are providing a $5000
scholarship to one applicant admitted to the Summer 2013 Session of the USC Ross
Program who is interested in working in the field of retail real estate sector,
and who furthers the interests of underrepresented groups in the real estate
industry.

In addition, the recipient of the award will be required
to participate as a paid intern in the Gap Inc. Corporate Offices in San
Francisco, CA starting July 1, 2013 for 10 weeks. During this time, the intern
will rotate through three functional areas; construction, operations and real
estate.

If you are interested in the Retail Development industry
then this is the opportunity for you. You must complete an online application
for admission to the Ross Program and complete a scholarship application as
indicated on the website, plus meet some additional requirements as requested by
ICSC/Gap Inc. Upon our review and admission to the program, your application
will be forwarded to the ICSC/Gap Inc. individuals for review and award
consideration.

The deadline for these applications is April 1, 2013!

Contact me for additional details.

Feel free to forward this along!

Mary Peralta
Program Manager

Ross Minority Program in Real Estate
USC Lusk Center for Real Estate
650 Childs Way 331
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0626
213-821-1031
www.usc.edu/ross

Brooklyn 'Broken Angel' - DBI, Developers, and Folk Architecture

Teddy Cruz's Lecture at CCA, "I believe in zoning; I am against stupid zoning."

SFNOMA executive board members caught on camera!

NOMA participates in White House Workshop on STEM Minority Inclusion

Scholarship Opportunity USC Ross Program-$5,000

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