Architecture Off-Centre

In our previous episode, we spoke to the team from Better Shelter about their kit-of-parts approach to providing emergency shelters in crisis situations. Today, we continue that line of inquiry and look at the work that Pop-Up Housing has been doing in India by deploying an industrial and modular construction system. Sampat Althur is the founder of Pop-Up Housing, a social innovation organization working on improving sustainable housing and infrastructure in low income communities in India. Using latest advancements in industrial construction, sustainability and hands on volunteering, Sampat is simplifying housing and enabling infrastructure development in marginalized communities. More on Pop-Up Housing: https://popuphousing.org/

We have been talking extensively about housing this season but have not really looked at the identity of the cities within which it exists. In today's episode, we zoom out a little to take stock of new capital cities and discuss their planning through the theoretical lens of feminism. Dorina Pojani is Associate Professor of urban planning at The University of Queensland, Australia. Her latest books are Trophy Cities: A Feminist Perspective on New Capitals (Edward Elgar, 2021) and Alternative Planning History and Theory (Routledge, 2023). Her forthcoming book is Early Planning Utopias: A Feminist Critique (Anthem, 2025). About Dorina: https://about.uq.edu.au/experts/11894

In this episode, we speak to Yutaka Sho about working in a context that has a history of genocide and colonization, and we discuss the challenges of working on ground, at the grassroots level. Yutaka Sho is a partner of nonprofit architecture firm General Architecture Collaborative (GAC) that has been working in Rwanda since 2008, and a professor of architecture at Meiji University in Tokyo. GAC works with underrepresented communities to build sustainable and aesthetically engaging spaces while using the construction sites for end-user training. About GAC and their work: https://www.gacollaborative.org/

Bandhu is an AI driven urban-tech startup that is solving for India's rapid urbanization by enabling low-income workers to access urban jobs along with housing and thereby directly addressing the roadblocks that rural migrants face while entering the urban workforce. Rushil Palavajjhala is Co-founder and CEO of Bandhu, and holds a Master's degree in City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he focused on finance and technology for urban development in the Global South. Jacob Kohn is Co-founder and COO of Bandhu, where he heads product development and data science. Jacob holds a Master's degree in City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he focused on technology integration in informal urban economies. About Bandhu: https://www.bandhu.work/

Toolshed is a platform, a project and a place in Hudson, New York, where artists Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris collect and share tools for ecological living. They have categorized these tools into four distinct groups: food, kin, shelter and magic. Today, we speak to Susannah and Edward about what ecological living means and how Toolshed plays into it. Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris (Sayler/Morris) work with photography, video, writing, installation and open-source projects. Of primary concern are contemporary efforts to develop ecological consciousness and the possibilities for art in support of social movements. From 2006 – 2020 they co-directed The Canary Project, a studio that produced media and art to deepen public understanding of climate change and other ecological issues. More on Toolshed: www.tool-shed.org

By living in a world of wars and unrest right now, we are witnessing one of the largest human displacements to have ever happened. People around the world are on the move to seek refuge – whether it is because of military action or a natural disaster. The idea of a "home" is under constant scrutiny as entire populations are uprooted from the very places where they built their whole lives. We ask our guests about how the concept of home has evolved in the last century. How do policy and design intersect to alleviate or exacerbate housing crises in cities around the world? Why are governments failing to reduce homelessness? What is the temporary housing market and how is it driven by migrant workers? And how can architects play a role in creating emergency shelters? Introducing Season 6, supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.

For our final episode for this season, we speak to doctor and architect Diana Anderson, who has skillfully carved a unique career path for herself as a "dochitect" – by pioneering a collaborative, evidence-based model for approaching healthcare from the medicine and architecture fields simultaneously. Dr. Diana Anderson is a triple boarded professional – healthcare architect, internist, and a geriatrician. She is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Boston University, and a recipient of an Alzheimer's Association Clinician Scientist Fellowship. She is also a healthcare principal at Jacobs, contributing her thought leadership at the intersection of design and health. Diana's website: www.dochitect.com

Medical tourism is a rapidly growing industry that has emerged out of people's need to travel across country borders to access medical treatments and procedures. In order to understand this global movement, we need to understand the reason for travel, the destinations that attract individuals and the web of factors that shape this global industry. Dr. Valorie Crooks is a health geographer who specializes in health services research. She is a Professor at Simon Fraser University where she also holds a Canada Research Chair and currently serves as Associate Vice-President, Research. For more than a decade she has been qualitatively studying the ethical and equity impacts of medical tourism. This work has taken her to countries as diverse as India, Mongolia, Jamaica, Colombia, Barbados, St. Lucia, Cayman Islands, Guatemala, Mexico, South Korea, and Belize. More on Dr. Crooks: https://www.sfu.ca/geography/about/our-people/profiles/Valorie-Crooks.html

It has been a while since architects have been attempting to address various forms of disability in the buildings, neighborhoods and cities they design. However, these attempts are most often limited to increasing access for differently abled bodies. Our guest today, David Gissen, argues that a disability critique of architecture is not one that solely seeks to make the built environment more accessible but instead understands how embedded the ideas of physical incapacity and impairment are within architecture. David Gissen is a New York-based author, designer, and educator who works in the fields of architecture, landscape, and urban design. His recent book, The Architecture of Disability, has been praised as "an exhilarating manifesto" and a "complete reshaping about how we view the development and creation of architecture." He is Professor of Architecture and Urban History at The New School University/Parsons School of Design and Dean's Visiting Professor at Columbia University. David's website: https://davidgissen.org/

Historically, many communities around the world spatialized the bodily function of menstruation and integrated it within their architecture in the form of menstruation huts – often leading to the isolation and oppression of women as impure beings. Our guest today argues that these spaces in the west African Benin Kingdom were intentionally designed for women to rest and recuperate – that the isolation rooms were essentially spas. Minne Atairu is an interdisciplinary artist whose research-based practice seeks to reclaim the obscured histories of Benin Bronzes. Utilizing generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and additive fabrication, Atairu reassembles visual, sonic, and textual fragments into conceptual works that engage with repatriation-related questions. She is the recipient of the 2021 Lumen Prize for Art and Technology. Minne's Graham Foundation project: http://www.grahamfoundation.org/grantees/6457-the-menstrual-isolation-room-is-a-spa

The discourse on care within the field of architecture has recently been gaining a lot of traction as ideas about health are expanding beyond the limits of traditional hospitals. In this conversation with Fiona Kenney, we discuss the history of long-term care facilities, residential hospices and pediatric respite centers, and how they differ from institutions that are aimed at providing cure. Fiona L. Kenney is a PhD candidate at the McGill University School of Architecture, where she studies spatial expressions of care. Fiona holds an MDes in History and Philosophy of Design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and her doctoral work is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Friends of the CAMH Archives, and McGill University. She currently works at the Palliative Care Division of the Bruyère Research Institute. Fiona's website: www.fionakenney.com

We explored the themes of agriculture, food and waste in season 4 but did not get into too much detail about the idea of hunger, which is caused by the lack of food. For this bonus episode, we speak to Abby Leibman, who was at the forefront of conceptualizing The Hunger Museum - a virtual museum that takes a deep dive into the history of hunger and how it can be ended. Abby J. Leibman has been President & CEO of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger since 2011. She has a distinguished record of community and professional leadership, including developing and managing the Child Care Law Project at Public Counsel and co-founding and directing the California Women's Law Center. The Hunger Museum: http://hungermuseum.org/

Parts of Ateya Khorakiwala's doctoral research focused on grain silos in India and how they were a post-colonial import - built not just for the purpose of creating food security after witnessing one of the worst famines in the country but also to serve as a currency for exchange. In this conversation, Ateya talks about the history of silos, its construction materials and her course Feasting and Fasting at Columbia University. Ateya Khorakiwala is an architectural historian and is Assistant Professor of Architecture at Columbia University GSAPP. Her research focuses on India's development decades, examining the aesthetics and materiality of its postcolonial infrastructure and ecological and political landscapes. Her current book project, Famine Landscapes, is an infrastructural and architectural history set in India's postcolonial countryside. Link to Ateya's upcoming conference on material landscapes: https://www.arch.columbia.edu/events/2569-material-landscapes Her website: http://ateyakhorakiwala.com/