Students enter architecture programs for different reasons. This post reports on the work of two people, Adi Kumar and Wanda Dalla Costa, who are steering the profession of architecture in new directions.
When Adi Kumar began working as an architect, one of his early assignments was to design bathrooms in a mansion. This did not fit well with his aspiration as an architect to make the world a better place. His clients were affluent and he was designing bathrooms, a space that millions of people around the world don’t have in their homes.
A career change was in order. Fortunately, the United Nations was looking for architects. Kumar’s career with the United Nations has taken him to India, Lebanon and South Africa. His clientele are not affluent and they all have experience of homelessness. Kumar strives to bring unheard voices to the design table: the people who will live in the housing that will be built.
Kumar spoke about his career with architecture students at Syracuse University earlier this year. He described his work as both satisfying and frustrating. You can watch and listen to Kumar’s presentation, which is posted at Syracuse University: Adi Kumar: Design Cities for People, and Not for Profit
Wanda Dalla Costa is also an architect. She’s a member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Canada. Dalla Costa’s career influences include her mother, who began learning about her Indigenous heritage when Dalla Costa was a child.
Currently, Dalla Costa is teaching architecture at the University of Arizona. There, Dalla Costa has implemented the Indigenous Design Collaborative, which gives students the opportunity to work on issues of concern to Indian tribes, both on reservations and in urban communities. Being part of the Indigenous Design Collaborative gives students a way to explore ways that indigenous world views can affect design.
Here’s a link to a presentation about the Indigenous Design Collaborative by Wanda Dalla Costa and Selina Martinez, who is a graduate of the program. The presentation was hosted by University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Architecture and posted on YouTube: Indigenous Placekeeping, Pluralities and Futurities
