Don’t Call It Social Architecture

Michael Murphy, co-founder of Boston- and Kigali, Rwanda–based MASS Design Group, argued against using “social” to describe the firm’s work. What’s the alternative, he argued—unsocial architecture? Discussing projects such as low-budget healthcare, housing, and educational facilities and the High Line in New York, four designers with experience in community and public-interest design spoke during first keynote session at the AIA Conference on Architecture 2017 in Orlando. Francis Kéré, Hon. FAIA, talked about his work in his hometown of Gando, Burkina Faso, which includes the Aga Khan Award for Architecture–winning primary school. Murphy presented several projects with a similar, community-focused design ethos, such as the Maternity Waiting Village in Malawi. In her presentation, Diller Scofidio + Renfro founding partner Elizabeth Diller reflected on the impact of the High Line both within Manhattan and as a ripple effect in cities across the world inspired by her firm’s work. Following Diller, last year’s Pritzker Prize winner Alejandro Aravena sketched on a whiteboard to describe his affordable housing work. To wrap-up the session, Robert A.M. Stern, FAIA, was awarded the 2017 AIA Topaz Medallion.