EQUITY IN ARCHITECTURE FORUM 2024
Caddell Flex Space / MARCH 27th, 2024 / 3:30PM-6:00PM
listen. speak. change.
The built environment has rarely been designed to be welcoming to all. While strides have been taken to improve the accessibility of buildings and infrastructure, the public realm is often still built to be exclusive. Equity in Architecture has established Listen. Speak. Change. as the overarching theme for future Forums. As an organization, we’re diving deep into relevant topics that have come up as pressing issues in the design field. Last year, FORUM focused on what was and wasn’t serving students, educators, and firms in the current state of architecture education, and how we can evolve curricula to best prepare students for success in our changing world. This March, FORUM seeks to understand how designers can create a more safe and accessible built environment.
We confront a reality where American cities were often predominantly designed by white, straight, cis, and non-disabled men, tailoring urban spaces to mirror their own experiences. Along with the dominance of cars, this problem has led to a built environment that can be oppressive to many other perspectives. The foundation for fostering a more inclusive urban environment lies in implementing strategies to remove hostile architecture, make vehicular streets safer, and to improve the accessibility of pedestrian infrastructure. FORUM 2024 asks… What are the lived experiences of those whose needs have not been adequately met by current design standards? What can a more accessible, inclusive, and equitable future look like for the design of the built environment?
This year, we want to create a growing dialogue that addresses both challenges and successes in designing accessible and friendly cities. We want to LISTEN to understand the challenges people face navigating the public realm and architecture that we design. We want to SPEAK about methodologies for designing with more perspectives and experiences. Finally, we aim to find ways that the built environment and the decisions that shape it can CHANGE to create a more accessible and inclusive future where designers go beyond the minimum.
FORUM 2022 SPEAKERS
Olivia Asuncion | Keynote Speaker
Olivia Mae M. Asuncion, AIA, has oriented her career path towards building accessible communities and advocating for inclusive design as a licensed architect and design researcher from Oakland, California. She started her professional career helping Bay Area non-profit organizations with their construction, project, and property management needs, including the Ed Roberts Campus, a universally designed building in Berkeley that hosts several disability organizations. Her architecture experience includes the design and construction of public safety buildings, public sector office and community spaces, and K-12 educational facilities. Asuncion is also passionate about improving architecture through environmental design research. Notable projects include: a study assessing the efficacy and accessibility of existing evacuation protocols and building safety codes for people with disabilities; collaboration with University of Oregon faculty on the post-occupancy evaluation of the Ed Roberts Campus; and a Fulbright Program project studying the accessibility of elementary schools in the Philippines. An experienced lecturer and Young Architect leader, Olivia shares her knowledge and passion to university students and young design professionals to encourage future generations of architects to prioritize inclusivity in the profession, thus creating a more diverse and equitable world. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley and her Master of Architecture degree from the University of Oregon. She is currently serving as a public member of the U.S. Access Board.
Carden Wyckoff
Architect + Founding Partner of FAME Architecture and Interior Design
Carden is a certified professional in web accessibility (CPWA), Atlanta native, disability advocate, wheelchair roller, transit rider and change maker. She has 15 years of customer service experience and is known for bringing strategy to organizations which she does this by being able to come up with innovative ideas which leads to creating efficiencies.
Giving back is a core value of hers and she currently serves on the Board of Directors for MARTA Army, Propel ATL, and New Disabled South. She’s the Chair of the City of Atlanta’s HR Commission, a disability advisor for Midtown Alliance’s Development Review Committee, and works for Salesforce as a principal digital accessibility engineer.
Darin Givens
Partner at Level Craft Construction
Darin Givens, a metro Atlanta native, is the co-founder of a nonprofit organization urbanism advocacy in Atlanta called ThreadATL. He is a former journalist/freelance writer. Darin Givens was named as Best Blogger in Atlanta by Creative Loafing for 2015. PEDS, the non-profit for pedestrian advocacy in the Atlanta region, gave him a Golden Shoe Award in 2018 for “walk-friendly journalism
Ganesh Nayak
Ganesh Nayak, AIA, NOMA founded Metier Inc. in Atlanta, GA consulting on sustainable design and accessibility. Growing up in India, he did his undergraduate studies in architecture before acquiring a graduate degree from Kansas State University. He worked in architecture in St. Paul, MN, Wichita, KS, and Atlanta, GA before starting his consultancy. He has published, taught, and presented extensively on architecture, sustainability, and inclusive design.
Ganesh and his wife Sitara are fully involved in the daily care of their young-adult son Ishan who has developmental disabilities, and he brings this personal experience and voice to bear on issues of equity, design, and advocacy for disability. He served as chair of Georgia’s State Advisory Panel for Special Education, and on the Kansas Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities as a parent. He is a member of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Leadership Group and serves as secretary on the board of AIA Georgia. He also presently chairs the USGBC Equity Working Group for LEED v5.
Sarah Grunert | Moderator
Sarah completed her B.S. in Architecture at Georgia Tech and is about to graduate from the MArch program! In her 6 years at Georgia Tech, she has focused on learning about evidence-based design and research, implementing human-centered strategies to cultivate compassionate communities, and understanding how architecture can heal. Her passion for people and curiosity for the invisibility of differently abled bodies in architecture has fueled her pursuit of health-focused design in her educational and professional career.
Brooke Blankenship | Student Storyteller
Originally from Jackson, Missouri, Brooke will graduate from the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Master of Architecture program in May of 2024. She previously earned her Bachelor of Science in Interior Architecture from the University of Kansas as a part of its inaugural class. At Georgia Tech, she has been a finalist in the 2024 ULI Hines Competition and in the Portman Prize Competition Studio which both contributed to her developing interest in Urban Design. Brooke plans to pursue a career centered around community development and revitalization projects aimed at establishing positive social culture in areas that need it most. In her free time she enjoys being out on the water, playing volleyball, and exploring cities through their various culinary establishments.
Grace Littler | Student Storyteller
Grace is a second-year undergraduate architecture student passionate about accessible design due to her own lived experiences. Through her work as an undergraduate research assistant with Simtigrate Design Lab, she strives to make the built environment a more equitable and welcoming space for all, especially people living with disabilities. Grace has been previously honored as a finalist for the Berkeley Prize for her review of visual accessibility in metro Atlanta’s architecture. In other roles at Georgia Tech, Grace helps lead a student organization that advocates for equitable access on campus for disabled students and contributes to a vertically integrated project that reviews and improves course accessibility. When she’s not working, she enjoys baking, reading, and spending time with her cat.