The Curry Stone Design Prize was invited to announce our 2015 Prize Winner, Rural Urban Framework at the 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial Press Preview event.

As part of the launch activities for this first Architectural Biennial in the United States, we lead a panel discussion entitled: Designing Coexistence: Architecture’s Response to Global Crises. Emiliano Gandolfi, Director of the Curry Stone Design Prize and co-founder of Cohabitation Strategies, and Jonathan Solomon, Director of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, moderated the panel, which included some of the leading voices of the social design movement.

The conversation centered around two main topics. Initially the panelists were asked to identify the most urgent social issues in the countries in which they are operating. Subsequently they presented how they are using architecture to address these issues. John Lin and Joshua Bolchover of Rural Urban Framework talked about their focus on the impact of urbanization on the Chinese continent, while David Barragán of Al Borde presented some of the issues that they are facing in Quito such as building community spaces for the disenfranchised population. Francis Keré spoke about the challenges of involving the community to build schools and medical centers with slim resources in Burkina Faso, Giancarlo Mazzanti from Bogotá raised new ways of thinking participatory strategies, and Amanda Williams presented her work in the African American urban areas on Chicago’s south side.

At the end of the panel discussion the new video that we produced on the work of Rural Urban Framework was premiered.