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  • What is Social Impact Design?
    • Overview
    • Most Urgent Questions
  • About the Foundation
    • Overview
    • Initiatives
      • Community Design Agency
    • People
    • Awards
      • Overview
      • Grantees
      • Curry Stone Design Prize Winners
      • Social Design Circle Honorees
    • News
    • Connect with Us
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  • Advocacy

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Education

08 | Growth, Equity & Asian Cities

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Is the right to housing real? The Asian Coalition for Housing Rights is a large broad-based coalition of like-minded groups fighting for housing advocacy throughout Asia; they share with us their strategies.
  • Advocacy
  • Housing

09 | Add, Transform, and Reuse!

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Is the right to housing real? Lacaton & Vassal Deconstructs Their Widely Acclaimed methods for the Readaptation of Modernist housing blocks in France.
  • Housing

10-11 | Emily Pilloton and John Peterson Argue for Design as the Great Equalizer, Part 1 & 2

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Can design challenge inequality? John Peterson and Emily Pilloton share their practices and discuss how design can subvert structural inequality.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

12 | Why All Architecture is Social

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Can design challenge inequality? Giancarlo Mazzanti shares his thoughts on transforming Medellin and how great architecture can bring neighborhoods together.
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

120 | Beyond Green Design

Podcast
Crisis in Climate, Crisis in Design Mary Ann Lazarus is an American architect and longtime leader in the field of sustainable design.
  • Environment

123 | Design’s Race & Rescue Mission

Podcast
Crisis in Climate, Crisis in Design Dr. Ken Yeang is a Malaysian architect, ecologist, planner and author celebrated for both his built & theoretical work in green urbanism.
  • Environment

124 | Five Things About Social Impact Design

Podcast
What Now for Social Impact Design? Our Special Projects Director Eric J. Cesal is a designer, writer, noted post-disaster expert, and podcast host.
  • Environment

14 | Combining Ancient Traditions and Contemporary Social Design

Podcast
Can design challenge inequality? Active Social Architecture is a Kigali-based architecture practice that designs and builds contemporary re-elaborations of vernacular Rwandan architecture.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

16 | Design, Development and Disaster Mitigation in Pakistan

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Can design prevent disaster? Yasmeen Lari details the growth of resilient architecture and sustainable development in Pakistan.
  • Conflict and Disaster

17 | Mitigating Climate-Based Disaster Before it Strikes

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Can design prevent disaster? Mohammed Rezwan of Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha details his designs for floating communities.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Environment

18 | Unifying First and Third World Strategies for Disaster Mitigation

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
CSF Grantee
Can design prevent disaster? Geohazards International shares their groundbreaking methods for disaster mitigation.
  • Advocacy
  • Conflict and Disaster

19-20 | The Trajectory of Social Design, Part 1 & 2

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
CSF Grantee
Can we design community engagement? Sergio Palleroni discusses his thirty year career in Social Impact Design
  • Community Development
  • Environment
  • Housing

23 | How do we make life into art, and vice versa?

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Can we design community engagement? Project Row Houses is a neighborhood based nonprofit art and cultural organization working on grassroots development in Houston’s 3rd ward.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

27-28 | How All Space Becomes Public Space, Part 1 & 2

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Can design reclaim public space? EXYZT and Basurama detail new ways to think about public space.
  • Urban Strategies

29-30 | The New Informal City, Part 1 & 2

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Can we design a slum-friendly city? Urban­-Think Tank discusses their urban strategy and how they work against structural inequality in cities.
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

32 | Slum Networking, Explained.

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Can we design a slum-friendly city? Himanshu Parikh discusses the evolution of cities and slums, and how a historicist read can lead us to new engineering innovations.
  • Environment
  • Healthcare
  • Housing

36 | Changing the Way We Make Fire

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
How do we design with scarcity? Dean Still of Aprovecho talks to us about the history of Aprovecho and their work to improve cookstove technology.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

37 | Finding Holistic Design Through History

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
How do we design with scarcity? Yatin Pandya discusses his philosophy of ‘holistic design’ and how he seeks new solutions for India’s future.
  • Environment
  • Housing

38-39 | The Architecture of Stateless Nations, Part 1 & 2

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
What can design do to promote peace? Alessandro Petti and Sandi Hilal introduce their work on statelessness and human rights.
  • Advocacy
  • Conflict and Disaster

40 | Activating Community Voices

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
What can design do to promote peace? Isella Ramirez of Hester Street discusses their strategies for making communities be heard.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Housing

42-43 | A Green Vision for the Future of Cities Part 1 & 2

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Can a city work as an ecosystem? Gail Vittori and Pliny Fisk introduce our hosts to their work, thinking at multiple scales about how to live & work ecologically.
  • Advocacy
  • Environment

46 | Gardening as Urban Action

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Can a city work as an ecosystem? Marco Clausen of Prinzessinnengärten discusses how they came to pioneer a form of mobile gardening, and the positive impacts it has had on their city.
  • Community Development
  • Environment

49 | Designing the Politics of the City

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Does design create politics or vice versa? Vera and Ruedi Baur of Civic City discuss how graphic design can be a tool of political change.
  • Advocacy

55-56 | Designing for the Future, Part 1 & 2

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
How do we democratize design? Diébédo Francis Kéré discusses the origins of his practice, and how good design builds community.
  • Community Development
  • Environment

58 | Public Interest Design, Past & Future

Podcast
How do we design resistance? John Cary is an American connector, writer, speaker and curator focused on social change.
  • Advocacy

59 | Architecture at the Border of Design and Politics

Podcast
How do we design resistance? Ronald Rael is an applied architectural researcher, design activist, author, and thought leader in the fields of additive manufacturing and earthen architecture. Additionally, he works extensively in the field of research at the intersection of politics and architecture at the U.S. Mexico Border.
  • Advocacy

62 | Finding Empathy, Making Art

Podcast
How do we design resistance? Suzanne Lacy talks to us about the role of art in the pursuit of social justice, and how to navigate the lines between art, activism, design and space.
  • Advocacy

68-69 | Bringing Designers Together, Part 1 & 2

Podcast
Can design education promote social justice? Sergio Palleroni and Jane Anderson offer a history of the collective effort to establish a global network of social design teachers and practitioners.
  • Advocacy

70 | Demanding More from Design Education

Podcast
Can design education promote social justice? Peggy Deamer and David Langdon of the Architecture Lobby discuss how cultures in education shape problems in the profession.
  • Advocacy

71 | Teaching Design, Teaching Leadership

Podcast
Can design education promote social justice? Dr. Barbara Brown Wilson is an educator whose research and teaching focus on the history, theory, ethics, and practice of sustainable community design and development, as well as the role of urban social movements in the built world.
  • Advocacy

72 | Teaching Change

Podcast
Can design education promote social justice? Dr. Jonathan Massey talks about the future of design education, and what radical experiments are underway.
  • Advocacy

87 | Experiments in Resilience Amid the Backloop

Podcast
Is Resilience Still Relevant? Wakefield is an Urban Studies Foundation Research Fellow at Florida International University in the Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies. Her work, developed over the past decade of teaching and research in New York City, explores the diverse practices and technologies of resilient urbanism as both technical phenomenon and catalysts of new kinds of life in the Anthropocene.
  • Conflict and Disaster
  • Resilience
  • Urban Strategies

95 | Designing Intergalactically

Podcast
Who Designs the Designers? Designer, educator, and business strategist, Dr. Cheryl Heller’s work focuses on investigating the impacts of social design on human health and society.
  • Advocacy

97 | 2018 Year in Review

Podcast
Who Designs the Designers? Emiliano Gandolfi and Eric Cesal reflect on a full year of Social Design Insights.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Conflict and Disaster
  • Environment
  • Healthcare
  • Housing

98 | Empathy Overdrive

Podcast
Design at the Intersection of Technology and Humanity Ken Banks, Founder of kiwanja.net, devotes himself to the application of mobile technology for positive social and environmental change. He has spent the last two decades working on projects in Africa.
  • Community Development
  • Conflict and Disaster

Active Social Architecture

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Does school design have value beyond creating a place to educate children? A Rwanda-based practice, Active Social Architecture (ASA) focuses on social architecture, affordable solutions, and the use of local materials.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

Alliance of Community Trainers

CSF Grantee
Can design increase civic engagement? The Alliance of Community Trainers works with communities to create a shared vision and to empower communities with tools for problem solving, conflict resolution, alternative technology, environmental sustainability and more.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Conflict and Disaster
  • Environment
  • Resilience
  • Urban Strategies

Anna Heringer

2009 Prize Winner
Video
Is sustainability about working within scarcity or finding natural abundance? Anna Heringer is an award-winning leader in architecture who utilizes the skills of the communities she works in as well as low-tech, sustainable materials like mud and bamboo.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

Antonio Scarponi

2008 Prize Winner
Video
Are you ready to co-opt mass consumerism? Dr. Antonio Scarponi is an architect, designer, educator, and the founder of Conceptual Devices, a Zurich-based office with the mission to develop design strategies with social, economic, and poetic impact.
  • Environment

Aprovecho Research Center

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Are open source, global standards for clean, efficient cook stoves possible? Aprovecho Research Center (ARC) is dedicated to researching, developing, and disseminating appropriate technological solutions for meeting the basic human needs of refugees and impoverished people.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

Architecture for Humanity

2013 Prize Winner
CSF Grantee
Vision Award Recipient
Video
What is the role of architects in communities in need? Cameron Sinclair and Kate Stohr, recipients of the first Curry Stone Design Prize Vision Award, have been committed to social impact design since co-founding Architecture for Humanity in 1999.
  • Community Development
  • Conflict and Disaster

Asian Coalition for Housing Rights

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Is the Right to Housing Real? The Asian Coalition is a broad coalition of grassroots organizations, NGOs, architects and engineers currently working in 215 cities across Asia.
  • Advocacy
  • Housing

Asiye eTafuleni

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can design reclaim public space? Asiye eTafuleni (AeT) is a South African non-profit focused on promoting inclusive urban planning and design to support the livelihoods of informal workers operating in public spaces not officially allotted to them.
  • Community Development

Atelier d’Architecture Autogérée

2011 Prize Winner
Video
Can a new urban future grow out of a vacant lot? Atelier d’Architecture Autogérée is a collective of architects that transforms urban spaces. It is recognized as an engine for engaging citizens in shaping their own cities through experimentation and renewal.
  • Urban Strategies

Auroville Earth Institute

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can traditional building techniques serve modern needs? Auroville Earth Institute (AVEI) is a pioneering organization that has led in research and implementation of earth-based & sustainable building.
  • Community Development
  • Environment

Bait al Karama

Social Design Circle Honoree
How can a women-led culinary school promote peace and understanding? Bait al Karama, Palestinian Nablus’ first women’s center, combines a culinary social enterprise with cultural activities. Translated as “House of Dignity,” it is located in an area devastated by conflict.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

Barefoot College

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can the rural poor attain self-sufficiency through design? Barefoot College is an Indian organization that encourages the rural poor to attain self-sufficiency by providing training in education, technology, and work skills.
  • Community Development

Basurama

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Can waste be a resource for urban transformation? Best known for creating colorful playgrounds from common landfill waste, Basurama is a collective of Spanish artists whose projects provide cultural amenities while facilitating wider conversations about waste as a resource.
  • Urban Strategies

Build Change

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
What is needed to rebuild resiliently after a disaster? Denver-based non-profit Build Change designs disaster-resistant houses and schools for emerging nations, then trains builders, homeowners, engineers and government officials to build them using simple, culturally appropriate, and cost-effective techniques.
  • Community Development
  • Conflict and Disaster

BuildX Studio (formerly Orkidstudio)

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
How do we design with scarcity? BuildX Studio (formerly Orkidstudio) is a Nairobi-based architectural, engineering, and construction company creating real estate projects for positive social and environmental impact.
  • Advocacy
  • Environment

Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
How is consideration of the full life cycle of products a means to achieve sustainability? The Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems designs systems that identify and utilize the full life cycle of products, buildings and regions, resulting in smarter and more sustainable practices.
  • Advocacy
  • Environment

Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP)

2012 Prize Winner
Video
Can design increase civic participation? The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) collaborates with designers, educators, advocates, students, and communities to make educational tools that demystify complex policy and planning issues.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

Chautauqua Poets & Writers

CSF Grantee
Can community engagement be cultivated using artistic expression? The Chautauqua Poets & Writers features award-winning writers who bring the community together with their insights.
  • Community Development

Civic City

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Can graphic arts be an agent of political change? The team of Vera & Ruedi Baur / Civic City are widely credited with launching a wave of political activism within the fields of graphic design and its allied professions.
  • Advocacy

Coloco

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can a city work as an ecosystem? Coloco is a collective of landscapers, artists, urban planners, and botanists working in a variety of mediums including mapping, physical gardening, and advocacy.
  • Community Development
  • Environment
  • Urban Strategies

Conflictorium

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can a museum help people face and resolve conflict? The Conflictorium is a participatory museum that addresses the theme of conflict. It uses art and interactive exhibits to neutrally address how conflicts begin and how they can be resolved.
  • Advocacy
  • Conflict and Disaster

Ctrl+Z

Social Design Circle Honoree
Is architecture more about community participation than materials? Ctrl+Z Architecture practices collaborative, participatory, self-construction initiatives throughout the world. It believes that at its heart, architecture is more about interaction with communities than specific materials or approaches.
  • Community Development
  • Environment
  • Urban Strategies

Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
How can design address colonization and displacement? Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency (DAAR) is an architectural studio, collective of architects, and a residency program based in Beit Sahour, Palestine.
  • Advocacy
  • Conflict and Disaster

Design for Extreme Affordability

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can social change be taught? Design for Extreme Affordability is a graduate course offered by Stanford University where students are asked to design products and services which will change the lives of the world’s poorest citizens.
  • Advocacy
  • Healthcare

Design for the Common Good

Can design education promote social justice? Sergio Palleroni and Jane Anderson offer a history of the collective effort to establish a global network of social design teachers and practitioners.
  • Advocacy

Earth Activist Training

CSF Grantee
Can we design education for environmental sustainability? Author, activist and founder Starhawk offers Earth Activist Training in permaculture, nature awareness, earth based spirituality and more for individuals, teachers and community groups.
  • Community Development
  • Environment
  • Resilience
  • Urban Strategies

Echeverri & Fajardo

2009 Prize Winner
Video
Can improving the built environment in impoverished neighborhoods transform a city? Fajardo and Echeverri implemented a bold program in Medellín. By training architects to build parks and public buildings in impoverished neighborhoods, Medellin was transformed from “world’s deadliest city” into a vibrant, livable place.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

El Equipo Mazzanti

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Why is all architecture social? El Equipo Mazzanti is a Colombian design studio specializing in socially driven architectural design and academic research.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

Estudio Teddy Cruz + Forman

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
CSF Grantee
How can borders be places of innovation, creativity and exchange? Central to Estudio Teddy Cruz + Forman’s work is the idea that “borders” are not places to be defended, but can promote innovation and exchange.
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

Fallen Fruit

Social Design Circle Honoree
What if our cities become places that grow natural resources for anyone to share? The art collective Fallen Fruit plants fruit trees in public spaces for everyone to share. They invite citizens to re-imagine public participation, urban space and the meaning of community.
  • Community Development
  • Environment

Farm Cultural Park

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can rejuvenation through art transform a forgotten town? Farm Cultural Park (FCP) is an art gallery and exhibition space, located in Favara, Sicily. The aim of the project is to give the city, previously known mostly for its general decrepitude and for having one of Italy's highest unemployment rates, a new life through art.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

Foldit

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can an online puzzle game crowdsource solutions to preventing and curing disease? Foldit is an online game where players contribute to scientific research via an addictive puzzle game. Crowdsourcing is Foldit’s success: the creative problem-solving of thousands of people refines complex computations.
  • Advocacy
  • Healthcare

Francis Kéré

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Can an architect truly straddle both first world success and community development in the developing world? Diébédo Francis Kéré is a Burkinabe architect based in Berlin, Germany, whose work straddles community development in the developing world and award-winning architecture in the first world.
  • Community Development
  • Environment

FrontlineSMS

2011 Prize Winner
Video
Can SMS technology be harnessed as a powerful information dissemination tool? Frontline SMS is software that acts as an information dissemination service for text messages. It uses cell service, not internet access, to create communication networks and exchange information.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

GeoHazards International

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
CSF Grantee
Can best practices in seismic safety be employed in the developing world? GeoHazards International (GHI) is a California based non-profit which works to bring the best practices in seismic safety from the developed world to the developing world.
  • Advocacy
  • Conflict and Disaster

Girls Garage (formerly Project H Design)

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Can design challenge inequality? Girls Garage (formerly Project H Design) is a construction and design school for girls and gender-expansive youth ages 9-18. Located in Berkeley, California, its programs range from carpentry and activist art classes to design-build programs where high school students construct full-scale architectural projects for community-based clients.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

Goonj

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
How can donated clothing be translated into community renewal? Goonj is a non-­governmental organization based in Delhi since 1998 which undertakes poverty alleviation work, using the city's discard as material to fuel widespread development work across village India.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Environment

Heritage Foundation of Pakistan

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Can post disaster housing be sustainable and respectful of local vernacular? The Heritage Foundation of Pakistan is one of the world’s most successful providers of sustainable, resilient disaster relief structures. They are also involved in historic conservation projects in Pakistani villages.
  • Conflict and Disaster

Hester Street Collaborative

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
How can neighborhoods be shaped by the people who live in them? Hester Street works to ensure neighborhoods are shaped by the people who live in them. They offer planning, design and community development assistance to community-based organizations, government and other agencies.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Housing

Himanshu Parikh

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
What happens when gravity replaces modern technology as a tool to design urban infrastructure? Himanshu Parikh is an Indian engineer who developed of the concept of ‘slum networking,’ which stems from how the traditional organization of cities was based on natural features such as topography and gravity.
  • Environment
  • Healthcare
  • Housing

Hunnarshala

2013 Prize Winner
Video
How can artisans build a resilient community? Hunnarshala works with artisans to combine traditional building techniques with innovation. They are also engaged in training and empowering artisan entrepreneurs, bringing them into the mainstream of construction.
  • Conflict and Disaster
  • Environment
  • Housing

Institute of Play

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can video games form the basis of a school curriculum? Founded by game designers in New York City, Institute of Play pioneers new models of learning and engagement rooted in the principles of game design.
  • Advocacy

Interbreeding Field

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can Design Reclaim Public Space? Interbreeding Field is a Taiwanese educational program that creates installations in and about public space. Interbreeding Field’s work makes provocative commentary on how a space should or could be used.
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

Isla Urbana

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can DIY harvesting of rainwater solve a water crisis? Isla Urbana is a project dedicated to contributing to water sustainability in Mexico through rainwater harvesting.
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

Kitaab Mahal – The Palace of Books

Design Foundation Initiative
How can the widening education gap be bridged? Kitaab Mahal is a children's library at Natwar Parekh Colony, designed and built by Community Design Agency in collaboration with the residents.
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

Lacaton & Vassal

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Is it better to refurbish and reuse than rebuild? Run by the duo it is named for, Lacaton & Vassal is an award-winning architecture firm using innovative design to promote social justice, sustainability, and the repurposing of materials.
  • Housing

Liter of Light

2012 Prize Winner
Video
Can a plastic bottle bring light where electricity is scarce? Philippines based Liter of light is a global, open-source, grassroots movement committed to providing affordable, sustainable light to people with limited or no access to electricity.
  • Community Development

Luyanda Mpahlwa

2008 Prize Winner
Video
Can a community be built with sand? Luyanda Mpahlwa is part of a vanguard of designers reshaping and re-envisioning South Africa’s post-apartheid architectural landscape.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Housing

MASS Design Group

2012 Prize Winner
Video
Why invest in architecture in resource-limited settings? Model of Architecture Serving Society (MASS Design) is a Boston-based architectural practice focusing on advocacy, the education of the next generation of architects, and the impacts of architecture on human lives.
  • Conflict and Disaster
  • Healthcare

Mohammed Rezwan

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
How can design help flood prone communities to function when facilities and resources are under water? Founded by Mohammed Rezwan, Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha is a nonprofit that works to support the environment and people affected by climate change-induced flooding in Bangladesh by transforming waterways into pathways for education, information, and technology.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Environment

MVD

Social Design Circle Honoree
How do we democratize design? MVD is an Austrian collective that works to bring a political view to how public space is utilized.
  • Housing
  • Urban Strategies

Myna Mahila Foundation

CSF Grantee
How can education be supported through design? Myna Mahila Foundation charges women to speak about menstruation and empowers them through education and micro-entrepreneurship.
  • Advocacy
  • Healthcare

Open Architecture Collaborative

CSF Grantee
Can design increase civic engagement? The Open Architecture Collaborative (OAC), formerly known as the Architecture for Humanity Network, is a global community mobilizing architects, designers, and a diverse range of professionals who shape the built environment with the skills to work with communities experiencing systemic racism and marginalization.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

Plan Selva

Social Design Circle Honoree
How can design address the problem of education for internally neglected communities? Plan Selva is the Peruvian Education Ministry’s plan to bring quality education to remote regions. The result self-empowers indigenous people to cultivate their knowledge and live productively in the Amazon.
  • Community Development
  • Environment

Prinzessinnengärten

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Why should citizens and activists reclaim public space? Prinzessinnengärten is a bottom-up community garden in Berlin notable for both its scale and its ingenuity in starting a public conversation about the democratic use of public space.
  • Community Development
  • Environment

Project Row Houses

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Can artists create solutions instead of just social commentary? Located in Houston’s Northern Third Ward, Project Row Houses believes artists can catalyze social change and that art community are integrally linked– neither is viable without the other.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Housing

Proximity Designs

2013 Prize Winner
CSF Grantee
Video
Can design help raise the income of small hold farmers in Myanmar? Proximity Designs is a not-for-profit social enterprise working to reduce poverty for rural families in Myanmar.
  • Community Development

Public Architecture

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
How can standard design firms be supported in pro-bono work? San Francisco based Public Architecture formalizes pro bono service within architecture, interiors and landscape design. Their flagship program, 1+, supports firms in donating 1% of their time to pro-bono work.
  • Community Development

Qigong Sensory Training Institute

CSF Grantee
What is the role of parent education in the healthcare of autistic children? Qigong Sensory Therapy is a revolutionary approach to treating autism developed by integrating Western and Chinese medicine.
  • Advocacy
  • Healthcare

Raumlabor Berlin

Social Design Circle Honoree
If utopia eluded us, what’s next? Raumlabor Berlin practices “research-based design.” Their practice intersects city planning, architecture, art and urban intervention. Central to their work are projects that disrupt a community’s notions about space.
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

Refugee Academy

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can refugees be a national asset? Berlin’s The Refugee Academy responds to the influx of refugees into Germany. Their work is about designing new ways to think about migration.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Conflict and Disaster

Repair Café

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can anyone repair everyday objects? The Repair Café is both an organization and a global network of cafés that emphasize the repair of everyday objects in order to promote a culture of sustainability and reuse.
  • Community Development

Rural Studio

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can we design community engagement? The Rural Studio is a groundbreaking off-campus designbuild program of Auburn University. Founded in 1993 by D.K. Ruth and Samuel Mockbee, the program established a new breed of community-­based design education.
  • Community Development
  • Housing

Rural Urban Framework (RUF)

2015 Prize Winner
Video
Can design address China’s rural to urban migration? Rural Urban Frameworks (RUF) is a research and design collaborative working to help recover and rebuild villages across China that have been affected by the massive rural-to-urban migrations.
  • Community Development
  • Housing

Semillas para el Desarrollo Sostenible

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can schools address development challenges? Semillas para el Desarrollo Sostenible (“Seeds for Sustainable Development”) is a Peruvian NGO providing service to public and private entities in the design of educational, residential, and exhibition spaces, community centers, and spaces of public, cultural and heritage interest.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

Sergio Palleroni

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
CSF Grantee
Can social impact design be taught? Sergio Palleroni is a leader, practitioner and educator in social impact design. In 1995, Palleroni founded the BASIC Initiative, a program that moved students from the design studio into communities.
  • Community Development
  • Environment

Slow/d

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can the product-to-consumer supply chain be made more equitable? Slow/d is an Italian organization seeking to disrupt traditional supply chains in design by connecting designers, consumers & artisans directly.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

STEALTH.unlimited

Social Design Circle Honoree
What are the limits of architectural practice? STEALTH.unlimited challenges notions about architectural practice by connecting arts, urban research, cultural activism and interventions. They have a particular focus on ‘common’ spaces shared by both the private and the public.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

Studios Kabako

2014 Prize Winner
Video
Can art transform a nation torn apart by conflict and strife? Studios Kabako’s cultural programs and urban interventions create a network for artistic expression in a city isolated by war, political corruption, civil strife, and poverty. In addition, through international commissions and performances, the studio informs an international audience of the geopolitical consequences of postcolonial instability and the exploitation of the Central Africa region.
  • Community Development
  • Conflict and Disaster

Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE)

2010 Prize Winner
Video
Can menstrual pads contribute to economic opportunities for women? Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) has designed a menstrual pad made from banana tree fibers—a local, renewable resource that SHE sources from two (largely female) farming co-ops in the eastern region of the country.
  • Healthcare

Suzanne Lacy

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
What is the role of art in engaging the public in social justice issues? American artist and activist Suzanne Lacy tackles gender violence, segregation and other social justice issues. Her work evokes discussion and debate and often engages audiences directly, outside of institutional structures.
  • Advocacy

TAMassociati/Emergency

2013 Prize Winner
Video
How can architecture bring dignity in war-torn regions? Studio TAMassociati is a nonprofit architecture firm that specializes in designing healthcare facilities in war-torn areas, highlighting the connection between the built environment and the basic needs of life.
  • Community Development
  • Environment

The Association La Voûte Nubienne

Prize Winner
Can resurrecting building techniques from antiquity solve a West African housing crisis? West Africans face unique challenges in sourcing materials for sustainable, cost-efficient housing. In response, The Association la Voûte Nubienne (“AVN”) is bringing back an ages old technique: mud brick.
  • Housing

Theaster Gates

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can we design community engagement? Based in the South Side of Chicago, Theaster Gates is an artist, professor, social innovator, and founder of Rebuild Foundation, which reimagines the potential of vacancy and abandonment through the power of arts, culture, and creative empowerment by building a constellation of spaces that unearth the value and beauty in Black space.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

thinkpublic

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can better human services be co-designed? Founded in 2004 as the first of its kind, Thinkpublic is a London-based social design agency that works with public sector and nonprofit organizations to improve the quality of the services they provide.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

Turquoise Mountain

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can revitalizing traditional crafts bring economic stability to areas of conflict? Turquoise Mountain is a nonprofit focused on regenerating urban areas and furthering the renaissance of the traditional craft industry in the Middle East.
  • Community Development
  • Conflict and Disaster

Urban-Think Tank

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
How can urban dwellers participate in the construction of their own built environment? Urban-Think Tank (U-TT) is an interdisciplinary design studio dedicated to high-level research and design at a variety of scales. The studio champions collaborative work with intended users as a tool to develop spaces and projects that reinterpret the potential of unbuilt areas.
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

Wes Janz

2008 Prize Winner
Video
How can designers address poverty in American cities? Dr. Wesley Janz is a Professor Emeritus of Architecture at Ball State University, Indiana and the founder of OneSmallProject. Currently, he is working to draw attention to the issues central to the U.S. prison system.
  • Advocacy
  • Environment
  • Housing
  • Urban Strategies

YA + K

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can design free the public from hierarchical constraints in society? YA + K is a French collective that seeks new ways of understanding and defining public space. Their projects focus on low-tech innovation and the creation of new economies.
  • Community Development
  • Environment

Yatin Pandya

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
How do we design with scarcity? Yatin Pandya is the founder and executive director of Footprints E.A.R.T.H. (Environment, Architecture, Research, Technology, Housing), an Indian professional services organization focused on research, design and the promotion of more sustainable urban futures.
  • Environment
  • Housing

YAYA Arts Centre

CSF Grantee
Can community engagement be cultivated using artistic expression? YAYA is a center providing educational experiences in the arts and entrepreneurship to New Orleans-area children and youth, fostering and supporting their individual ambitions.
  • Community Development

Connect With Us currystonefdn

Congratulations to Yasmeen Lari (@barefootsocialar Congratulations to Yasmeen Lari (@barefootsocialarchitecture), founder of Heritage Foundation of Pakistan (@heritagefoundationpk) on receiving the 2023 RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture! As a guest on the @socialdesigninsights Podcast, she talked about the role architects can play in reviving vernacular architecture and empowering vulnerable communities, especially women, to build better and safer structures.  Click on the link in the bio to listen to her podcast episode  Streaming on @spotify
@itunes @googlepodcast @iheartradio @podcastspreaker @stitcherpodcasts  Reposted from @socialdesigninsights  Images Credits: @heritagefoundationpk  #SDI #Podcast #SocialDesign #SocialDesignInsights #CurryStone #CSDP #CSF #women #architecture #architect #architecturalhistory #award #disaster #relief #zerocarbon #sustainable #sustainabledesign #Pakistan #Karachi #HeritageFoundationofPakistan #YasmeenLari #ArchitectsinPakistan #ArchitectureinPakistan #JaneDrewPrize #FuturArc #womeninarchitecture #womenarchitects #vernaculararchitecture #RIBA #ribaroyalgoldmedal
Reposted from @govandiartsfestival We are ready fo Reposted from @govandiartsfestival We are ready for you guys!  Come be a part of the celebration from 3:00 PM to 9:00 PM everyday until the 19th February 2023!  Govandi Arts festival is part of the ‘India/UK Together, a Season of Culture’, taking place in India and the UK from June 2022 to March 2023.  Partners: Community Design Agency @communitydesignagency , Streets Reimagined @streets_reimagined01 , Lamplighters CIC Arts @lamplighterarts.cic
With British Council @inbritish  #IndiaUKTogether #SeasonofCulture #CultureConnectsUs #govandiartsfestival #govandiartsfestival2023 #celebratingcommunities #creatingjoy #govandi #mumbai
Reposted from @govandiartsfestival 7 Days to go! Reposted from @govandiartsfestival 
7 Days to go!  Come be a part of the celebration from 15th to 19th February 2023!  Govandi Arts festival is part of the ‘India/UK Together, a Season of Culture’, taking place in India and the UK from June 2022 to March 2023. 
Partners: Community Design Agency @communitydesignagency , Streets Reimagined @streets_reimagined01 , Lamplighters CIC Arts @lamplighterarts.cic
With British Council @inbritish  #IndiaUKTogether #SeasonofCulture #CultureConnectsUs #govandiartsfestival #govandiartsfestival2023 #celebratingcommunities #creatingjoy #govandi #mumbai
Excited to share that @communitydesignagency, the Excited to share that @communitydesignagency, the social design studio in Mumbai which is supported by CSF, is hosting an Arts Festival in the marginalised neighborhood of Govandi in Mumbai from the 15th to 19th of February. The @govandiartsfestival is a platform for the youth and residents of Govandi, with whom CDA has been working for the past 6 years, to hone their skills and celebrate the talent and joy that resides in their neighborhood. As one of the most neglected neighborhoods of Mumbai, Govandi and its residents have been at the receiving end of a lot of stigma, misconceptions and are deprived of social and economic opportunities. This Festival is a way for Govandi to connect with the rest of Mumbai and encourage greater involvement in its growth and development.  Supported by a grant received by the British Council @inbritish as a part of their India/UK Season of Culture, and in partnership with Bristol based @streets_reimagined01  and @lamplighterarts.cic, this Festival will be a culmination of five 6 month long mentorships for 45 mentees, three 4 month long artist residencies for contextual art installations and a lantern parade with the entire neighborhood.  Image 2: Lanterns being prepared with the residents for the parade
Image 3: The theatre cohort in a movement-based workshop
Image 4: The photography mentees showcasing their works in a small preview exhibition for the neighborhood 
Image 5: Artist Resident Nisha Nair Gupta  recording oral narratives of the community's lives and struggles
Image 6: Artist Resident Jerry Antony creating a stop motion animation video with the young children of Govandi
Image 7: The rap and music cohort engaging with other artists at an event
Image 8: The entire cohort attending a separate Arts Festival in Mumbai
Image 9: The children of Govandi extending an invitation to everyone to join them next week!

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Curry Stone Foundation - Home

The Curry Stone Foundation (CSF) is the brainchild of architect, urban planner and developer Clifford Curry, FAIA, and the historical archeologist Dr. Delight Stone, RPA. It was inspired by a shared conviction that design thinking and design actions can—and should, serve those wishing to contribute to community vitality and human dignity. Most of all, we believe that design should be available to those most in need.

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REQUESTS FOR FUNDING

Marginalized communities around the world are still dealing with the aftermath of COVID-19. The looming recession and geo-political issues have also been a major cause of concern for all.

Curry Stone Foundation continues to receive numerous requests for support. Many of these causes have significant merit, and we understand the need is great.

We continue to honor our prior commitments, to projects in India and elsewhere, who have needed additional support to reach completion. Since these projects impact fragile, marginalized populations, and are at the crucial stage of scaling, our funds are committed to them.

For these reasons, we will not be able to assist financially with any immediate requests for funds.

Appreciatively,

Curry Stone Foundation

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