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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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Housing

01-02 | Reimagining the Border, Part 1 & 2

Podcast
Should designers be outlaws? Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman of Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman discuss their practice at the Tijuana/San Diego border and how design transcends politics.
  • Community Development

03 | The Street As a Revolution

Podcast
Should designers be outlaws? Mark Lakeman of the City Repair Project discusses motives and methods for igniting neighborhood change, street by street.
  • Community Development
  • Environment

06-07 | Fighting for Dignified Housing, Part 1 & 2

Podcast
Is the right to housing real? Jonathan Kirschenfeld and Brenda Rosen share their thoughts on the right to housing, and methodologies for doing supportive housing well.
  • Housing

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

110 | Cities of the Future, Cities of the Past

Podcast
Engaging + Reframing the 'Refugee' Crisis Kilian Kleinschmidt is an international networker, development, and migration expert with 30 years of experience in a wide range of countries, emergencies, and refugee camps as a United Nations official, Aid worker, and diplomat.
  • Community Development

15 | A Homeowner-driven Approach to Rebuilding After Disaster

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Can design prevent disaster? Dr. Elizabeth Hausler of Build Change details a homeowner-driven approach to rebuilding after disaster.
  • Advocacy
  • Housing

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

21-22 | Building Community a Block at a Time, Part 1 & 2

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Can we design community engagement? Brent Brown of bcWORKSHOP tells us how they serve marginalized communities in the Rio Grande Valley.
  • Community Development
  • 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

47 | Using Design to Bring Down Crime

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Does design create politics or vice versa? Kathryn Ewing and Don Shay of VPUU outline how community-based planning can make real results in crime prevention.
  • Community Development
  • Housing

83 | Human-powered Resilience in Action

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Is Resilience Still Relevant? Architect Hsieh Ying-Chun joins host Eric Cesal to talk about how people can power rebuilding after disaster.
  • Community Development
  • Conflict and Disaster
  • Housing
  • Resilience
  • Urban Strategies

84-85 | Architecture, Wake Up, It’s a New Day, Part 1 & 2

Podcast
Is Resilience Still Relevant? Mario and Nuno do Rosario discuss the history of design in Mozambique from Independence to the present-day.
  • Community Development
  • Conflict and Disaster
  • Resilience
  • Urban Strategies

86 | Disaster, Design and Development

Podcast
Is Resilience Still Relevant? As the world faces a rising tide of disasters and climate-induced migration, there are serious questions as to whether the design community is prepared to offer solutions meaningful to the crises humanity faces.
  • Community Development
  • Housing
  • Resilience

88 | How to Make Useful Noise

Podcast
Is Resilience Still Relevant? By the middle of this century, up to 300 million people will be displaced by climate change and climate change disasters. What is the ethical role of designers in adapting the built environment to such changes?
  • Community Development
  • Conflict and Disaster
  • Housing
  • Resilience
  • Urban Strategies

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

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

bcWORKSHOP

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Can architects build community as well as buildings? bcWORKSHOP works in neighborhoods lacking access to designers. Its programs are committed to building community and begin by acknowledging that social structure is the best guide to designing physical structures.
  • Community Development
  • Housing

Bethlehem Inn

CSF Grantee
How can designers address poverty in American cities? Bethlehem Inn provides shelter to individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Central Oregon.
  • Community Development
  • Housing
  • Resilience

Breaking Ground

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
What is supportive housing? Breaking Ground innovated “supportive housing. It includes, but goes beyond, shelter. BG repurposes and builds dignified living environments that support residents via services including counseling, job services and more.
  • Housing
  • 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

City Repair Project

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
How can public space be reclaimed to forge stronger communities? Portland, Oregon-based City Repair Project (CRP) seeks to address America’s lack of community gathering spaces by empowering neighborhoods to reclaim public spaces and creatively repurpose them to bring people together.
  • Community Development
  • Environment

David Baker Architects

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can affordable housing be more than just housing that is affordable? David Baker Architects is a Bay Area and Atlanta-based firm specializing in affordable housing, green building, and transit-oriented development. With its focus on integrating elegant, contemporary aesthetics with energy conservation and humanity, its work sets the standard for public housing.
  • Housing

Detroit Collaborative Design Center

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can Design Challenge Inequality? The Detroit Collaborative Design Center (DCDC), formerly the School of Architecture + Community Design, is a multidisciplinary nonprofit design center bringing high-quality, community-based design to all neighborhoods in Detroit.
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

Elemental

2010 Prize Winner
Video
Can public housing be designed to encourage resident ownership? ELEMENTAL engages in projects ranging from housing to public space to objects to buildings, covering a wide spectrum of interests. One of the firm´s hallmarks is participatory design, in which the architects work closely with the client and users.
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

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

Gulf Coast Community Design Studio

Social Design Circle Honoree
How can the community be integrated into the rebuilding process? A professional service and outreach program of Mississippi State University’s College of Architecture, Art + Design, Gulf Coast Community Design Studio (GCCDS) was established in Biloxi, Mississippi in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to provide design services to devastated communities throughout the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Over time, it has evolved to address long-term issues of equitable community resilience.
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

Hsieh Ying-Chun

2011 Prize Winner
Video
How can a community contribute to a post-disaster rebuilding process? Hsieh Ying-Chun is a Taiwanese architect who works throughout Asia training villagers to build locally-appropriate dwellings in response to earthquake devastation.
  • Community Development
  • Conflict and Disaster
  • Environment

Jonathan Kirschenfeld

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Can excellent design be for everyone? Jonathan Kirschenfeld is a New York architect recognized for design excellence over a wide range of environmentally and socially sustainable projects including supportive housing, childcare centers, recreation, and performance facilities.
  • Housing

Kraftwerk1

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can high quality, affordable housing be created in fringe areas of a city? With diverse and flexible housing types, participatory planning processes, and energy-efficient designs, Kraftwerk1 has proven that it’s possible to create high-quality affordable housing schemes in fringe areas of a city.
  • Community Development
  • Housing

L’Oeuf

Social Design Circle Honoree
What is the definition of sustainability? Montreal-based L’Oeuf is known for sustainable architecture, urban housing and renovation. It emphasizes building community over building buildings; the interplay between building, occupant and environment inspires innovation.
  • Environment
  • Housing

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

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

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

RootStudio

Social Design Circle Honoree
How do we design with scarcity? RootStudio is a multidisciplinary design studio originating in Oaxaca City, Mexico that develops structures and housing for communities in need.
  • Community Development
  • Housing

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

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

Slum Redevelopment

Design Foundation Initiative
How can a designer build trust among residents under a constant threat of eviction? The residents of a Ahmednagar slum live under a constant threat of eviction. CDA is focusing on trust building, empowering residents to take on development and construction of their homes.
  • Community Development
  • Housing
  • Resilience
  • Urban Strategies

SPARC

2016 Prize Winner
Vision Award Recipient
Video
What can slum dwellers teach design professionals? SPARC organizes, legitimizes and advocates for India’s urban poor, seeking improved living conditions and advancements in rights. SPARC believes that with structural support, the urban poor can make their destinies.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

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

Upgrade of Public Housing Neighborhoods

Design Foundation Initiative
Can former slum and pavement dwellers design better living solutions for themselves? As developing-world cities grow, housing estates for slum and pavement dwellers multiply. In India, the liveability of these developments is questionable, so CDA and residents will collaborate on positive changes.
  • Housing

Urbz

Social Design Circle Honoree
How can slum dwellers be protected against profit-minded developers? Urbz is an experimental action and research collective specialized in participatory planning and design. They work with citizens, associations, local governments, and private clients in Mumbai, Bogotá, and Geneva.
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

USINA CTAH

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can the built environment escape a profit-driven motive? USINA Centro de Trabalhos para o Ambiente Habitado is a Brazilian group that works across disciplines to assist working people in planning and developing of their own communities.
  • Housing
  • Urban Strategies

Violence Prevention Through Urban Upgrading

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Can urban upgrading reduce crime? In Cape Town’s Khayelitsha township, Violence Prevention Through Urban Upgrading (VPUU) uses urban planning to fight crime, developing interventions in high-crime spots. They create decent, livable communities through local planning.
  • Community Development
  • Housing

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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