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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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Multi-disciplinary

04 | Engaging Community, Engaging Practice

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Should designers be outlaws? Arquitectura Expandida discusses its approach to working in informal communities alongside (and sometimes around) government.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

105 | Taking a Critical Stance on Design

Podcast
The Narrative of Design & Activism Aaron Seward is editor of Texas Architect magazine, where he curates, writes and produces an ongoing dialogue about architecture & urbanism.
  • Advocacy

106 | Making Design a Part of the Conversation

Podcast
The Narrative of Design & Activism Diana Budds is a design writer & producer based in New York City. She writes, edits and produces stories about design at all scales, with a particular focus on how design affects and reflects culture.
  • Advocacy

107 | In Defense of Slowness

Podcast
The Narrative of Design & Activism Spencer Bailey of Phaidon publishing joins us to discuss concepts of ‘slow’ media, and how to be more conscientious about the media we consume.
  • Advocacy

108 | How to Kick the Building

Podcast
The Narrative of Design & Activism Asad Syrkett is the Deputy Editor at Curbed, where he directs a portfolio around architecture, decor, urbanism, technology, fashion, art, travel, and issues of race and gender in the design world.
  • Advocacy

109 | All the Stories Left to Tell

Podcast
The Narrative of Design & Activism Amanda Baillieu founded Archiboo in 2014 as a new kind of architectural discussion space, building on the changing landscape of design media after the Great Recession.
  • Advocacy

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

24-25 | Tools for Urban Action, Part 1 & 2

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Can design reclaim public space? Ecosistema Urbano & Interboro share their stories about how they shaped a practice around public space.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

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

41 | Recognizing the Unrecognized

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
What can design do to promote peace? Malkit Shoshan of the Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory discusses the architecture of conflict.
  • Community Development
  • Conflict and Disaster

48 | Nurturing Collective Imagination in Rome

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Does design create politics or vice versa? Lorenzo Romito of Stalker discusses the ‘territory’ of architecture and how it can be expanded.
  • Advocacy
  • Environment
  • Urban Strategies

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

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

63-64 | Design as Protest, Protest by Design, Part 1 & 2

Podcast
How do we design resistance? Bryan C. Lee Jr. and Sue Mobley of Colloqate Design join us to discuss how design can support or deconstruct systems of institutional oppression.
  • Advocacy

66-67 | Fronts: Security in the Developing World, Part 1 & 2

Podcast
How do we design resistance? Ersela Kripa and Stephen Mueller of Agency Architecture reveal their global projects on urbanism and resistance.
  • Advocacy

93 | Developing New Forms of Community Design

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
Who Designs the Designers? Orkidstudio is a social enterprise based in Nairobi, Kenya, which focuses not only on the design of great buildings, but on the design of design & construction processes in ways that promote equity, inclusion, and social development.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Housing

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

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

Arquitectura Expandida

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Should designers be outlaws? Founded in 2010, Arquitectura Expandida (AXP) is a design collective based in Bogota, Colombia focused on building structures for and with communities that cannot afford to go through official channels for design and construction.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

Assemble

Social Design Circle Honoree
What is the antidote to luxury apartments no one will live in? Assemble Studio is a multi-disciplinary collective bridging the gaps between architecture, design, and art, and employing a democratic and cooperative working method that enables built, social, and research-based work at a variety of scales.
  • Urban Strategies

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

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

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

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

EXYZT

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Can Design Reclaim Public Space? EXYZT was a European multidisciplinary design collective that broke extraordinary ground in challenging traditional notions of how public space can be organized.
  • Urban Strategies

Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Is there a relationship between architecture, planning, politics and human rights? The Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory (FAST) is a think tank founded from a desire to spark a discussion about how political powers use architecture and architects to implement ideological agendas.
  • Community Development
  • Conflict and Disaster

Interboro

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
How can designers create a more inclusive space? Interboro is an architecture, urban design, and planning firm working across scales, from buildings to communities. They are known for a participatory, place-specific approach that helps build consensus around complex projects.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

PICO Colectivo

Social Design Circle Honoree
Is design about the process or the result? PICO focuses on interventions in gathering spaces. They believe that architecture is not an end it in itself. The process of understanding the interaction of life and space is vital.
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

Public Works

Social Design Circle Honoree
How can neighborhood residents reassert control over their own futures? Public Works is a London-based critical design nonprofit straddling architecture, art, performance and activism. It addresses the challenges of urbanism, seeking ways that communities can reassert control over their futures.
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

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

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

Stalker

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Does design create politics or vice versa? Stalker is a collective of artists, architects, activists and others whose work focuses on the margins of the city.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Environment
  • 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

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

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

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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

      We are struggling to comprehend the magnitude and horror during this period of Covid-19.

      The deaths, the illnesses, millions unemployed, millions in quarantine, borders closed and the disruption of normalcy.

      Curry Stone Foundation is receiving numerous unsolicited requests for support in light of this crisis. Many of these have significant merit, and we understand the need is great.

      Prior the Pandemic, our budget for 2020 and 2021 was committed to projects still in process, in India and elsewhere. Now, as a direct result of the crisis, we anticipate that these will need supplemental funds to reach completion. As these projects impact fragile, marginalized populations, we need to reserve emergency funds for that purpose.

      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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