What is Social Impact Design?
- Overview
- Most Urgent Questions
About the Foundation

What is Social Impact Design?
- Overview
- Most Urgent Questions
About the Foundation

Practices
Explore by Keyword
Advanced Search

Advocacy
Community Development
Conflict and Disaster
Environment
Healthcare
Housing
Resilience
Urban Strategies

Playgrounds

04 | Engaging Community, Engaging Practice

Should designers be outlaws? Arquitectura Expandida discusses its approach to working in informal communities alongside (and sometimes around) government.

Advocacy
Community Development
Urban Strategies

05 | Flirting with Illegality

Podcast

Social Design Circle Honoree

Should designers be outlaws? Santiago Cirugeda - Spain’s 'Guerrilla Architect’ - explains how he challenges urban authority and makes neighborhoods work for everyone.

Advocacy
Community Development

26 | Making Public Space Productive

Podcast

Social Design Circle Honoree

Can design reclaim public space? Chelina Odbert and Jennifer Toy of the Kounkuey Design Initiative share their thoughts on how to engage community.

Community Development
Environment

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

44 | The Blue Economy of the Future

Podcast

Social Design Circle Honoree

Can a city work as an ecosystem? Jan Jongert of Superuse Studios shares experiences in designing new forms of ecology within the city.

Community Development
Environment

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

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

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

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

Inteligencias Colectivas

Social Design Circle Honoree

What happens when traditional and modern design techniques are blended? Inteligencias Colectivas focuses on the ‘fringe’ of construction practice. Between highly mechanized construction and ancient methods are blended practices with their own wisdom. Inteligencias Colectivas¬ collects, collates and shares these.

Advocacy
Community Development
Urban Strategies

Kounkuey Design Initiative

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

How can conversation with residents and deep engagement lead to community empowerment? The non-profit Kounkuey Design Initiative is based in Los Angeles, CA and Nairobi, Kenya. Using extensive community engagement, it reveals systemic needs and enlists the community in constructing solutions.

Community Development
Environment

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

Recetas Urbanas

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

How can citizens take planning into their own hands? Santiago Cirugeda is the founder and principal of Recetas Urbanas (Urban Recipes), a design & advocacy collective of architects, lawyers and social workers based in Seville, Spain.

Advocacy
Community Development

Superuse Studios

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

Can a “blue” economy be created where one business' waste is raw materials for another? Rotterdam based Superuse Studios is at the leading edge of ecological thought. Their work pioneers ideas around an economy where the waste of one business becomes raw materials for another.

Environment

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

[jr_instagram id="1"]

[jr_instagram id=”1″]

Get Our Newsletters

Occasional newsletter that keeps you up to date on our recent podcasts, social impact design news and more.

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.

What is Social Impact Design?
About the Foundation
Awards
Social Design Insights
Connect with Us
Explore by Keyword
Accessibility

Contact Us

1560 NW 25th Avenue, Portland, OR 97210-2426, USA

541.323.2299
info@currystone.org

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