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

  • Community Development

  • Conflict and Disaster

  • Education

  • Environment

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  • Resilience

  • Urban Strategies

Research

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

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

104 | Omitted Narratives in Graphic Design

Podcast
The Narrative of Design & Activism Jerome Harris is an American graphic designer and educator whose research focuses on omitted narratives of African American designers in the field of graphic design.
  • Advocacy
  • Education

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

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

35 | Big Problems, Simple Solutions

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
How do we design with scarcity? Ashok Gadgil speaks to us about simple, low cost solutions to global public health.
  • Advocacy

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

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

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

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

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

52 | A Vision for the Future

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
How do we democratize design? Dr. Silver of the Centre for Vision in the Developing World shares how his groundbreaking design for self-adjusting glasses can address a serious lack of optometrists in the developing world.
  • Healthcare

53 | Designing After Revolution

Podcast
Social Design Circle Honoree
How do we democratize design? Omar Nagati and Beth Stryker share their thoughts on CLUSTER Cairo, and the design of urban activism.
  • Urban Strategies

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
  • Environment

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
  • Education

76 | Design School as a Site of Insurrection, Then and Now

Podcast
Can design education promote social justice? Dr. Sharon Egretta Sutton, FAIA is an educator and scholar promoting inclusivity in the cultural makeup of city-making design professions. Known for engaging students in underserved communities of color, Dr. Sutton’s teaching and scholarship examines the United States’ continuing struggles with the racial injustices occurring within the designed environment.
  • Advocacy
  • Education

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.
  • Community Development
  • Healthcare
  • Housing

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

Arquitecturas Colectivas

Social Design Circle Honoree
How can global practices and individuals share ways to effect change within the built environment? Arquitecturas Colectivas is a massive, open-source network interested in the participatory construction of the built environment. The common thread is a willingness to manipulate the fabric of the built environment.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

Ashok Gadgil

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Can low cost, simple designs be implemented at scale? For over twenty years, US engineer Dr. Ashok Gadgil’s work has focused on designing low-cost technologies that help the world’s poorest and most vulnerable.
  • Advocacy
  • Environment
  • Healthcare

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
  • Resilience

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

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
  • Education

Centre for Vision in the Developing World

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Can design overcome an optometrist shortage in the developing world? Lack of access to eye care professionals is a serious problem in the developing world. Dr. Joshua Silver designed inexpensive eyeglasses that can be self-adjusted to the correct prescription.
  • Healthcare

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
  • Environment

CLUSTER Cairo

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
How do we democratize design? Founded in Egypt in response to the Arab Spring, Cairo Lab for Urban Studies, Training and Environmental Research (CLUSTER) is an interdisciplinary platform for urban design and research working to establish a critical space for urban discourse by engaging questions of public space and specifically, urban informality.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Conflict and Disaster
  • Education

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

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

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

Ecosistema Urbano

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Can urban biodiversity be designed? Ecosistema Urbano is a Madrid-based architecture and design firm founded in 2005 by Belinda Tato and Jose Luis Vallejo.
  • 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

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.
  • Education
  • Healthcare

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.
  • Advocacy
  • Conflict and Disaster

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.
  • Conflict and Disaster
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Resilience

Jeanne van Heeswijk

2012 Prize Winner
Video
Can art mend neighborhoods? Jeanne van Heeswijk is an artist who facilitates the creation of dynamic and diversified public spaces. Her long-scale community projects question art’s autonomy by combining performative actions, discussions, and other forms of organizing and pedagogy to assist communities to take control of their futures.
  • Advocacy

Kounkuey Design Initiative

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
How can conversation with residents and deep engagement lead to community empowerment? Kounkuey Design Initiative is a non-profit based in Kenya and California. Using extensive community engagement, KDI reveals systemic needs and enlists the community in constructing solutions.
  • Community Development
  • Resilience

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.
  • Advocacy
  • 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.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Conflict and Disaster
  • Healthcare

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.
  • Advocacy
  • Education
  • Environment

Raumlabor Berlin

Social Design Circle Honoree
If utopia eluded us, what’s next? Raumlabor Berlin is a German collective practicing what they call “research-based design”, working at the intersection of city planning, architecture, art and urban intervention.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

RIWAQ

2012 Prize Winner
Video
Can restoration work in Palestine reinforce cultural identity? Founded in 1991 by Dr. Suad Amiry and a group of fellow architects and intellectuals, RIWAQ is a Ramallah-based non-profit organization that protects and develops architectural heritage in Palestine.
  • Advocacy
  • Conflict and Disaster

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

Stalker

Social Design Circle Honoree
Podcast
Does design create politics or vice versa? Stalker Lab is an experimental collective of architects and researchers. Founded in Rome by a group of university students, artists, scientists, and planners, all later joined. Now, it operates as a laboratory for urban art and spatial exploration. Their international exhibitions and conferences look at different ways to transform space.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Environment
  • Urban Strategies

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

studioBASAR

Social Design Circle Honoree
Can design reconcile the legacy of brutal authoritarianism and the new forces of the market? studioBASAR is an architectural office and a “Search and Rescue” team conducting urban observation and intervention. It searches for overlooked urban conditions. Then the ‘rescue’ encompasses architectural interventions.
  • Community Development
  • Urban Strategies

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

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.
  • Conflict and Disaster
  • Healthcare

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
  • Healthcare

Transition Network

2009 Prize Winner
Video
Can your neighborhood become a self-sufficient community? The Transition Network is an organization whose role is to inspire, encourage, connect, support, and train communities as they create initiatives that rebuild resilience and reduce CO2 emissions.
  • Community Development
  • Environment

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.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development

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.
  • Advocacy
  • Community Development
  • Resilience

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

Connect With Us currystonefdn

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Sandhya Naidu Janardhan (@sandhyajnaidu) wins the Sandhya Naidu Janardhan (@sandhyajnaidu) wins the prestigious Berkeley Rupp Prize (@ced_berkeley)! We are so proud to have been a part of her and her Mumbai-based studio Community Design Agency's (@communitydesignagency) journey. Under Sandhya's leadership the studio has created benchmarks in what empathetic and collaborative neighborhood regeneration, rooted in sustainability, community building and joy, can truly look like. Many congratulations on this well-deserved recognition, Sandhya! Read more about the award through the link in our bio and visit @communitydesignagency's page to learn more about their work. Picture credits: Community Design Agency, Rajesh Vora, Tejinder Singh Khamkha #berkeleyruppprize #communitybasedesign #mumbai #slumredevelopment #participatorydesign #publichousing
Ep. 62: Finding Empathy, Making Art Snippet from Ep. 62: Finding Empathy, Making Art Snippet from Dr Suzanne Lacy's (@suzanne.lacy) conversation with @ericjcesal on the #SocialDesignInsights #Podcast The #SocialDesignCircle honoree recently launched the second iteration of her ongoing project, Uncertain Futures, which looks at the inequalities and insecurities facing women over 50 in Manchester, England, relating to work and worklessness. Produced in collaboration with Manchester Art Gallery (@mcrartgallery), 2 universities and an Advisory Group of 15 women, the second iteration sees the launch of a short film and its research findings following interviews of a 100 women over 50 and the impact of interconnected issues of gender, age, labour, class, migration, status, disability and race on women's paid and unpaid work. The impressive case study has also been featured among UN's Decade of Healthy Ageing Progress Report 2021-2023. Click on the link in our bio to learn more about Uncertain Futures and to listen to Dr. Lacy on the Social Design Insights podcast. Images from Dr Lacy's performance installations De tu Puno y Letra (2014-15) and The Circle and The Square (2015-17) #performancearts #suzannelacy #artactivism
As a supporter of the Architects Foundation's (@oc As a supporter of the Architects Foundation's (@octagonmuseum) Diversity Advancement Scholarship, that invests in the next generation to bring diversity in the field of design and architecture, CSF is proud to be a part of Zuleika Baldeo's journey as she pursues her degree from Morgan State University. CSF co-founders and directors Clifford Curry and Dr. Delight Stone meet with her often to offer support and mentorship, which she says is as valuable as the financial support she is receiving from the scholarship funded by the duo. Click on the link in the bio to read more about Zuleika's journey. Philanthropy partners of @aianational, the Architects Foundation is launching its year end #GivingTuesday campaign today and you can learn more about supporting students like Zuleika by visiting @octagonmuseum's website. #aianational #architecturescholarship #scholarship #scholarships #givingtuesday #CSF #CurryStoneFoundation #AIA #architectsfoundation #diversityscholarship #diversityscholars #architectsfordiversity #hbcu #blackdesigners #blackarchitects #blackarchitecture #designjustice #morganonsocial #howarduniversity #howardu #aias #nomas #minorityarchitecturestudents #minorityarchitects #minoritydesigners
Iyad Issa, architect at the Curry Stone Design Pri Iyad Issa, architect at the Curry Stone Design Prize winning studio @riwaq_palestine and Curator of the Engaged Margins exhibit at the @venice.architecture.biennale, talks about the restoration of the archeological site Kafr 'Aqab in the outskirts of Jerusalem and how restoration projects should create room for pause and reflection in the regeneration of physical spaces. The work is on display till 26th November as a part of the Time Space Existence exhibition at Pallazzo Bembo in Venice and we encourage those attending the Biennale to engage with the nature and context of Riwaq's work and support their efforts. Video courtesy: European Cultural Center, Italy/YouTube @ecc_italy Cover Image courtesy: RIWAQ @riwaq_palestine #riwaq #palestine #jerusalem #architecture #venicebiennale #venicearchitecturebiennale #venicebiennale2023 #conservation #restorativedesign #restorativearchitecture #currystonefoundation #currystonedesignprize #CurryStone #currystonedesign #conservativearchitecture #palestinianheritage #architecturalheritage #architecturalheritageconservation

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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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