Cynthia E. Smith Social-impact design isn't just about buildings or objects, as Cynthia E. Smith attests. Since 2009, Smith has served as the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum's Curator for Socially Responsible Design, organizing exhibitions that address the burgeoning environmental, architectural, and sociological challenges brought on by earth's increasing population. RECORD caught up with Smith to find out what she thinks are the urgent issues and exciting developments in the field. AS: How did you get involved in humanitarian work? Cynthia Smith: Because I’ve been working on civil and human rights issues most of my adult life and was trained
In placing an emphasis on socially and environmentally conscious subjects, two New York museums must address the challenges of presentation. Architectural exhibitions aimed at a general audience are hard to pull off. Small-scale representations'photographs, models, drawings, and, increasingly, video'can only approximate the sense of the full-size work. Like art objects, they need to captivate the museum visitor while acknowledging the thicket of constraints'program, site, budget'that shape the form. If the projects have a socially or environmentally conscious dimension, the challenge is tougher: The display may lack the wow factor'the visual panache of extravagantly innovative or elegant architectural works and objects
Program: Currently in the proposal stage, this project was the first-prize winner of the 2011 ThyssenKrupp Elevator Architecture Award. The proposal calls for a single-story, 65,660-square-foot training facility for Istanbul's disaster responders. The plan—which is configured like a large, collapsed donut that encircles an approximately 93,600-square-foot interior park—includes spaces for fire-prevention training, earthquake exercises, nuclear disaster simulation, and first-aid training, along with a 4-D video display room and a smoke maze room. Part technical school and part museum, the center will also offer educational programs to teach students and the public about disaster preparation. A library, an exhibition hall, a
After several weeks of intensive negotiations, a deal has been reached to create the first-ever large-scale AIDS memorial in New York City, though it will be much smaller than its supporters had initially hoped.
Established after the 2011 disaster, the MIT Japan 3/11 Initiative is giving students invaluable experience while also helping devastated communities. Photo courtesy MIT Last summer, a team of students and faculty members from MIT traveled to Minami-sanriku, Japan, to survey damage caused by the March 2011 tsunami. The trip was spawned by the MIT Japan 3/11 Initiative, a program launched after the Tohoku catastrophe. Click to view additional images. The $2,000 project is a “humble start,” says Kanda. “It is a seed for more to come.” Click to view additional images. Related Links: Extensive Coverage: Rebuilding Japan When a team
At New York’s Center for Architecture, an exhibition of models quietly constructed in Iraq shows 20th-century dreams for the city. Image Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Inc. Venturi, Rauch and Scott Brown, Project for the Competition for a National Mosque of Baghdad, 1982, Baghdad, Iraq. Click the image above to view additional image from City of Mirages: Baghdad, 1952-1982. Related Exhibition: In addition to the Baghdad exhibition the Center for Architecture is simultaneously showcasing current work in the greater Middle East. On view through June 23, CHANGE: Architecture and Engineering in the Middle East, 2000-Present, strikes a hopeful note on