Loeb Fellowship Symposium, “A Round Table – Makers and Users”

Join us for a symposium celebrating the past decade of the Loeb Fellowship and a farewell toast with the outgoing Curator of the Loeb Fellowship, John Peterson

Event Description

A round table has been the symbol and a spatial device of equality, exchange, and dialogue. It is also an apt metaphor for the ethos of the Loeb Fellowship and its commitment to the value of knowledge-sharing, relationships, community, and the impact these have on the agency of our work. A round table is where Loeb Fellows gather in Doebele House for their long-standing invitation dinners, and at the kitchen of the Fellowship’s Curator in Strobel House. Both are places where food and drink are elevated beyond sustenance, where human interaction seeks to change and enrich lives and transform each Fellow’s ability to make a difference in the world. These round tables have been witness to hundreds of hours of engagement by Fellows, faculty, students, friends, families, and guests.

This symposium brings five Loeb Fellows from the 10 years of John Peterson’s curatorship to share stories of how interdependence and collaboration have been instrumental to the success of their work, exemplifying and extending the Loeb Fellowship’s vision and reach. This program positions interdependence as a multiplier in a chain of influences through projects, collaborations, ideas, policies, activism, commitment, and tenacity. It also recognizes that our work and well-being require us to be dependent beings.

The five Loeb storytellers will delve into the value of dialogue, fellowship, and sharing as acts of care that broaden the intellectual and human horizons of the shapers of our environment. These practices not only cultivate networks of support and personal growth but also challenge the conventional values of authorship and exclusivity.

Food, drink, discourse, and fellowship will be the mediums for the program’s intellectual enrichment and the advancement of social good. Join us for this symposium featuring stories of collaborative efforts for social change, a round table discourse, and a cocktail reception with a farewell toast with John Peterson.

Program

Friday, November 15
Harvard GSD, Piper Auditorium
48 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Stories of Interdependence
2:00 p.m. — 4:00 p.m.

The Loeb Fellowship positions collaboration and interdependence as not only enriching but also critical to the work of shaping the built and natural environments. Five Loeb Fellows from John Peterson’s tenure as Curator will share stories of collective and inclusionary practice. Creating within and through community, each will demonstrate the craft of engaging others in generating positive social outcomes.

• Alejandro Echeverri, Loeb Fellow ’16
• Stephanie Hankey, Loeb Fellow ’22
• Andrea Reimer, Loeb Fellow ’19
• Jordan Weber, Loeb Fellow ’22
• Eric Williams, Leob Fellow ’18

Break
4:30 p.m. — 5:00 p.m.

A Round Table: Fellowship as a State of Dependence
5:00 p.m. — 6:00 p.m.

Using a round table as the vehicle of discourse, this “roundtable” discussion will focus on how—both in practice and pedagogy—the breaking down of hierarchies, challenging models of singular authorship, and using truly collaborative engagement are fundamental tools for a relevant design practice.

• John Peterson, Loeb Fellow ’06, Curator of the Loeb Fellowship
• Alejandro Echeverri, Loeb Fellow ’16
• Stephanie Hankey, Loeb Fellow ’22
• Andrea Reimer, Loeb Fellow ’19
• Jordan Weber, Loeb Fellow ’22
• Eric Williams, Leob Fellow ’18

Break
6:00 p.m. — 6:30 p.m.

Closing Presentation and Farewell toast with John Peterson
6:30 p.m. — 7:15 p.m.

Exploring symposium themes of interdependence, dialogue, equity, and leadership—and their embeddedness in the ethos and history of the Loeb Fellowship—John Peterson will reflect on his tenure as Curator and speak to the current state of the design professions as well as pressures to evolve to address the larger, complex social conditions that shape our world.

• John Peterson, Loeb Fellow ’06, Curator of the Loeb Fellowship

Reception
7:15 p.m. — 9:00 p.m.

Speakers

John Peterson, LF ’06, is Curator of the Loeb Fellowship. Peterson is the founder of Public Architecture, a national nonprofit organization based in San Francisco. The organization’s work has been showcased at the Venice Architecture Biennale, MoMA, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the Benaki Museum in Athens, and the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam. Public Architecture’s 1+ program challenges architecture and design firms to pledge a minimum of 1% of their time in pro bono services to nonprofits in need and has attracted participation from over 1500 firms nationwide. Public Architecture’s projects have been covered by national and international media; its ScrapHouse, a house built from only salvaged materials, was the subject of a National Geographic Channel documentary. The organization was a Harvard Business School case study in 2010 and has been supported by a long list of major funders.

Peterson’s work has appeared in several books and publications, including The Resilience Dividend: Being Strong in a World Where Things Go Wrong, The New York Times, Architectural Record, Architect, Metropolis, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy. He has contributed to books such as Expanding Design, Urban Interventions, and The Power of Pro Bono. Peterson led the architectural practice Peterson Architects from 1993 to 2010 and has taught at the University of Texas at Austin and California College of the Arts. A recipient of numerous design and social innovation awards, Peterson has played an important part in defining the concept of “public interest design.” He holds degrees in fine arts and architecture from Rhode Island School of Design and was a Loeb Fellow in 2006.

 

Maurice D. Cox LF’05 is Emma Bloomberg Professor in Residence of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Prior to joining the GSD faculty, Cox was Director of Planning and Development for the City of Detroit between 2015-2019 and Commissioner of Planning and Development for the City of Chicago between 2019-2023, where he focused on the adaptive challenges facing contemporary urban revitalization.

In his public sector leadership roles, Cox is known for his design-centered approach to urban planning, incorporating active citizen participation into the public process while simultaneously achieving the highest quality of design excellence. In Detroit, Cox built a new interdisciplinary Planning Department that co-authored a series of awarding-winning neighborhood framework plans to grow Detroit’s population for the first time in 70 years. In Chicago, Cox developed a groundbreaking approach to neighborhood revitalization, INVEST South/West, which seeks to reimagine the public realm and civic life of 10 neighborhoods on the South and West sides by commissioning catalytic mixed-use affordable housing developments to fill vacant gaps in disinvested commercial corridors.

Cox has taught at Syracuse University, the University of Virginia, Tulane University, and the Illinois Institute of Technology, in addition to having held visiting professorships at University of Maryland and Harvard GSD. His pedagogical approach marshals the rigor of academic learning and a pursuit of design excellence to foster productive dialogues among the public and private sectors, universities and non-profits, developers, and the public. The goal is to build non-traditional, mutually beneficial partnerships with communities where the city is a living laboratory for participatory design. This often requires the integration of different voices and cultural influences and necessitates crossing socioeconomic and institutional boundaries into marginalized communities.

 

Alejandro Echeverri, LF ’16,

Professor Alejandro Echeverri is an architect, urbanist, and Colombian academic. He is co-founder and director of URBAM, a center for urban and environmental studies at EAFIT University in Medellín, Colombia. He is Distinguished Visiting Professor in Urbanism at TEC Monterrey in Mexico and a Harvard Graduate School of Design (Harvard GSD) Loeb Fellow. Between 2004 and 2008 as Director of EDU The Urban Development Institute, and as the city’s director of urban projects of Medellín, he led the Social Urbanism strategy making the city a blueprint for the future for other distressed cities worldwide.

Echeverri has collaborated as a professor, lecturer, and jury member with various international institutions, and has been a design critic at the Harvard GSD. A lecturer at the LSE Cities Master program at the London School of Economics and Political Science, he has been a researcher and professor at LUB, Barcelona Urban Lab at the ETSAB, and in other academic centers and urban labs worldwide. Echeverri’s experience combines architecture, environmental urban planning processes, and social issues especially in countries with weak political and institutional structures.

Echeverri’s work has earned the Obayashi Prize 2016 in Japan, the 10th Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design from Harvard GSD in 2013, the Curry Stone Design Prize in 2009, the Colombian National Architectural Award and the Pan-American Biennale in Urban Design, among others. He is a member of multiple international advisory boards of institutions and centers related to urban issues. Echeverri’s intellectual production includes publications and articles focused on architecture, urbanism, and environment, and he is active in design through his studio, which focuses on projects with low environmental impact for tropic regions.

 

Natalia García Dopazo LF’23 is an Argentinian feminist born in Buenos Aires. She has been the infrastructure of care program coordinator at the National Ministry of Infrastructure and professor of urban planning at the School of Architecture, Design and Urbanism in the University of Buenos Aires.

Natalia is a senior advisor on gender affairs for urban design, management and procedures in projects, public tenders and participatory methodologies for governments and multilateral agencies.

With a background in anthropology, Natalia co-founded the feminist collective City of Desire and the Spatial Cooperative Project and has been an activist for urban rights in vulnerable neighborhoods for the last 10 years. She has written articles and is a popularizer of feminist urbanism in academic and professional settings and local media.

 

Stephanie Hankey, LF ’22, has pioneered work at the intersection of design, diigtal technologies, social justice, and environmental advocacy, with a career spanning over 25 years. As the co-founder of Tactical Tech in 2003, she served as Executive Director for 18 years, creating impactful, award-winning public engagement initiatives that have reached audiences in more than 70 countries. Stephanie has built expertise in guiding decision-makers on ethics, technology, and societal impact, building the capacity of organisations and insitutions, from working with designers at Google to politicians in the UK House of Lords.

Stephanie’s recognitions include being a 2022 Loeb Fellow, an Ashoka Fellow and a visiting industry associate at Oxford University. She has contributed to high-level panels, including the European expert panel on Digitalisation for Sustainability, and led strategic development for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s 2030 vision.

Today, Stephanie continues her work with Tactical Tech, now leading its climate and technology initiatives with a particular focus on Climate and AI. She also holds a dual professorship in the Design School at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, serves as an expert on sustainable design for the UK Design Council, and mentors projects within the EU’s New European Bauhaus initiative.

 

Jordan Weber, LF ’22, is a regenerative land sculptor and environmental activist who works at the cross section of social justice and environmental racism. Most recently, Jordan was commissioned by the Walker Art Center to create an urban farm in North Minneapolis called Prototype for poetry vs. rhetoric (deep roots), which acts as a counter tactic to industrial violence upon biodiverse lands and racially diverse communities. The project was produced in collaboration with North Minneapolis community members during the height of the George Floyd protests in late May 2020. He is currently in residence at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation and Washington University’s Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Equity and Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts. Jordan’s two-year project residency centers on social and environmental justice, incarceration, and healing, with a specific focus on the Close the Workhouse campaign—a collaborative project that is dedicated to the closure of St. Louis’ Medium Security Institute, known locally as the Workhouse.

Awards and fellowships include the Joan Mitchell Award for Sculptors, Creative Capital NYC Award, A Blade of Grass fellowship NYC, Tanne Foundation Award, and the African American Leadership Forum Award.

 

Eric Williams, LF ’18, is the founder and creative director of the Silver Room, an innovative retail, arts, education and community events space opened in 1997. The Silver Room intersects the worlds of fashion, music and visual art, and acts as a boutique, gallery, and community arts center. Williams is committed to creating spaces and curating events that strengthen communities and fuel positive economic impact.

The Silver Room has hosted a number of large-scale events, most notably the Sound System Block Party, which attracted more than 15,000 attendees in 2016. The 3 day CONNECT Hyde Park Arts Festival, a collaboration with the University of Chicago, activates empty storefronts near the university with pop-up art exhibits and speakers organized by some of Chicago’s leading curators. For the past two decades, Williams has shaped his practice to be responsive to the core needs of the creative urban community he serves. To address the systems that create disenfranchisement, his work provides space, support, and programming designed to foster equity for people of color and other marginalized communities.

During his Loeb Fellowship, Williams will focus on conducting research to create a practical model based on The Silver Room’s success as a for-profit, people centered art and community enterprise. He will leverage the expertise of the Loeb Fellowship community to strengthen his leadership and ability to identify and employ proven best practices that solidify the linkage of art and retail as a successful community and economic development model. Williams’ intention is to implement and replicate his model in the broader community of Chicago and nationwide.

Harvard University welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you would like to request accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact the Public Programs Office at (617) 496-2414 or [email protected] in advance of your participation or visit. Requests for American Sign Language interpreters and/or CART providers should be made at least two weeks in advance. Please note that the University will make every effort to secure services, but that services are subject to availability.

#GSDEVENTS