Advanced Architectural Research and Design, Karen’s spring semester design studio, explores design at the intersection of architecture, youth, activism and justice in the built environment. This immersive studio for Barnard and Columbia Architecture majors in their senior year is working with two unique New York organizations, and Marble Fairbanks’ partners, FC Harlem and Girl Be Heard. Through an inclusive design process between B+C Architecture students, the youth and the directors of these organizations, students are developing projects that explore how architecture and design and can support the organization’s needs, amplify the voices of their youth, strengthen their communities and envision new opportunities to empower youth today and in the future.
Image Courtesy of FC Harlem / Royce Paris / AndThem and Girl Be Heard
Interior Design Magazine recently put out their first annual Women in Design to, “honor the talents and successes of female industry leaders.” The book profiles designers and their careers by featuring a signature project that is, “personally and professionally meaningful.” Karen is featured along with Marble Fairbanks’ Glen Oaks Branch Library in Queens. This library celebrates the diversity of the local community and is a beacon for the neighborhood. In the feature, Karen discusses that the messages from the library need to extend to design professions, “Until the profession includes representation that reflects our society, we’re missing critical voices in our work.”
The AIANY Board of Directors recently issued a powerful statement calling on architects to no longer design spaces of incarceration. Read the full statement here.
Our founding partner, Karen Fairbanks, is a member of the AIANY Board of the Directors, and she notes that this call to architects is a first step in the work of the AIANY to address this unjust system. Link to related resources can be found here.
Marble Fairbanks is currently featured in the The New York Times article, “Building Public Places for a Covid World.” Excerpts from Karen’s interview on the important role libraries play in fostering and supporting community are included and the Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center is touted as a, “place that helps us thrive.” Glen Oaks Library and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture are also featured as spaces that engage and activate community.
Karen Fairbanks spoke at American Libraries Association’s Annual Conference in Washington DC on Monday. Karen was joined by Scott Bass, Provost Emeritus and Professor at American University, Nancy Davenport, University Librarian at American University, and Jen Brown, Dean of the Library and Academic Information Services at Barnard College, to talk about the role of the library in supporting student success on campus from three different perspectives. The panel was sponsored by the Buildings for College and University Libraries (BCUL) Committee at ALA.