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architectnews · 4 years

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Lesley Lokko resigns as dean of architecture at New York's City College in "profound act of self-preservation"

Scottish-Ghanaian architect Lesley Lokko has resigned as dean of the Spitzer School of Architecture at City College in New York, citing a crippling workload and a lack of empathy for black women.

Lokko described her resignation, just 10 months into her role at the Manhattan college, as a "profound act of self-preservation" in a statement published by Architectural Record.

"The lack of meaningful support – not lip service, of which there's always a surfeit – meant my workload was absolutely crippling," Lokko said.

"No job is worth one's life and at times I genuinely feared for my own."

New York-based curator Beatrice Galilee described Lokko's experience as a "damning indictment of US academic institutions" in a comment on Twitter.

"The lack of respect and empathy for Black people caught me off guard"

Lokko described her experience of being a black woman in America in contrast to her experience in South Africa, where she founded and led the Graduate School of Architecture (GSA) at the University of Johannesburg.

"Race is never far from the surface of any situation in the US," Lokko added in the statement. "Having come directly from South Africa, I wasn't prepared for the way it manifests in the US and quite simply, I lacked the tools to both process and deflect it."

"The lack of respect and empathy for Black people, especially Black women, caught me off guard, although it's by no means unique to Spitzer," she continued. "I suppose I'd say in the end that my resignation was a profound act of self-preservation."

Just four per cent of architecture deans in US are black

Lokko was appointed dean of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York in June 2019 and began her tenure in January this year.

She is one of a small number of black people working in architecture faculties across the US. Only four per cent of the architecture deans registered with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture identify as black or African American, according to its Black in Architecture research study.

The survey also found that black people make up just five per cent of full-time faculty or three per cent of tenured faculty.

Speaking to Dezeen, Lokko said her problems in the school were exacerbated by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which caused a rapid New York City lockdown in March, and, more so, the unrest in the US following the killing of African-American George Floyd by a white police officer in May.

"There were moments when I wasn't sure I'd wake up the following morning"

"The pandemic months were actually much easier for me personally than the months that followed George Floyd's killing," Lokko told Dezeen.

"There was so little understanding of the impact it might have, and did have, on minority faculty, staff and students that it took me a while to come to terms with what the lack of empathy meant in the broader context of American society," she continued.

"Demands on my time quadrupled overnight (which is to be expected and were also opportunities, which I freely acknowledge) but those demands, coupled with drastic budget cuts, contracting Covid-19 myself and operating with nowhere near the level of administrative support required, meant that there were moments when I wasn't sure I'd wake up the following morning."

Lokko, who is the first dean of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York in four years, said she expected to face opposition to her vision for change but was surprised by the internal reactions.

"Damning indictment of US academic institutions"

"No one takes a position of leadership to be popular – you do it to put your vision of the future in front of your audience, and do your best to bring people on side, empowering them to interpret the changes in their own way and hopefully creating a new community pulling more or less in the same direction in the process," she explained to Dezeen.

"Reactions in the first couple of weeks veered sharply between hostility and adulation, which usually signals trouble ahead."

She believes the problems she faced in the college form part of a wider problem in US educational systems.

"I suppose the real question for all schools, again, not just Spitzer, is how far they're prepared to 'allow' leaders to explore options for influencing the world differently, with different pedagogical and operational models, different paradigms, different hierarchies and different outcomes, which, for me, is the only way to achieve meaningful change," Lokko said.

Dezeen contacted the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York but is yet to receive a response.

Lokko founded GSA at the University of Johannesburg in 2015

Born to Scottish and Ghanaian parents, Lokko was raised in Scotland and Ghana. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in architecture from The Bartlett and a PhD in architecture from the University of London.

Prior to founding GSA in 2015, she taught at institutions including Iowa State University, University of Illinois, Kingston University, University of Westminster and University of North London.

The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York was founded in 1969.

The late Michael Sorkin, a celebrated architect and critic, was the school's director of the graduate programme in urban design. Sorkin, who Lokko said encouraged her to take on the role, died in March this year of complications caused by Covid-19.

School professor Gordon A Gebert acted as an interim dean from 2015 prior to the appointment of Lokko. Her tenure as dean of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York will end in January 2020.

Wave of women lead major US architecture schools

Lokko is the second female dean of the school after Italian architect Rosaria Piomelli, who was appointed in 1980 marking the first female dean of any architecture school in the US.

She is among a wave of women that have been appointed as deans of architecture schools across the US in recent years.

They include architect Sarah Whiting who became the first female dean of Harvard University Graduate School of Design last year, and J Meejin Yoon who became the first female dean of Cornell University's architecture school in 2018.

In 2015 Deborah Berke was appointed dean of Yale architecture school and Monica Ponce de Leon became dean of Princeton School of Architecture.

Portrait of Lesley Lokko is by Debra Hurford-Brown.

Read on for Lokko's full statement to Dezeen:

It was a difficult decision to arrive at, no matter how clear it might appear, but the decision to come to Spitzer in the first place was also difficult. I withdrew from the selection process during the search, but the late Michael Sorkin persuaded me to give Spitzer a try. In hindsight, it was naïve of me to think that I could directly apply a model from one context to another, but I suppose it appeared to me as though many of the conditions that I'd had direct experience of in South Africa — issues of diversity, race, equity, development, and even sustainability — were similar to those at Spitzer.

I thought I'd been very clear about my own vision, both at interview and subsequently, but I also acknowledge that the gap between what's said and what's understood is often wider than anyone thinks, particularly the person doing the talking.

Change was always going to be my mandate, however.

No one takes a position of leadership to be popular — you do it to put your vision of the future in front of your audience, and do your best to bring people on side, empowering them to interpret the changes in their own way and hopefully creating a new community pulling more or less in the same direction in the process.

That process involves intense dialogue and discussion, many bottles of wine and a measure of compromise, which I generally thoroughly enjoy doing.

COVID truncated that process, but the school's own internal climate was a major factor. Any institution, having waited for four years for leadership is going to be a difficult space to enter and Spitzer was no exception. Reactions in the first couple of weeks veered sharply between hostility and adulation, which usually signals trouble ahead. Michael's tragic death deprived both parties of a go-between, someone who was prepared to broker better compromises and better buy-in.

The pandemic months (March to May) were actually much easier for me personally than the months that followed George Floyd's killing. There was so little understanding of the impact it might have (and did have) on minority faculty, staff and students that it took me a while to come to terms with what the lack of empathy meant in the broader context of American society.

Demands on my time quadrupled overnight (which is to be expected and were also opportunities, which I freely acknowledge) but those demands, coupled with drastic budget cuts, contracting COVID myself and operating with nowhere near the level of administrative support required, meant that there were moments when I wasn't sure I'd wake up the following morning.

At a broader level, since it's counterproductive to spend too much time wallowing in detail, which is always contested and subjective, my experience at Spitzer has only confirmed something I know I understood coming in, no matter how optimistic my view of NYC might have been. I look back now at my own Instagram posts and am struck by my own levels of giddy excitement.

The changes we made in South Africa were, I believe, only possible in the context of violent student protests that occurred in 2015 and 2016. The one great achievement of the GSA, in my view, was its ability to turn the impulse from destruction to production — of knowledge, insight, opportunity.

That was the real transformation: working productively with violence, as strange as that might sound. For all sorts of valid reasons, Americans fear violence, no matter that it's all around. Yet in the short time I've been here, the level of emotional and intellectual violence inflicted on those of "difference" – however it's constructed — has been both sobering and shocking.

I have always conceived of the academy as the space that is both protective and protected in which citizens (faculty, staff and students) are free to explore options for change before the rage consumes us all. As long as we continue to resist it, the kind of transformational change we all claim to seek in the built environment disciplines, will require a kind of intellectual violence that no institution wants to provoke or support. Someone sent me one of those Instagram snapshots that read, ‘you will never influence the world by trying to be like it.'

I suppose the real question for all schools, again, not just Spitzer, is how far they're prepared to ‘allow' leaders to explore options for influencing the world differently, with different pedagogical and operational models, different paradigms, different hierarchies and different outcomes, which, for me, is the only way to achieve meaningful change.

The post Lesley Lokko resigns as dean of architecture at New York's City College in "profound act of self-preservation" appeared first on Dezeen.

#Architecture – Dezeen

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courinnovacion · 5 years

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Este proyecto investiga las infraestructuras de extracción para crear conciencia del impacto que tienen las ciudades en sistemas más grandes. Cómo la tecnología y la Inteligencia Artificial impactan las ciudades y la vida urbana.

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booksinprogressmilano · 7 years

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Skin + Bones

Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture

Brooke Hodge, Lisa Mark

Thames & Hudson , London 2006 ,271 pages, 530 illustrations

Co-published by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

euro 120,00

email if you want to buy :[email protected]

This title presents a brilliantly researched exploration of the confluence of fashion and architecture. It explores the common threads, intersections and visual and intellectual principals that underpin the two disciplines. It includes a discussion among some of today's most provocative architects and designers. It offers a fascinating and inspiring read.

Skin + Bones features the work of many of the greatest talents in fashion design today as well the work of a number of promising young designers: Azzedine Alaa, Hussein Chalayan, Comme des Garons, Alber Elbaz for Lanvin, Tess Giberson, Yoshiki Hishimuna, Elena Manferdini, Martin Margiela, Alexander McQueen, Miyake Issey (formerly Issey Miyake), Narciso Rodriguez, Ralph Rucci, Nanni Strada, Yeohlee Teng, Isabel Toledo, Olivier Theyskens for Rochas, Dries Van Noten, Viktor & Rolf, Junya Watanabe, Vivienne Westwood, and Yohji Yamamoto. Likewise, the architects include innovative practitionersboth established and emergingwho have had, or promise to have, an indelible impact on our built environment: Shigeru Ban, Preston Scott Cohen, Neil Denari/NMDA, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Winka Dubbeldam/Archi-Tectonics, Miralles Tagliabue/EMBT, Peter Eisenman, Foreign Office Architects, Future Systems, Gehry Partners, Zaha Hadid, Herzog + de Meuron, Toyo Ito, Jakob + MacFarlane, Greg Lynn FORM, Morphosis, Neutelings Riedijk, Jean Nouvel, Office dA, Rem Koolhaas/OMA, Kazuyo Sejima+Ryue Nishizawa/SANAA, Testa & Weiser, Bernard Tschumi, Wilkinson Eyre, and J. Meejin Yoon.

orders to: [email protected]

twitter: @fashionbooksmi

flickr: fashionbooksmilano

instagram: fashionbooksmilano

tumblr: booksinprogressmilano

#azzedine alaia #hussein chalayan #comme des garçons #alber elbaz #maison martin margiela #isabel toledo #yohji yamamoto #diller scofidio #future systems #zaha hadid #toyo ito #herzogdemeuron #shigeru ban #fashionbooksmilano

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scottbcrowley2 · 6 years

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Riverfront Park art piece gets Park Board approval - Fri, 13 Apr 2018 PST

The nearly unanimous panel voted Thursday afternoon to begin design and construction of “Step Well,” a public art piece designed by Boston-based artist and architect J. Meejin Yoon. The final location of the artwork is still being discussed. Riverfront Park art piece gets Park Board approval - Fri, 13 Apr 2018 PST

#Spokesman.com: Latest stories #Riverfront Park art piece gets Park Board approval - Fri #13 Apr 2018

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libr-tumbl-alternative · 6 years

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"John Ochsendorf wants to tear down Rome’s iconic Pantheon. He wants to pull apart its 2,000-year-old walls until its gorgeous dome…". Reblog with caption 🙃

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bluesyemre · 4 years

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What sets the Mui Ho Fine Arts Library apart from other libraries is apparent in the sheer volume of the books it contains, visible all at once inside of Rand Hall.

The second and third floors of the renovated building are now a single open space, dominated by a rectangular mass of shelves and walkways, running almost the entire length of the space and suspended from the reinforced ceiling.

On those shelves are approximately 105,000 books, with room to grow. The three dense stack levels can hold up to 125,000 volumes, befitting one of the largest circulating academic collections in the Northeast dedicated to art and architecture.

“The books and their shelving form a sculptural whole, a breathtaking tribute to the potential of the printed word and image to inspire learning, research, creativity and innovation,” said Gerald R. Beasley, the Carl A. Kroch University Librarian.

The library also contains city and regional planning, landscape architecture and photography materials; periodicals, videos and other media. The total holdings of the fine arts collection, including those in the Library Annex, comprise more than 267,000 volumes and grow by about 4,000 titles each year.

Placing more of the collection in one location – a new state-of-the-art research library – was made possible by the adaptive reuse of Rand Hall and a gift of funding in 2013 from Mui Ho ’62, B.Arch. ’66, who worked there as a student.

The new library was designed by architect Wolfgang Tschapeller, M.Arch. ’87, whose goal for the project was “a 21st-century interpretation of the grand reading rooms associated with great research collections.” Whether viewed from inside or outside Rand, especially when illuminated at night, the design “is an immediate and quite physical invitation to discover an extraordinary collection,” Tschapeller said.

The library officially opened Aug. 5. It offers elevated views of the campus through Rand’s large windows from the open-ended mezzanine stacks. Seminar rooms and staff offices are tucked away and accessible from the stacks.

A help desk, combining reference and circulation services, can assist walk-in patrons; library staff can also retrieve materials from the shelves for patrons as needed.

The space houses an important sub-collection: hundreds of black-bound thesis volumes, lining the shelves beneath the bank of windows on the North Wall, a contribution to this literal body of knowledge by students in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP).

With the college’s fabrication facilities on the first floor, the finished library project represents “the full spectrum of media and material research coming together,” J. Meejin Yoon, B.Arch. ’95, the Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of AAP, said during a recent conversation in the new space.

“The hope is that this library will be used as an extension of the students’ network of spaces,” she said. “We wanted to make this building as porous as possible and connect directly to the studios and the Arts Quad. Having the stacks in a daylit space creates an open vertical living room for our students so they can find a place to study, find books, and really take this space on in a way that’s an extension of their work and study environment.”

As a truly collaborative environment, she said, “The library is not just for AAP, but for students across campus.”

“The books and their shelving form a sculptural whole, a breathtaking tribute to the potential of the printed word and image to inspire learning, research, creativity and innovation.”

Gerald R. Beasley, the Carl A. Kroch University Librarian

The Kent Kleinman Book Stacks are named (with a gift from members of the AAP Dean’s Advisory Council) in honor of the dean of AAP from 2008 to 2018, who guided the Rand Hall project from planning through construction as part of the college’s multiyear facilities plan.

Collaborative study areas with movable soft seating line the space, along with individual study carrels and group workstations compatible with computers, phones and tablets. In addition to books, the library provides access to digital collections and online resources.

“New technologies will offer an equally important gateway to knowledge,” Beasley said. “In an intentional and playful contrast between two floating worlds – the physical world of books and journals and the weightless world of the internet – in this unique space, each derives added meaning from the other.”

The renovation project also rehabilitated the building envelope, improving Rand’s thermal and environmental performance, with a minimum expectation to meet LEED Silver certification standards. The roof of the building can also function as a flexible learning, social or experimental display space, with anchors for temporary structures, architecture projects and art installations.

Built in 1911, Rand Hall began life on campus as an engineering building, then for several decades housed student design studios and Department of Architecture faculty offices. The building also contained shop space for fabrication projects (such as architectural models and first-year architecture students’ Dragon Day designs).

When Milstein Hall opened in 2011, the Fine Arts Library moved from Sibley Dome and occupied part of Rand’s third floor. Books were stored in the Library Annex when construction on Rand began in December 2017.

This spring and summer, Library Annex staff did much of the pre-move preparation, and professional movers transported books from the Annex to Rand Hall. In deciding what to shelve in the new library, priority was given to high-demand titles that were not available electronically; periodicals less than five years old; and titles of specific interest to the AAP community.

The shops are now an expanded Material Practice Center taking up most (5,400 square feet) of the first floor, with laser cutters, 3D printers, lathes, band saws and more – “the tools for architects and artists to build and create,” Yoon said. “The tools range from industrial machinery and hand tools, to today’s most cutting-edge digital fabrication tools including CNC [computer numerically controlled] machines and robotics for construction.

“Having the library stacked on top of the fabrication facility,” she said, “showcases the production of one’s creative imagination – in essence, the production of new knowledge.”

#gallery-0-6 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-6 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-0-6 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-6 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

youtube

https://finearts.library.cornell.edu/

http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2019/08/new-mui-ho-fine-arts-library-inspires-design

https://www.designboom.com/architecture/wolfgang-tschapeller-cornell-university-library-suspended-book-stacks-12-12-2019/

Mui Ho Fine Arts Library, #CornellUniversity What sets the Mui Ho Fine Arts Library apart from other libraries is apparent in the sheer volume of the books it contains, visible all at once inside of Rand Hall.

#academic libraries #cornell university library #library architecture #library buildings #library design

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kla7aq-blog · 5 years

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Week Four

MIT’s Collier Memorial is undeniably impressive in terms of its form, construction, and scale. The turnaround time for this complex, solid granite structure is astounding. I found it to be slightly surprising how quickly a memorial was erected for officer Sean Collier. It took a little over two years following the Boston Marathon Bombing.

I find this to be impressively quick, considering in our own city of Charlottesville, there seem to be no plans for erecting a permanent memorial for a comparative event: August 12th and the murder of Heather Heyer. I wish the kind of dedication, care, and honor that was implemented for officer Collier and the Boston Marathon Bombings was translated to Charlottesville in recognizing the events of August 11th and 12th.

Personal relations and comparisons aside, I found the reasoning behind the choosing of the lead architect to be notable. Quoted from the Architecture Magazine article: “We didn’t want this to be someone’s amazing personal win,” Ferry says. Instead, the committee approached J. Meejin Yoon, AIA, head of MIT’s architecture department. “A lot of people felt that … the designer [needed to] be someone who understands MIT,” Schmidt says.”

Choosing a designer from their own community reflects the intensity and genuine awareness of the memorial design. Rather than employing a star architect, ‘starchitect,’ from outside of Boston, they looked inwards at their own expertise. A part of me wishes the University had done the same for the Memorial for Enslaved Laborers, at least when it comes to the lead architect. However, Howeler + Yoon’s design for that memorial is impressive as well, and I’m anxious to see the finished product.

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rbolick · 1 year

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Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Steingruber's "Architectural Alphabet"

Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Steingruber’s “Architectural Alphabet”

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empatheticvibrations · 5 years

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charlesccastill · 6 years

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Boston Mayor Appoints Three Architects as New Commissioners to Boston Civic Design Commission

BOSTON – Mayor Martin J. Walsh has appointed Eric Howeler, Mikyoung Kim and Anne-Marie Lubenau to serve as commissioners to the Boston Civic Design Commission (BCDC). Andrea Leers, who has served as commissioner to the BCDC, has been appointed to serve as Chair of the commission.

“We are excited for Eric, Mikyoung and Anne-Marie to join us as they begin in their roles as commissioners, and we congratulate Andrea for her new role as Chair of the BCDC,” said Mayor Walsh. “I look forward to the new ideas and insights they will bring.”

The BCDC, managed by the Boston Planning & Development Agency’s Urban Design Department, is charged with examining the aesthetics of proposed development projects and ensuring that the projects have a positive impact on Boston’s public realm.

Eric Höweler, AIA is an architect, designer, educator, and founding principal of Höweler + Yoon Architecture, which he founded in 2005 with J. Meejin Yoon. Prior to forming Höweler + Yoon Architecture, Höweler was a senior designer at Diller Scofidio + Renfro and an associate principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. Höweler is currently an associate professor in architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. His design work and research investigates the intersections between architecture and building technologies with a focus on envelopes and material systems. Höweler has been widely recognized for his innovative and interdisciplinary work. He is author of, “Skyscraper, Vertical Now,” and co-author of, “1,001 Skyscrapers.” Höweler received a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University with the AIA Henry Adams Certificate and a Masters of Architecture from Cornell University.

Mikyoung Kim, FASLA is an international landscape architect and urban designer, as well as the founding principal of Mikyoung Kim Design. This year, her firm has been awarded the prestigious Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Museum National Design Award and she is the recipient of the American Society of Landscape Architects’ National Design Medal. With a uniquely holistic approach, her firm’s exceptional body of work has redefined the discipline of landscape architecture, inhabiting the intersection of art and science. From the art of ecology and restorative landscapes, Mikyoung Kim Design’s work addresses the most pressing environmental and health-related issues, while creating innovative and immersive human experiences. The firm’s work has been highlighted in numerous publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Guardian Newspaper, National Geographic, Dwell Magazine, and the Chicago Tribune. Kim was named as an AD innovator by Architectural Digest and her firm has received numerous national awards from the ASLA, American Architecture Prize, AIA and GSA. Her life’s work is featured in the Smithsonian Museum American Voices Collection.

Anne-Marie Lubenau, FAIA is director of the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence at the Bruner Foundation in Cambridge. She oversees a national design award program that recognizes transformative places that contribute to the economic, environmental, and social vitality of cities. Prior to joining the Bruner Foundation, Lubenau was President and CEO of the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh and worked in architectural firms in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Lubenau’s practice includes work within small and large architectural firms, academic institutions, nonprofits, and philanthropy. She has taught urban design at Carnegie Mellon University and has been a guest lecturer and design critic at Harvard, MIT, and Yale. She is vice chair of the Boston Society of Architects Foundation board of trustees and serves on the Harvard GSD Alumni Council and Wentworth Design Professionals Advisory Council. Lubenau is a registered architect and was elected into the AIA College of Fellows in 2016. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Carnegie Mellon and was a 2011/2012 Harvard Loeb Fellow. Anne-Marie also served in an advisory capacity on Boston Creates, the city’s cultural plan released in 2016.

Andrea Leers, FAIA, has been appointed BCDC Chairwoman. First appointed to the BCDC in 2007, Andrea Leers is a Principal and co-founder of Leers Weinzapfel Associates, a Boston-based practice focused on the intersection of architecture, urban design, and infrastructure and is notable for its inventiveness in dramatically complex projects. In December 2006, Leers became the first woman owner of a practice to receive the American Institute of Architecture Firm Award, the organization’s highest honor. She is former Director of the Master in Urban Design Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design where she was Adjunct Professor of Architecture and Urban Design from 2001 to 2011. Ms. Leers holds an undergraduate degree in art history from Wellesley College, and a Masters of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Fine Arts.

The Boston Civic Design Commission (BCDC) provides a forum for the general public and professional design community to participate in the shaping of the city’s physical form and natural environment. Members of the Commission are seasoned design professionals with a deep understanding of local context.

The BCDC holds public meetings on the first Tuesday of every month, and the public is encouraged to attend. The BCDC review criteria include:

New or rehabilitated structures over 100,000 square feet;

Projects of special significance or projects that, by the determination of the BCDC members, will have a special urban design significance in the City;

Civic projects involving changes to parks, civic or cultural centers or monuments;

And district design guidelines to be adopted by the BPDA. This may include Planned Development Areas (PDAs), Institutional Master Plans (IMPs), and certain Planning documents generated to guide development in Boston’s neighborhoods.

from boston condos ford realtor http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BostonRealEstateCondos/~3/UKP6qVsOQTI/

#boston #condos #boston condos #boston luxury condo #boston condominium #boston rentals #boston condo

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dolllikelove · 6 years

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Fall Lectures at UVA School of Architecture

This semester’s program includes panel discussions, and talks from speakers including Thomas Jefferson Visiting Professor Achim Menges, Sean Lally, Heather Roberge, Kate Orff, J. Meejin Yoon, and Hilary Sample. Read More (Via placeswire.org) http://dlvr.it/Qj8ZLW

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architectnews · 4 years

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Lesley Lokko resigns as dean of architecture at New York's City College in "profound act of self-preservation"

Scottish-Ghanaian architect Lesley Lokko has resigned as dean of the Spitzer School of Architecture at City College in New York, citing a crippling workload and a lack of empathy for black women.

Lokko described her resignation, just 10 months into her role at the Manhattan college, as a "profound act of self-preservation" in a statement published by Architectural Record.

"The lack of meaningful support – not lip service, of which there's always a surfeit – meant my workload was absolutely crippling," Lokko said.

"No job is worth one's life and at times I genuinely feared for my own."

New York-based curator Beatrice Galilee described Lokko's experience as a "damning indictment of US academic institutions" in a comment on Twitter.

"The lack of respect and empathy for Black people caught me off guard"

Just four per cent of architecture deans in US are black

Lokko was appointed dean of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York in June 2019 and began her tenure in January this year.

The survey also found that black people make up just five per cent of full-time faculty or three per cent of tenured faculty.

"There were moments when I wasn't sure I'd wake up the following morning"

"The pandemic months were actually much easier for me personally than the months that followed George Floyd's killing," Lokko told Dezeen.

"Damning indictment of US academic institutions"

"Reactions in the first couple of weeks veered sharply between hostility and adulation, which usually signals trouble ahead."

She believes the problems she faced in the college form part of a wider problem in US educational systems.

Dezeen contacted the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York but is yet to receive a response.

Lokko founded GSA at the University of Johannesburg in 2015

Prior to founding GSA in 2015, she taught at institutions including Iowa State University, University of Illinois, Kingston University, University of Westminster and University of North London.

The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York was founded in 1969.

Wave of women lead major US architecture schools

Lokko is the second female dean of the school after Italian architect Rosaria Piomelli, who was appointed in 1980 marking the first female dean of any architecture school in the US.

She is among a wave of women that have been appointed as deans of architecture schools across the US in recent years.

In 2015 Deborah Berke was appointed dean of Yale architecture school and Monica Ponce de Leon became dean of Princeton School of Architecture.

Portrait of Lesley Lokko is by Debra Hurford-Brown.

Read on for Lokko's full statement to Dezeen:

Change was always going to be my mandate, however.

That process involves intense dialogue and discussion, many bottles of wine and a measure of compromise, which I generally thoroughly enjoy doing.

The post Lesley Lokko resigns as dean of architecture at New York's City College in "profound act of self-preservation" appeared first on Dezeen.

#Architecture – Dezeen

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