Designing Without Gentrifying

Designing without Gentrifying is an introductory course that combines aspects of architecture, art, community activism, and urban planning to consider the possibility of neighborhood development without gentrification. Focusing on Manhattan’s Chinatown, this course will share fundamental concepts of architecture and urban planning along with case studies, local field trips to buildings and public spaces, and guest speakers. A culminating design project will allow students to not only propose a design but also contemplate the programming and community outreach involved with their proposal.

The course will be 4 sessions, taking place Thursday evenings from 6-9pm at Abrons Arts Center, with a culminating share out on Thursday November 14th.

Course Dates:
Thursday October 17, 6-9pm
Thursday October 24, 6-9pm
Thursday October 31, 6-9pm
Thursday November 7, 6-9pm

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Instructor:

Philip Poon is an architect, artist, and writer whose work engages the complex dynamics of a changing Manhattan Chinatown and the relationship of Asian-American identity within it.

Informed by his background as a Chinese-American from New York City, his work as a registered architect, and his engagement with art and activist movements in Chinatown, his projects materialize issues at the intersection of space, race, and class.

He had a solo exhibition at the Pearl River Mart Gallery and has exhibited at La MaMa‬ Galleria, WSA, Citygroup, and On Canal. His critical writing has been published in‬‭ Other Almanac‬‭ and ‭ Best! Letters from Asian Americans in the arts‬‭, and‬‭ his work has been appeared in Art in‬ America, ArtAsiaPacific, Chicago Review of Books, The Architect’s Newspaper, South China‬ Morning Post, Sing Tao Daily, World Journal, and more.