Newswise — An architecture professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and three co-researchers have received the $100,000 Latrobe Prize from the American Institute of Architects to produce a practice manual that will help architects in public interest practices to address public needs.
Roberta Feldman will conduct research and prepare the manual with Bryan Bell of Design Corps in Raleigh, N.C.; Sergio Palleroni of Portland State University; and David Perkes of Mississippi State University.
Feldman said her team's research will examine how current public interest practices operate and what they need to become a significant segment of architectural practice.
"Architecture is a client-driven practice, the demands of which limit its ability to serve the larger public interest," Feldman said. "The limits are vividly apparent in the wake of the recession. Many architects are out of work at the same time when problems relevant to the built environment are growing.
"I receive calls and emails at least once a week from students, interns and professionals asking for advice on how to engage in public interest work. There are many published illustrations of the results of public interest practice, but little information on how those practices operate," she said.
Feldman said global problems like climate change, natural disasters, urban decline, habitat destruction and health issues, as well as local challenges like deteriorating infrastructure, demonstrate the need for more public interest architecture.
Feldman co-founded UIC's City Design Center for students, faculty and professionals to collaborate in the study and practice of design and urban planning in the public interest. She has received more than 50 competitive grants for the center's work.
Last year Feldman organized "Architecture for Change," a national summit on the affordable housing crisis, for architects, developers, and activists. Recently, she served as consultant to the Cabrini Green Local Advisory Council in the redevelopment of a public housing community. She provided research and technical assistance to Neighborhood Housing Services in a program to revitalize Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood through historic preservation of its greystone housing.
The Latrobe Prize is awarded every two years by a jury of practicing architects and academics for "research leading to significant advances in the architecture profession," according to the institute. It is named for Benjamin Henry Latrobe, architect of the United State Capitol.
UIC ranks among the nation's leading research universities and is Chicago's largest university with 27,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world. For more information about UIC, please visit www.uic.edu
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