June Jordan’s visionary practice reimagines the role of the built environment in creating just futures. Deeply committed to human rights and political activism, sheused language to design a model for pedagogy and activism centered on ecology, care, and justice. While Jordan’s literary contributions reflect her work as a poet, author, teacher, and activist, what does it mean to call June Jordan an architect?
Architecture is a form of storytelling. Using words as a medium, Jordan proposed designs ranging from the townhouse-scale interventions in her book, His Own Where, to the urban-scale, collaborative vision of “Skyrise for Harlem.” In 1970, she was awarded the Rome Fellowship Prize in Environmental Design. At all scales, Jordan’s work invites us to challenge and redefine prevailing socio-spatial constructs towards dignified spaces for all communities.
The sixth Womxn in Design and Architecture (WDA) conference at the Princeton School of Architecture (SoA) honors the life
Copy
Minnette De Silva’s unique position in the mid-20th century exemplifies cultural and local specificity in dialogue with a global modern movement. Her architectural practice was expressive of the materials, techniques, and history of her native Sri Lanka as well as her participation in a network of international architects and designers. As a result, De Silva’s legacy traces the complex and multi-directional vectors of modernity.
The conversation between her built work, dedication to the production of her own archive and commitment to the inclusion of traditional forms of labor, present De Silva as a leader in design. With most of her buildings lost to time and neglect, her architecture survives primarily through images and words. Denying reductive dichotomies of International Style and vernacular, client and architect, object and archive, her work instead reveals nuances in architectural practice that continue to be relevant today.