Critical Conversations: bridging pathways forward to greater understanding and creative solutions.

Collaborative Change: Four Years of Design Advocates

September 30, 2024 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM

Higgins Hall Auditorium

Outdoor evening scene showing a couple dancing closely on a street, with another man dancing nearby, all wearing face masks. They are lit by string lights above a colorful street food stand in the background. On the right, two young people are watching the dancers, also masked and holding drinks.

Join us for Collaborative Change: Four Years of Design Advocates co-presented with The Architectural League of New York.

Design Advocates is a cooperative network of independent architecture and design practices who collaborate on projects that serve the greater good. Initiated in April 2020 as a non-profit platform for collecting data and empowering design businesses in the era of COVID-19, Design Advocates quickly expanded into a collective effort to match designers with small businesses and community organizations by providing pro-bono design services while engaging in advocacy for the broader independent design industry.

WHEN: MON Sept. 30, 2024 @ 6:30 PM
WHERE: Higgins Hall Auditorium
Free for Pratt members. Pratt students, staff, and faculty
Non-Pratt member can RSVP here.

D/A has completed over 100 projects, initiatives, and collaborations with local businesses, non-profits, social service organizations, and public agencies. 250 firms and volunteers have participated in D/A projects since 2020 and the organization’s efforts were recognized at the AIA Center for Architecture Common Bond gala for its advocacy work during the early months of the pandemic. D/A continues to create inclusive and participatory community engagement processes and visioning for institutions, municipalities, and nonprofits while developing design strategy for organizations who serve communities and the public good.

This talk will discuss the inception of D/A during the early months of the pandemic and the group’s approach to collaborative practice, advocacy, and project development. In addition to sharing completed projects and the group’s structural approach, the presentation will also include a look at how D/A is evolving and the new strategies it is developing to address a range of questions in contemporary practice.