International Visitors Programme
Nieuwe Instituut hosted Emanuel Admassu, Mario Gooden and Mae-ling Lokko from 18 to 19 April 2024 as part of the Embodied Restoration Lab.
The Embodied Restoration Lab is a design initiative by architect Afaina de Jong. It uses ethically sourced data to re-value undervalued knowledge and redefine the underlying values and standards for the application of regenerative design in the field of architecture. The lab works with an architectural community of thinkers and designers to expand thinking about the value and classification of architectures of planetary wellbeing. Its aim is to explore methods, practices and imaginaries at the intersection of architectural and ecological restoration through the practice of regenerative design.
The two-day meeting, partly hosted in –1 at the Nieuwe Instituut, brought together discussion partners from around the world to reflect on questions such as: Are we capable of imagining new worlds, planetary or restorative architecture in a time of overwhelming global anxiety? Or are we adapting and building within the limits of what we already know? These questions, along with other urgent topics, were explored in workshops.
During the Reflection Session, Admassu and Gooden contributed to the discussion on Decolonial Systems Architecture and Lokko to the discussion on Aspirational Architectures, moderated by Afaina de Jong and Ramon Amaro.
Mario Gooden is Professor of Professional Practice, Director of the MArch Program, Sequence Director for Advanced Architecture Studios, and Co-Director of the Global Africa Lab at Columbia GSAPP, an innovative research initiative that explores the spatial topologies of the African continent and its diaspora. Gooden is also the Director of Mario Gooden Studio: Architecture + Design, a transdisciplinary practice dedicated to the design and exploration of architecture and its relationships to culture and knowledge.
Emanuel Admassu is an architect and assistant professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). Prior to joining Colombia GSAPP, he taught at the Rhode Island School of Design and Harvard GSD. He is also one of the founding board members of the Black Reconstruction Collective.
Mae-ling Lokko is an architectural scientist, designer and educator from Ghana and the Philippines who works with agrowaste and renewable biobased materials. She is the founder of Willow Technologies, Ltd. based in Accra, Ghana that upcycles agrowaste into affordable biobased building materials and for water quality treatment applications.