Join us for an engaging conversation between Sekou Cooke and Paul Bauknight diving into the ideas behind Cooke’s architectural practice, his theory of hip-hop Architecture, and the exhibition Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America.
Sekou Cooke is an architect, researcher, educator, and curator born in Jamaica and based in Charlotte, NC. Cooke’s current research centers on the emergent field of hip-hop architecture, a theoretical movement reflecting the core tenets of hip-hop culture with the power to create meaningful impact on the built environment and give voice to the marginalized and underrepresented within design practice.
Register for the conversation with Sekou Cooke here.
This event is a part of Conversations in Equity and Design, a series co-presented by the Walker Art Center, Dunwoody College of Technology, Minneapolis College, and MSP NOMA with AIA Minnesota. Click here to learn more about the series.
About the Participants
Sekou Cooke is the newly appointed director of the Master of Urban Design program at UNC Charlotte and a recipient of the 2021/2022 Nasir Jones HipHop Fellowship at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. Through his professional practice, sekou cooke STUDIO, he brings thoughtful processes and rigorous experimentation to a vast array of project types from public, nonprofit, and residential works in New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina, to mixed-use projects and tenant improvements in California, to speculative developments locally and internationally. His work has been widely disseminated through his writings, lectures, and symposia, and is the subject of his 2021 monograph Hip-Hop Architecture. His work is also featured in the landmark exhibition Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America at the Museum of Modern Art. Through his research, practice, and other academic endeavors, Cooke hopes to leave an equally lasting impact on ivory towers and underserved communities. Cooke holds a B.Arch from Cornell University, an M.Arch from Harvard University, and is licensed to practice architecture in New York and North Carolina.
Paul Bauknight founded the Urban Design Lab in 1991, the largest African American owned design firm in Minnesota. Through his work as the President/CEO of the Urban Design Lab, Bauknight designed the Minneapolis Urban League building, as well as the Lucey Laney School, Seed Academy, and Summit Academy OIC, among many other projects. Bauknight is also founder of Community Renewal Through Innovative Building (the CRIB), a nonprofit educating and engaging young people to renew, transform, and create healthy sustainable communities of color by working at the intersection of the built environment and social change. He has also twice served as Interim Project Director of the African American Men Project. Prior to joining the Parks Foundation, Bauknight was the Director of Urban Placemaking for North Minneapolis–based Urban Homeworks, where he managed several core operating programs. He is a graduate of Virginia Polytechnic University.
Conversations in Equity and Design
This fall, the Walker Art Center, Dunwoody College of Technology, Minneapolis College, and MSP NOMA with AIA Minnesota join forces to launch an inaugural lecture series focusing on questions of ethics, equity, justice, and culture in relation to design practices and education.
Please join us for any or all of these crucial conversations:
Conversations in Equity and Design: Ron Rael on the Borderlands
Dunwoody College of Technology
September 10, 2021
Conversations in Equity and Design: Sarah Zewde on the Aesthetics of Being
Minneapolis College
October 15, 2021
Conversations in Equity and Design: Majora Carter on Talent-Retention in Low Status America
AIA Minnesota and MSP NOMA
November 3, 2021
AIA Continuing Education Learning Objectives
After attending this program, participants will be able to:
1. Describe the inherent qualities present in a practice that engages with issues of equity.
2. Understand the connection between issues of equity and design both in practice and education.
3. Discuss the value of centering issues of equity in design practice and education.
4. Identify strategies used to facilitate community engagement and equitable design.
Accessibility
This program will have captioning. For more information about accessibility, or to request additional accommodations, call 612-375-7564 or email access@walkerart.org.
For more information about accessibility at the Walker, visit our Access page.
