AN INCLUSIVE EDGE: A Panel Discussion with Architects and Advocates
Today we are re-thinking the culture of architecture. Those who come to the field from diverse backgrounds are inclined to practice architecture in unexpected ways and places. Do they have the potential to disrupt the status quo to move the field forward? An Inclusive Edge, hosted on the occasion of the first Chicago Architecture Biennial, will focus on what these practitioners bring to the table that will provide clarity for the future practice of architecture.

LOUISE BRAVERMAN, Principal, Louise Braverman Architect, New York, NY, USA
Practicing locally and globally, Louise Braverman FAIA is an award-winning architect whose highly focused studio is committed to building sustainable architecture of art + conscience. A graduate of the Yale School of Architecture, she established her practice to design artistically inventive architecture and urban design that is situated in both its time and place. Her work has been widely published and recognized by her peers, resulting in her early selection as an Architectural League’s Emerging Voice and elevation to fellowship in the American Institute of Architects. She regularly contributes to the field by serving on design award juries including the 2014 AIA National Housing Awards and the 2012 Chicago Athenaeum GOOD DESIGN Awards.  Recently she was invited to present the work of her firm at the Venice Architectural Biennale. The work was shown at international exhibits in both 2012 and 2014 as well as at the United States Pavilion in 2014.

FARROKH DERAKHSHANI, Director, Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Geneva, Switzerland
Farrokh Derakhshani is Director of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. He has been associated with the Award since 1982, where his work has brought him into contact with architects, builders, and planners throughout the world.  He travels extensively in Muslim countries, and has organized and participated in numerous international seminars and colloquia dealing with contemporary built environments. He has collaborated on a large variety of publications and exhibitions on architecture, and has been involved in organising professional workshops and international architectural competitions. He lectures widely and has served as a jury member at schools of architecture in Europe, Africa and Asia. Mr. Derakhshani’s main field of specialisation is the contemporary architecture of Muslim societies, and his professional work has included the design and construction management of large-scale public works and infrastructure projects in Iran, as well as architectural design in Paris and Geneva. He is trained as an architect at the National University of Iran and later continued his studies at the School of Architecture in Paris (UP1). 

YASMEEN LARI, Chair and CE, Heritage Foundation of Pakistan, Karachi, Pakistan (via Skype)
Yasmeen Lari is an architect, architectural historian, heritage conservationist and humanitarian aid worker. She graduated from Oxford School of Architecture (Oxford Brookes University), and was elected member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (1969). She retired from architectural practice in 2000. Her work is included in 20th Century World Architecture (Phaidon Press UK, 2012). A chapter on her is included by UNESCO in its publication among 60 women who have contributed the most towards its objectives. Since 2005 she has implemented DRR (Disaster Risk Reduction)-compliant strategies for post disaster communities under Heritage and Tradition for Rehabilitation and Development, Build Back Safer with Vernacular Methodologies (BBSVM), and Women centered Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM), forming the basis for the largest zero carbon footprint (using earth, lime and bamboo) shelter program (over 40,000 units) in the World.

JUAN MORENO, Principal, JGMA, Chicago, IL, USA
Juan Gabriel Moreno, AIA, is an award winning architect and President/ Founder of JGMA (Juan Gabriel Moreno Architects). Mr. Moreno was born in Bogota, Colombia and studied architecture at California State Polytechnic University Pomona. He also lived in Florence, Italy where he studied under Superstudio founders Christiano Toraldo di Francia and Gianni Pettena. His firm, JGMA is one of the most highly acclaimed architecture studios in Chicago. JGMA’s portfolio includes the UNO Soccer Academy, Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy, The Cube at Westfield’s Old Orchard and the Northeastern Illinois University El Centro Campus. Mr. Moreno’s projects have received numerous awards and recognition from his peers. JGMA’s recent recognition includes; selection as one of the TOP 50 DESIGN FIRMS by Architect Magazine, selected by Modern Interiors Magazine as the “Best Architecture Firm” in the annual Best of Chicago Design Issue and In 2014 JGMA was recognized by Crain’s Business as one of the architecture firms “Reshaping Chicago”. JGMA’s recent list of awards includes; the 2014 and 2013 Driehaus Design Excellence Award, the 2014 Gold Medal in the Premios Arquitectura Diaspora Colombiana MMXIV, and the 2013 Architizer International Design Award.

BRIGITTE SHIM, Principal, Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, Toronto, Canada
Brigitte Shim is a principal in the design firm Shim-Sutcliffe Architects. Brigitte Shim is also a Professor at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design at the University of Toronto. Shim-Sutcliffe’s built work explores the integration and interrelated scales of architecture, landscape and furniture and fittings. To date, Shim and Sutcliffe have received thirteen Governor General’s Medals and Awards for Architecture from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and an American Institute of Architects National Honor Award along with many other professional accolades for their built work ranging from projects for non-profit groups to public and private clients. In January 2013, Brigitte Shim and her partner A. Howard Sutcliffe were both awarded the Order of Canada, “for their contributions as architects designing sophisticated structures that represent the best of Canadian design to the world.”

YASMIN VOBIS, Principal, Ultramoderne, Providence, RI, USA
Yasmin Vobis received her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California, Berkeley and her Master’s Degree from Princeton University, where she was awarded the Butler Traveling Fellowship and the Suzanne Kolarik Underwood Thesis Prize. She has practiced in San Francisco and New York in the offices of Ogrydziak / Prillinger Architects, Guy Nordenson and Associates, and Steven Holl Architects, and was a resident at MoMA PS1 for the Rising Currents charrette and exhibition. She leads the office Ultramoderne with Aaron Forrest in Providence RI, where their most recent project is a competition-winning pavilion for the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial, to be realized in September 2015. Vobis currently teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design.

CAROLINE JAMES (moderator), Associate, Maryann Thompson Architects,
Watertown, MA, USA
Caroline James received her Master in Architecture from the Harvard GSD, where she co-chaired Women in Design, and is a frequent contributor to the LOEB Blog. Caroline co-spearheaded with Arielle Assouline-Lichten the Petition to Recognize Denise Scott Brown for her work deserving of the 1991 Prize, garnering nearly 20,000 signatures. Caroline continues to create dialogues around issues of inclusion, recognition and joint creativity in design. Projects include Denise Scott Brown in Discussion at the Harvard GSD,Voices from Venice, video interviews at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, and Principled Design, a panel discussion during Art Basel Miami. In 2014, the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation awarded Caroline the Tribune Award for being "a young individual demonstrating significant leadership and active participation, contributing to increasing recognition of and improving gender inequities faced in the building industry.”

Sponsored by: The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Sullivan Galleries and Harvard GSD Women in Design.