Yutaka Sho
Syracuse University | School of Architecture
"Architectural Aesthetics in the Global Development Industry "
Wednesday, March 30, 2022
6 - 7:30 pm
Hayes Hall 403
AIA continuing education credits available (1 LU)
DuBois called attention to double consciousness: a sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others. For architects working in the development industry in the Global South, there are at least five consciousness, and their pressures become sensible in architecture’s aesthetics. In this lecture, Yutaka Sho of Syracuse University's School of Architecture examines how architects could deploy aesthetics as a tool to ally with the underrepresented.
Biography
Yutaka Sho is a partner and co-founder of GAC, non profit architecture firm working in Rwanda since 2008, and an associate professor of architecture at Syracuse University
Yutaka Sho is a partner and co-founder of GAC, nonprofit architecture firm working in Rwanda since 2008, and an associate professor of architecture at Syracuse University. GAC works with underrepresented communities and strives to build beautiful and empowering spaces. At the same time, GAC uses the construction time and space for training the end-users in construction skills. GAC’s work includes self-build homes funded by the 2012 Arnold Brunner Grant and which received the 2014 EDRA Great Places Award; the Masoro Health Center which was awarded by AIA Virginia, Dazeen, Architizer, SARA NY and Architecture Masterprize in 2020; and the Masoro Learning and Sports Center in 2021. GAC is currently working on the master plan and design of 22-acre campus for Kigali International Community School, master plan and design for the first women-owned and -operated Kweza Craft Brewery, and Rwanda Rural Housing Project for which GAC surveyed and documented 370 rural homes with University of Rwanda and SoA students, among others. GAC was the recipient of Best of Practice Award for Architect (Small Firm) in the Northeast by The Architect’s Newspaper in 2021, and was named the Game Changers by the Metropolis Magazine in 2020. Yutaka’s scholarly research focuses on the roles of architecture in the global development industry and in post-conflict reconciliation processes. Her publications include “Looking Like Developed: Aesthetics and Ethics in Rwandan Housing Projects” in Journal of Architectural Education; “Design as Interface: Case of Rwandan Development Architecture” in All-Inclusive Engagement in Architecture Planning for Community-Based Disaster Resilience Worldwide from Routledge; “The Darker Side of Engagement” in The Routledge Handbook of Architecture and Social Engagement; and “Fukushima Dark Tourism” in Planning for Community-Based Disaster Resilience Worldwide: Learning from Case Studies in Six Continents from Routledge.
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