Fall Donoho Colloquium 2019
Brad Samuels - SITU Founding Partner, Director of Research
Mind the Gap: Practive at the Intersection of Design, Technology, and Human Rights
In the past 10 years, advances in computational and digital technologies have contributed to the blurring of boundaries between formerly discrete disciplines. This talk will examine new modes of practice at one such nexus - the intersection of design, technology and human rights. Highlighting a range of recent projects in Ukraine, Mali, Nicaragua, the U.S. and elsewhere, examples of applied casework will present emerging applications of digital technologies to fact-finding and reporting of human rights abuses. From the proliferation of citizen generated media to document moments of civil unrest to the 3-dimensional reconstruction of complex urban environments during protests, this work will be contextualized in relation to the seismic shifts we are experiencing in the forums of law, media and advocacy where it is increasingly being used. This material will also provide a launching point for a reflection on the spatial and societal implications that emerging technologies are having on how we think about civil society and human rights more broadly.
Biography
Brad Samuels is a founding partner at SITU, an unconventional architecture practice in Brooklyn, NY. He oversees diverse architectural and urban-scale projects, including a 400,000 sq ft office campus for Google, a flexible architecture system for Brooklyn Public Library's community rooms and a mixed-use masterplan in the Hudson Valley. Brad is also SITU's Director of Research, leading the firm's grant-funded projects that apply the architectural toolkit to entirely new fields such as human rights campaigns or investigative court cases.
Outside of SITU, Brad sits on the board of The Architectural League of New York, is a Fellow with the Urban Design Forum, serves on AIANY's Scholarship Committee and teaches in Barnard College and Columbia University's undergraduate architecture program. He also sits on the Technology Advisory Board for the International Criminal Court. Brad holds a Bachelor of Arts from Vassar College and a Bachelor of Architecture from The Cooper Union.
