Throughout the spring and summer of 2018, seventeen US cities will host “Hip Hop Architecture Camps,” an initiative founded by the Urban Arts Collective seeking to address the lack of diversity in America’s architectural community. As reported by CNET, the architecture camps will be sponsored by Autodesk, makers of the architectural software AutoCAD.
Hip Hop Architecture Camps are geared towards students between the ages of 10 and 17, introducing students to architecture and urban planning by analyzing the structure and rhythm of rap music. By demonstrating a connection between music and architecture, the organizers hope to ignite a design flair in young students, helping to create a future where local communities have a stronger input into how urban areas are shaped or altered.
Not only did hip-hop democratize the ability to make music, but it made it in a totally unique and innovative way that was culturally relevant, that was liberating and also told stories that were often absent from other forms of media.
-Mike Ford, Creator, Hip Hop Architecture Camp
The 2018 events will mark the second year of the program, with double the number of participating cities relative to 2017. As the camps end, students will present their projects by composing raps, staging a rap battle, and creating a music video for the winning song. In 2017, 88% of participants identified as African American, promising signs of reform to AIA statistics showing only 4% of US architects are black.
Read the full story by CNET here.
Envisioning a Hip-Hop Urbanism in Washington DC
The following is a manifesto, in search of a movement... In it, I am proposing a theory of architecture based around a ruffneck, antisocial, hip-hop, rudeboy ethos. [1]- Kara Walker In her companion publication to the 2014 group exhibition " Ruffneck Constructivists," the show's curator, Kara Walker, lays down a radical manifesto for urban intervention.
