by Center for Architecture
The Center for Architecture is proud to announce the 2022 recipients of the Stewardson Keefe LeBrun Travel Grant. The purpose of the LeBrun Grant is to further the personal and professional development of early- and mid-career architects through travel. The Center for Architecture awarded a total of $25,000 during the 2022 grant cycle, distributed across two recipients, to allow them to complete their research and travels.
2022 LEBRUN RECIPIENTS
Tadd Heidgerken
Project: “Social Practice: Collectivist Architecture in North America”
Award: $17,500
Across North America, architecture is implicated in socio-economic inequities. “Social Practices: Collectivist Architecture in North America” approaches alternative models of practice that, while embedded in traditional economies, operate outside of and around typical market conditions. This investigation identifies firms, organizations, and projects that apply inclusive organizational strategies and analyzes these methods to create a guide for alternative practice. Using cues from unions, mutual aid organizations, farmers collectives, and others, this research project demonstrates the viability of quality design production outside of traditional architectural offices and brings them together as collectivist architecture. Heidgerken’s project will take him to Mexico City, Oaxaca, Mérida, and San Juan, where he will conduct an ethnographic investigation of how recent unionization drives, decolonization efforts, and community-centered design methods challenge the structure of traditional architectural work.
Tadd Heidgerken is a graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture and holds a Master of Architecture from Cranbrook Academy of Art. He is currently an Associate Professor of the School of Architecture and Community Development at University of Detroit Mercy and is Principal of Et al. Collaborative.
Zui Lig Ng
Project: “Shophouses – Sustainable Vessels that Adapt to Environment, Economy, and Culture”
Award: $7,500
Vernacular building practices often feature sustainable design approaches that successfully respond to their specific ecological, cultural, and economic contexts. The project “Shophouses – Sustainable Vessels that Adapt to Environment, Economy, and Culture” will investigate Southeast Asian shophouses, a vernacular housing typology that features many effective design strategies to adapt to humid subtropical climates. The research project will include visits to shop houses in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thaliand to document building layout and how these structures adapt to climate, cultural, and economic needs. “Shop Houses” will also build on Zui’s professional experience building houses in humid subtropical climates including Houston, Texas.
Zui Lig Ng is a graduate of the University of Houston and earned a Master of Architecture from Cornell University. He is currently a Design Principal at ZDES Design Build in Houston and a Professor of Graduate Architecture at Northwest Houston Prairie View A&M University.
The Center for Architecture, in partnership with AIANY, awards scholarships and grant awards throughout the year for architectural students, architectural student journals, and practicing architects. Scholarships are open to New York city and grants are open to applicants nationwide. To find out more about our upcoming deadlines, please visit: www.centerforarchitecture.org/scholarships-grants.
Thank you to that 2022 Scholarship Committee:
Jha D. Amazi, MASS Design Group
Nina Cooke-John, AIA, Studio Cooke John
Koray Duman, AIA, LEED AP, BÜRO KORAY DUMAN
Kenneth A. Lewis, AIA, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Catherine Seavitt Nordenson, AIA, Catherine Seavitt Studio
Hilary M. Sample, FAIA, MOS Architects
Sharon E. Sutton, PhD, FAIA, University of Washington
Allison Tomlinson, Gensler