UNDER PRESSURE: Architecture’s Agency in a Multidisciplinary Approach to Urban Housing Design

Join Associate Professor of Practice, Hina Jamelle in conversation with SCI-Arc Faculty, Marcelo Spina and Head of Real Estate and Land Use Practice, Jerold B. Neuman while they discuss UNDER PRESSURE. Architecture’s Agency in a Multidisciplinary Approach to Urban Housing Design.

Hina Jamelle, Associate Professor of Practice, teaches final year Graduate Option Studios and directs the Graduate Program’s Urban Housing Studios at the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design. She has held the Visiting Schaffer Practice Professorship at the University of Michigan. Jamelle is the co-director of the New York and Shanghai based architectural firm Contemporary Architecture Practice and has co-edited issues of Architectural Design AD titled IMPACT (2020) as well as Elegance (2007). Hina Jamelle’s book UNDER PRESSURE on Urban Housing was published in 2021.

Founded in 1999, Contemporary Architecture Practice [CAP] is known for futuristic designs using digital techniques and the latest technologies for the design and manufacturing of architecture. Projects include commissions by The Museum of Modern Art [New York]; Reebok Shanghai, Lijia Smart Park, Chongqing, Wenjin Hotels, Beijing, NJCTTQ Pharmaceuticals, Nanjing, AMEC Technologies, Nanchang [China]; Samsung, Seoul [South Korea]; and IWI Orthodontics Clinic, Tokyo [Japan].

Contemporary Architecture Practice’s projects have been exhibited extensively at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the London, Beijing, and Shanghai Biennales; and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, among others. They also have been featured in more than 250 major publications around the world. Co-Directors Rahim and Jamelle have won the Architectural Record Design Vanguard Award and were featured in Phaidon’s 10x10x2 as one of the world’s top 100 emerging architects. Their project, IWI Orthodontics in Tokyo, Japan was featured in Phaidon’s ROOM 100 as one of the most creative interior design projects of the century. In 2015 she was recognized as 50 Under 50 Innovators of the 21st Century by a distinguished jury.

Book Description
UNDER PRESSURE is about instigation and design in urban housing. Urban housing is a bellwether for economic, social, and political change. It varies widely in quality, typology, and audience and lies between the formal systems of urban infrastructure and the informal systems of daily life. Housing’s complexity offers unique and exciting opportunities to architects. Its entwinement with private equity and public agencies presents important challenges amplified by urbanization. This book gathers and contextualizes relevant conversations in urban housing unfolding today across architecture through four topics: Learning from History, Changing Domesticities, Housing Finance and Policy, and Design and Material Innovation. The result is a multi-disciplinary amalgam of research and design intelligence from thought leaders in the fields of architecture, real estate, economics, policy, material design, and finance.

Marcelo Spina

Born in Rosario, Argentina, Marcelo Spina is an internationally renowned architect and educator. Along with Georgina Huljich, he is a Principal of P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S, an award-winning innovation-driven architectural practice based in Los Angeles with a worldwide presence. Mr. Spina received his B.Arch from the National University of Rosario, Argentina, and an M.Arch from Columbia University, New York. Since 2001, he has been design faculty at SCI-Arc and has been a Visiting Professor at Yale, Syracuse, Harvard, Berkeley and Di Tella, among others. Awards include Architect of the Year (3rd Prize), Architectural League’s Emerging Voices, “Arch is” AIA LA Chapter, USA Artists Fellowship, and various AIA National and Local awards. He is the co-author of Embedded (ACDCU, 2010), Material Beyond Materials (SCI-Arc Press 2012) and the forthcoming Mute Icons (Princeton 2016) and co-curator of Matters of Sensation at Artists Space. Spina’s work has been published and exhibited widely and he has given more than 100 lectures around the world.

Jerold B. (Jerry) Neuman

Jerry Neuman represents individuals and companies looking to obtain local government licenses, permits, rights or contracts. Respected for obtaining governmental approvals and public participation, when needed, for many of the largest development projects in the State of California as well as securing government rights and contracts for large and small companies, Jerry has extensive experience in complex regulatory and legislative issues.

Jerry is and has been the lead negotiator and project coordinator for many of Southern California’s most important real estate, green energy, infrastructure, and governmental procurement projects. His experience includes obtaining environmental clearances pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Additionally, he has substantial experience in coordinating teams of professionals including architects, engineers, environmental scientists, community relations and communication consultants and media relations professionals. Jerry also works regularly with elected officials, organized labor and community and business leaders in connection with many of these projects and issues.