"At its core, engaging social issues in architecture and urbanism is about us embracing a human-centered approach to design; creating dialogue with and learning from beyond the design disciplines; having a willingness to not only be a designer but also instigator, listener, facilitator and storyteller among other things; and being willing to tackle—and even fail at—these challenging issues."
- Liz Ogbu
Liz has long been at the leading edge of conversations around sustainability, human-centred design and innovative urbanism, exploring the intersection between social issues and design, and engaging it in practice. Signature projects include the Design For Reuse Primer (an e-publication commissioned by the U.S. Green Building Council) and Day Labor Station (a structure designed to be deployed at informal day labor locations, addressing the needs of this key, though politically controversial, group of economic contributors).
On the occasion of the InsideFlows exhibition, Liz presented the Design for Reuse Primer alongside her wider work, research and thinking in a special UK lecture, to further deepen the conversation around how design can impact upon social change, and how architecture as a discipline might further broaden its boundaries.
An inaugural Innovator in Residence at IDEO.org (2011-12), and former Associate Design Director at Public Architecture (2006-2011), Liz Ogbu is currently serving as the first ever Scholar in Residence at the Center for Art and Public Life, California College of the Arts.
Following her presentation, Professor Robert Mull, Dean and Director of Architecture, The Cass, chaired Liz in conversation.