How Designing Peace Can Make a Change
The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and
the Masters of Arts in Conflict and Coexistence Program, Heller School, Brandeis University
are pleased to present
How Designing Peace Can Make a Change
An exhibition tour and talk by
Architect Karen Lee Bar-Sinai
Former PON Research Fellow & co-founder of SAYA/Design for Change
Monday, October 6
12:00 – 12:20 PM – Architactics exhibition tour
3rd Floor, Goldfarb Library, Brandeis University
12:30 – 1:30 PM – Lecture and discussion
Rapaport Treasure Hall, Goldfarb Library, Brandeis University
Presenter: Arch. Karen Lee Bar-Sinai, former PON Research Fellow, and co-founder, SAYA/Design for Change
Moderator: Professor Alain Lempereur; Program Director for the Masters in Conflict and Coexistence Degree at the Heller School, and member of the Executive Committee of the Program on Negotiation
About the event: Architect Karen Lee Bar-Sinai will give a guided tour of the exhibit, Architactics: The Role and Responsibility of Architects in Conflict Resolution, followed by a talk and discussion on “How Designing Peace Can Make a Change.”
The Architactics exhibition illustrates the influence that creative architectural design can have in peace making. SAYA’s pioneering approach termed by its founders as “Resolution Planning” was developed a decade ago to reclaim the architectural responsibility in designing peace. Its goal is to redefine the role and responsibility of architects in conflict resolution, to re-include the city, the people and their joint future space back into the picture.
Many international conflicts are of territorial nature. They take place in physical space and are aggravated and complicated by spatial and physical actions. Their resolution is ultimately achieved through a realignment of space, a role more often than not played by lawyers, politicians and security experts often with little or no expertise in dealing with the built environment. Architects, whose domain is the understanding of physical space, are rarely actively involved in the resolution of territorial conflicts and the promotion of peaceful settlements.
From envisioning peace and what it should look like, through creating tools for peace making, to influencing the “backstage” of peace processes – SAYA’s work demonstrates that architects can influence not only through building and buildings, but also by shaping decisions regarding space and by encouraging decision makers to think as architects. It is our hope that this exhibition will also inspire more architects to think as decision makers and help politicians transcend the boundaries of what they believe is possible to agree upon.
