NOMAS Design Realities Lecture and Panel: Michael Ford, "Hip Hop Architecture"

NOMAS Design Realities Lecture and Panel: Michael Ford, “Hip Hop Architecture”

U-M NOMAS and IID bring Michael Ford for their Design Realities lecture and panel. The event is co-hosted by the National Association of Minority Architects Detroit chapter. 

Michael Ford is a designer, born and raised in the city of Detroit. Ford received his Masters of Architecture degree from the University of Detroit Mercy (UDM), where he completed his graduate thesis titled “Hip Hop Inspired Architecture and Design.” He has worked as a designer at Hamilton Anderson Associates located in Detroit and as an adjunct professor at his alma matter. Ford has also worked as a designer at Flad Architects located in Madison, Wisc.

Ford has spent the past decade working to blur the lines between professional practice and academia. He is dedicated to stimulating cross disciplinary discourse between practitioners and residents on the sociological and cultural implications of architecture and urban planning on its inhabitants. More specifically, Ford has unveiled the subconscious roles of historical architectural figures such as LeCorbusier in envisioning the built environments which necessitated the birth of hip hop culture.

Following Michael Fords lecture, there will be a panel discussion, Designed Realities: The Real World Impact of Design Intentions. Panelists include Taubman College faculty members Kimberly Dowdell, Emmanual Pratt, June Manning Thomas, and moderator Marc Norman. 

Ford’s Hip Hop Architecture research has been published in a variety of places including FastCo Design, Blavity,  The Fader, CityLab and Vibe Magazine. In addition to this, Ford is the co-founder of the Urban Arts Collective, which houses the Hip Hop Architecture Camp, which has taken place in various cities across the United States. He has spoken as a keynote speaker for the 2017 AIA National Convention, for SXSW 2016 and 2017, TEDx Madison TED Talk, and has lectured at several universities including the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Detroit-Mercy, UPenn, and Carnegie Mellon University.