Oculus - Spring 2014 - (Page 36) feature Sustainable Models for a Just City At the J. Max Bond Center on Design for the Just City, faculty and students collaboratively pursue research, ponder possibilities, and integrate ideas into practice B Y MIC H A EL J . C RO S BIE, FA IA rchitect and planner Toni L. Griffin's career made her a natural to head the J. Max Bond Center on Design for the Just City (JMBC) at the City College of New York's Spitzer School of Architecture. After studying architecture at the University of Notre Dame, Griffin worked for SOM in Chicago for a dozen years, then did a stint as a Loeb Fellow in Urban Planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD). Next was a move to New York City to work at the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation. Positions in the planning sector in Washington, DC, and Newark, NJ, prepared her to launch her own practice, Urban Planning and Design for the American City, in 2009, which she combined with teaching at the GSD. J. Max Bond, Jr., FAIA, was a mentor for Griffin throughout much of this time. She became aware of his work through the landmark book, African American Architects, by Jack Travis, FAIA. Griffin met Bond in 1991 and was molded by the conduct of his own practice and approach to architecture. "He had a ©June Lee, Bruner Foundation A subtle and light hand, and saw the focus of practice as social uplift," explains Griffin. "Bond was collaborative, he cared about the design of cities" and the power of architecture to achieve social justice in the context of the urban condition. A principal of Davis Brody Bond in New York, Bond received the Whitney Young, Jr. Award from the AIA in 1987 and died in 2009 at age 73. Establishing the JMBC was an opportunity for CCNY to not only honor the memory of Bond (who was dean of CCNY's architecture school from 1985 to 1992), but also a way to propagate his mission of social uplift through architecture. A phone call to Griffin from architecture critic Michael Sorkin, who heads CCNY's Graduate Urban Design program, about her interest in becoming the center's first director resulted in her coming on board in May 2012. Griffin (center) greets Bruner Loeb Forum on Legacy City Design participants who spent the first day of the forum riding The Detroit Bus Company to visit Detroit neighborhoods, including the new blue and green infrastructure installations in Brightmoor. 36 Oculus Spring 2014 Civic Spirit: Civic Visions Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Oculus - Spring 2014 Letter From the President Letter From the Editor Center for Architecture Some Blocks Over Opener: Open to the Public: Civic Space Now The Search for the Soul of Cities A Different Tale of Two Cities Public Space Reasserts Its Political Role Gatherings of One Time to Welcome Woonerfs Redesigning the Crossroads of the World A Magical Place on the Water How to Remember a Plague Sustainable Models for a Just City In Print 50-Year Watch Last Words Index to Advertisers Oculus - Spring 2014 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/ARCQ/ARCQ0217 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/ARCQ/ARCQ0117 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/ARCQ/ARCQ0416 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/ARCQ/ARCQ0316 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/ARCQ/ARCQ0216 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/ARCQ/ARCQ0116 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/ARCQ/ARCQ0415 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/ARCQ/ARCQ0315 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/ARCQ/ARCQ0215 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/ARCQ/ARCQ0115 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/ARCQ/ARCQ0414 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/ARCQ/ARCQ0314 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/ARCQ/ARCQ0214 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/ARCQ/ARCQ0114 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/ARCQ/ARCQ0413 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/ARCQ/ARCQ0313 http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/ARCQ/ARCQ0213 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ARCQ0113 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ARCQ0412 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ARCQ0312 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ARCQ0212 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ARCQ0112 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ARCQ0411 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ARCQ0311 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ARCQ0211 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ARCQ0111 http://www.nxtbookMEDIA.com
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