ADVOCACY

Innovators like Michael Murphy, Diébédo Francis Kéré, Kunlé Adeyemi, Yasmeen Lari, and Ai Weiwei, through their respective mediums of architecture and design, have simultaneously engaged the community and solved societal issues in the area in which they have built. As I study their work and others, the intersection between improving quality of life and architecture is increasingly evident. Every aspect of my research, from utilizing architecture as an opportunity to build bridges and unite communities to combating global issues in a sustainable and innovative manner with the design of our society to using art to call attention to a belief, is a varied approach to a common cause - initiating positive change. Building is a natural process. If we were to gear it to address the issues that will be intensified in the coming decades as a result of growing demographics, we could better the world for future generations. In order to promise prosperity and improved quality of life, corporations, architecture firms, and construction companies must demonstrate plans to construct buildings that are purposefully built in a sustainable and environmentally-friendly manner. With greater awareness about the problems now and in the year ahead, we can strive to combat them by ultimately creating structures that are not only sound and functional, but also innovative, purpose-driven, and issue-oriented.