As we continue adjusting to the ever-changing built environments of the Bay Area, how can we equip ourselves to preserve and strengthen our multicultural legacies in our everyday spaces? We are very excited to announce staffmember participation in two sessions next month as part of the National Organization For Minority Architects’ (NOMA) 2020 Conference, Spatial Shifts: Reclaiming Our Cities, that address this very question.
Project Manager Janey Madamba will participate in a panel discussion on Cultural Districts: Revitalizing Cities and Preserving Community Integrity. Janey, who serves on the Board of Directors for the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center in San Francisco, will be joined by Raquel Redondiez, Director of SOMA Pilipinas, Alleluia Panis, Artistic and Executive Director of Kularts, and Joe Landini, Director of SAFEhouse Arts. Cultural districts serve to revitalize, preserve, fortify and give voice to their evolving development and also enhance the rich and unique culture already present. In 2016, the City of San Francisco formally recognized SOMA Pilipinas as the City’s Filipino Cultural Heritage District, in what is commonly known as the SOMA (South of Market) neighborhood. In 2017, Compton’s Transgender Cultural District, in the Tenderloin, became the first legally recognized transgender district in the world. The panel will convene at 8am Thursday, October 15th, to share on these districts’ histories and the important role cultural districts serve in defining and preserving cultural assets, with journeys into urban placemaking and the collaborative process by which we shape our public realm.
Principal Marcial Chao joins EBALDC’s Associate Director of Real Estate Development Ener Chiu to discuss Re-establishing Cultural Identity – Redevelopment of the Lake Merritt BART Station. Over the past century, the Oakland Chinatown neighborhood has had many different identities, including as a home, a gateway, and a community. Marcial and Ener will share on the challenges and solutions in realizing the development vision of a revitalized Lake Merritt BART Station area, from creating a true sense of arrival into Chinatown’s historic context, effectively engaging existing communities, and addressing complex cultural identities, to establishing connections with Oakland and the broader Bay Area and secure a more equitable share in and contribution to the region’s prosperity.
Spatial Shifts: Reclaiming Our Cities, taking place October 14-18, 2020, will collectively explore and share ways to reshape our communities, to fill those gaps in design justice, and move towards a new renaissance. Register here for the conference.
The panel Cultural Districts: Revitalizing Cities and Preserving Community Integrity will be held Thursday October 15th at 8:00am. The presentation Re-establishing Cultural Identity – Redevelopment of the Lake Merritt BART Station will be released at a time TBA – stay tuned as the conference schedule rolls out!
