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The new book KatOikia emerged as an indirect outcome of the Housing Design Studio sponsored by CetraRuddy Architecture during Fall 2018 at the Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York.

A collection of essays, KatOikia (Greek for “dwelling”) brings together academic speculations and pedagogical explorations with scholarly voices and practices from the professional realm. The effort is to construct meaningful bridges that reconcile dichotomies between academia and practice and shape collective visions around the critical question: How do we produce a counter to the status quo in all forms of housing production?

The book offers a dual contribution to both academic and professional communities. It reveals the motivation behind the growing interest in sponsored design studios within architecture curricula. A growing body of professional design firms is realizing the power and importance of supporting pedagogical endeavors, particularly design studios that investigate housing issues as they relate to their applied work and practice. In academia, we take on housing as a studio problem, using it as a vehicle to think about what architecture can do. Paradoxically, various approaches to studio instruction often oppose the practice of housing in the professional realm — and yet, it is out of this tension that productive collaborations can arise. What are the takeaways of such collaborations and workflows?

The intersection of academic speculations, pedagogical explorations, and professional practice serves as a strategy for connecting practical and theoretical forms of knowledge, enabling design to acquire new meaning and value in relation to cultural, environmental, and social concerns. What are the critical and formative moments associated with building our practice? The housing approaches showcased in this book, driven by experimental motivation, exemplify shared affinities, techniques, and sensibilities that propel speculative design within the realm of housing’s culture and politics.

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Editor: Loukia Tsafoulia

Assistant Editor: Deirdre Nolan M Arch ’22

Foreword by James Wines

Contributors: Nandini Bagchee, John Barrett, John Cetra B Arch ’76, Beth Eckels, Theresa M. Genovese, Berardo Matalucci, Nancy J. Ruddy, Christopher Sharples, Foteinos Soulos, Dimitra Tsachrelia

Related Links:
M Arch Studio Sponsored by Cetra Ruddy
CetraRuddy Design Studio
Housing Studio Yields Publication and Award