The League’s monthly First Friday series shifted to a new online format and other days of the week. Each event explores design practices in New York City and beyond that operate in multiple roles—coupling architecture with initiatives including design advocacy, fabrication research, and community engagement.

Each program consists of brief presentations about the office structure (including some form of virtual tour, when possible), recent projects, and impetus for creating alternative modes of practice, followed by an informal discussion with attendees. Grab a beverage of your choice and join us for a casual conversation.

Brooklyn-based SITU was founded in 2005 by friends studying architecture at The Cooper Union. The practice is organized into three divisions—studio, research, and fabrication—that work collaboratively while providing individual capabilities and services. Its staff includes a wide range of specialists, all committed to exploring and crafting spaces at multiple scales, working across a creative studio and a fabrication workshop.

Current projects include:

• Documenting NYPD’s suppression of peaceful protest in the Bronx, an analysis of firsthand video documentation of police violence towards BLM protesters in June 2020. Working with Human Rights Watch, their findings demonstrate the unwarranted use of force and other tactics used by the NYPD to suppress dissent—all recently corroborated by a NYC Department of Investigations report.
• Reopening Strategies for Libraries Across Brooklyn. Part of SITU’s commitment to COVID-19 relief efforts, this work provides design services for Brooklyn Public Library, helping to strategize safe reopening processes and find ways to adapt their spaces.  
• NYC Open Culture, an NYC-led initiative to allow cultural organizations to utilize outdoor spaces for public programs. SITU is partnering with several performing arts and cultural groups to design architectural interventions that support their programming needs.
• Little Island Seating Amenities, the design and fabrication of custom seating throughout a new park, creating long-lasting fixtures for the site’s main amphitheater and southern stage, in addition to rest areas along the trails. 

The conversation will be moderated by architect, researcher, and educator Quilian Riano. Riano is the founder and lead designer of DSGN AGNC, a design studio exploring new forms of political engagement and co-creation through architecture, urbanism, landscapes, and art. He is also the associate director of Kent State University’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC).