J. Max Bond, Jr. Lecture | Architects’ Renewal Committee in Harlem (ARCH) at 60

Join the New York Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (nycoba|NOMA), the J. Max Bond Center of City University of New York, and the AIANY Diversity and Inclusion Committee for the annual J. Max Bond Jr. Lecture. Established in 2010, this design talk honors the memory of J. Max Bond, Jr., FAIA, NOMA, an architect, partner at Davis Brody Bond, advocate, teacher, and trailblazer of his time. The lecture addresses issues that were important to Bond: equity, inclusive design, communities, and global cultures, in particular Ghana and Africa at large.

This year’s Bond lecture coincides with the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Architects’ Renewal Committee in Harlem (ARCH), which was created to serve the planning and urban design needs of Harlem residents. Once led by J. Max Bond, former dean of the architecture school at The City College of New York, the group was formed by planners and architects who wanted to ensure that residents were the ones shaping their community’s future. The ARCH at 60 presentation will use several of ARCH’s projects—ARCH itself as a model for community design centers everywhere, its advocacy and organizing work on housing and tenant’s rights, and visions for 125th Street that countered the plan for the State Office Building—as starting points for conversations about Harlem’s transformation physically and demographically amidst ongoing development, including the need for more affordable housing, and the fight for neighborhood autonomy.