How can a broader understanding of culture inform the design of all spaces, regardless of site, program, or funding source? Andrea Steele will share her studio’s process of cultural research and participatory design to achieve resilient, inclusive, and optimistic architectural outcomes. Her talk will cover a series of case studies, including NASA’s Research Hub, Make the Road New York’s Community Center, and the L10 Arts & Cultural Center, to illustrate how a deep understanding of clients’ unique social and cultural needs breaks down barriers to public access, fosters community resilience, and leads to better, more equitable built environments. A conversation with Justin Garrett Moore will follow.
Speaker:
Andrea Steele, AIA, Founding Principal of Andrea Steele Architecture
Moderator:
Justin Garrett Moore, AICP, NOMA, Inaugural Program Officer, Humanities in Place, Mellon Foundation
About the Speakers:
Andrea Steele is Founding Principal of Andrea Steele Architecture (ASA), a New York-based practice that believes all architecture has a public dimension and regardless of site, scale, or budget, cannot be exempt from the responsibilities to the public at large to enhance civic relations and human experiences. With 30 years of experience, Steele has led a wide range of complex projects throughout the United States. Steele served as partner of TEN Arquitectos’ New York office for more than eight years before renaming the studio in 2019. Understanding the creative process requires an environment of trust and respect, to open the mind, share ideas and acknowledge differing perspectives, Steele brings together a diverse, international team that embraces the design process as a learning process. Her desire to foster an inclusive and equitable community guides her selection of like-minded clients. She has collaborated with mission-driven communities including NASA, Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York Public Library, New York Restoration Project and Make the Road New York. While ASA’s work illustrates a strong commitment to the environment, with projects achieving LEED certification and spearheading new energy initiatives, Steele’s goals go beyond standard checklists. When she refers to sustainability, she is speaking not only about the preservation of natural resources, but also protecting and promoting social, intellectual, economic, and cultural resiliency. Steele received her Master of Architecture degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from Lehigh University. She has taught at Cornell University and City College, participates in academic juries and serves on the AIANY Board as VP of Design Excellence.
Justin Garrett Moore is the director for the Humanities in Place program at the Mellon Foundation. His transdisciplinary work focuses on advancing equity, inclusion, and social justice through place-based initiatives and programs, built environments, cultural heritage projects, and commemorative spaces and landscapes. He has extensive experience in architecture, planning, and design—from urban systems, policies, and building projects to grassroots and community-focused planning, design, preservation, public realm, and arts initiatives. During his 15 years of public service with the City of New York prior to joining Mellon, Moore led several urban design and planning projects, including the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Waterfront, Hunter’s Point South, and the Brooklyn Cultural District. From 2016 to 2020, he was the executive director of the New York City Public Design Commission, where he spearheaded initiatives to address social equity and sustainability through improved built environment design and public processes. His work spanned affordable housing and community development, place and open space design, historic preservation, public art and monuments, and civic engagement. Moore holds a Bachelor of Design from the University of Florida and a Master of Architecture and Master of Science in Urban Design from Columbia University, where he now serves as an adjunct associate professor of architecture. He also teaches at Yale University, Morgan State University, and Tuskegee University. In 2021, Moore received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Architecture and was named to the United States Commission of Fine Arts by President Joseph Biden; in 2024, he was elevated to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners.
AIANY Cultural Facilities Committee
