Posted on October 1, 2021
Post categories: Uncategorized
Professors in the University of Washington’s College of Built Environments have created an interdisciplinary, graduate-level course, the McKinley Futures Nehemiah Studio, that combines architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning and design, and real estate principles into a groundbreaking opportunity for the local African American community as well as the students who participate in it. The studio partners with the Nehemiah Initiative Seattle, which helps Black-owned institutions and churches develop their properties in Seattle’s Central District.
The Nehemiah Studio is co-taught by Donald King, FAIA, an affiliate professor of architecture and president and CEO of the Nehemiah Initiative Seattle; Rachel Berney, Ph.D., an associate professor of urban design and planning; and Al Levine, an affiliate instructor of real estate. Aaron Fairchild, the CEO and co-founder of Green Canopy and the Nehemiah Initiative, lends his real estate development expertise. Green Canopy is a real estate developer and general contractor with a mission to “build relationships, businesses, and homes that help regenerate communities and environments,” according to the company’s website.
In the following article, King, Berney, and Fairchild explain the initiative and course in detail for Civil Engineering.