Pascale Sablan of Adjaye Associates | Cleveland Foundation Headquarters in Cleveland | Design Justice | Part 1

American Building

In today’s episode, I speak with architect, activist, and Associate at Adjaye Associates, Pascale Sablan. She shares with us her experience working on the Cleveland Foundation Headquarters as a designer at S9 ARCHITECTURE in New York. This project, located at the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 66th Street, is meant to be as open, transparent, and inviting as possible to foster an inclusive and welcoming environment.

More broadly, we discuss the topic of design justice and how that aims to challenge structural inequalities by centering marginalized individuals in community-led design practices. As Founder of Beyond the Built Environment, Pascale shares her vision of working to dismantle injustices in the built environment and advocating for equitable, reflectively diverse environments.

What is the relationship between design, power, and social justice? Join us on today’s episode as we discuss incorporating marginalized voices into the built landscape, learning more about the design process behind the Cleveland Foundation Headquarters, and Pascale’s personal journey working with S9 ARCHITECTURE.

About the Guest:

Pascale Sablan graduated from Pratt and pursued a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design at Columbia University. During this time, she found her advocate voice by defending her design ideas and implementing holistic design visions for the built environment. She is the 315th African American female architect in the United States to attain my architectural license. She has been awarded the 2018 Pratt Alumni Achievement Award, the NOMA Prize for Excellence in Design and Building Design + Construction 40 Under 40 as well as being featured on the cover of the September 2017 issue. As the recipient of the 2021 Whitney M. Young Jr. Award, she is a champion of women and diverse design professionals. Through her work, she has greatly enhanced the profession and broadened social awareness of the built environment by calling for design justice.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Topics Covered:

• What is design justice and what does that mean?
• How to incorporate marginalized voices into the built landscape
• The design process behind the Cleveland Foundation Headquarters
• What is the relationship between design, power, and social justice?
• Rethinking design processes, centring people who are normally marginalized by design and using collaborative practices in architecture

About Your Host

Atif Qadir is the Founder & CEO of REDIST, a technology company making it easy for commercial real estate professionals to find and use the $100B of real estate incentives given out every year in the US.

Resources and Links

• Pascale’s LinkedIn
• Pascale’s Instagram
• S9 Architecture LinkedIn
• The Built Environment Website
• Grab our exclusive guide Seven Tips on How to Stand Out in Your Field
• Learn more on the American Building website
• Follow us on Instagram
• Connect with Atif Qadir on LinkedIn
• Learn more about Michael Graves
• Learn more about REDIST