How does design embody collective longing, constructing and revealing relationships between places, cultural history, and public memory? 

Neri&Hu’s interdisciplinary design practice exemplifies architecture’s potential for cultural preservation and poetic place-making. Founded in Shanghai in 2004 by partners Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu, their research-based projects range from master planning and architecture to interior and product design, capturing the collective imagination amidst rapid development and disappearing cultural contexts. 

Neri&Hu’s lecture will be followed by a panel discussion with the 1882 Foundation’s Asian American Historic Context Study for Washington D.C. The Historic Context Studies document the places and spaces of significance for Asian American historical experiences. Joining in conversation with Michelle Magalong, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of Maryland Historic Preservation program and President, Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation (APIAHiP), and moderated by Jenn Low, landscape architect and Design Director at Openbox, the panel will explore how community storytellers, historians, and architects can collaborate to illuminate public histories, particularly in places of cultural significance.