Abundance is a pervasive term in industries beyond design. Since 2018, Model of Architecture Serving Society (MASS) has pursued abundance as a counterbalance to deprivation. Inspired by MASS principals Sierra Bainbridge and Jeff Mansfield, who asked what if we used abundance to start designing for all, leveraging all the senses, when designing a memorial to honor Black deaf students segregated at Gallaudet University. It was abundance thinking that guided MASS’s next large projects in Africa. In this session, MASS illustrates how design practice can create positive social, environmental, and economic results, documented in Seeking Abundance: Design, Ecology and a Flourishing Planet. The work process evolves over the life of three projects: Ilima Primary School with the African Wildlife Foundation (Democratic Republic of Congo); The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund (Rwanda); and Rwanda Institute of Conservation Agriculture (RICA), MASS’s largest project, a 3,400-acre, 69-building university. Join Katie Swenson and the book’s co-author, Alan Ricks, in conversation about how designers can reduce the harm our building activities wage in our environments and while helping people and the planet thrive together. MASS was the AIA 2022 Architecture Firm of the Year.
Learning Objectives
- Analyze the concept of “abundance” as a design framework and evaluate how it can counteract traditional deficit-based approaches in architecture and planning.
- Assess how sensory-inclusive and equity-driven design approaches can expand accessibility and representation.
- Identify methods for reducing environmental harm in building practices by applying ecological design principles.
- Apply interdisciplinary design strategies that align architecture with public health, conservation, and community development to support thriving ecosystems and communities.