On July 17th, 2020, 1-2 PM UTC, we had DK Osseo-Asare, Assistant Professor of Architecture and Engineering Design at the Stuckeman School, College of Arts and Architecture, Penn State. The moderator was Felipe Addor, adjunct professor and Director of the Interdisciplinary Nucleus for Social Development of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Nides/UFRJ).

DK Osseo-Asare is cofounder and principal of architecture and integrated design studio Low Design Office (LOWDO), based in Austin, Texas and Tema, Ghana, which was recently  named one of Domus magazine’s 50 best in 2020. He currently holds a triple appointment in humanitarian materials Penn State as an assistant professor of architecture and engineering design, triangulating the Stuckeman School, the School of Engineering Design, Technology and Professional Programs (SEDTAPP), and the Materials Research Institute (MRI). He is the director of the Humanitarian Materials Lab (HuMatLab), affiliate to the Materials Matters and Stuckeman Center for Design Computation research clusters, and associate director of AESEDA, Penn State’s Alliance for Education, Science, Engineering and Design with Africa.

DK is a TED Global Fellow, Fulbright Scholar, and Africa 4 Tech Digital Champion. He cofounded the design agency DSGN AGNC (2009-2011) and the Agbogbloshie Makerspace Platform (AMP), an open-source maker tech initiative geared for Africa. He also led urban/strategic design for the Koumbi City and Anam City new town projects in Ghana and Nigeria, which were featured at the Clinton Global Initiative (2012-2014). He has presented his work internationally at the Royal Institute of British Architects, University of Basel, TU Delft, TED Global, Smart City Expo, World Bank CitiSense, AfriDesignX, University of Ghana, Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, Next Einstein Initiative/African Institute of Mathematical Sciences, MIT, Harvard, Columbia University, and on BBC. He has been a visiting scholar at Delft University of Technology (Netherlands), Department of Urbanism, Faculty of Architecture and Built Environment; Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana) Department of Materials Research, College of Engineering and Faculty of Architecture and Building Technology, College of Architecture and Planning; and cofounded the Design Lab at Ashesi University (Ghana) as chief maker while Design Lecturer in Engineering (2015-2017).

Felipe Addor is an engineer with a doctorate in Urban and Regional Planning. He is an adjunct professor and Director of the Interdisciplinary Nucleus for Social Development of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Nides/UFRJ), and researcher at the Technical Solidarity Nucleus – Soltec/UFRJ. He teaches at the Graduate Program in Technology for Social Development (PPGTDS/Nides/UFRJ). He is member of the Popular Engineering Network Oswaldo Sevá (Repos). Addor published the books: Technology and Social and Solidary Development (2005, reprinted in 2011; Editora UFRGS); Research, Action and Technology vols I, II & III (2015; Editora UFRJ); Democratic Theory and Popular Power in Latin America (2016; Editora Insular), Technology for Social Development – dialogues Nides/UFRJ (2018); and Solidarity Economy Technological Incubators vols I & II (2018; Editora UFRJ). Works mainly in the areas of Solidarity Economy, Social Technology, Advising on economic enterprises, Cooperatives, Management and production in agrarian reform settlements, Public Policies and Participatory Democracy.

We will continue with the Networking Fridays during the next months. More information about future sessions as well as presentations and videos from previous sessions can be found here. Twitter Hashtag: #netfridays. Expect some very exciting afternoons, or mornings or evenings, depending on where you are…

If you need any additional information please send an email to Jose Luiz Moutinho.