Kai Wood Mah is a registered architect with the Ordre des architects du Québec and Patrick Lynn Rivers is a political scientist. Together, they co-direct Afield (www.afield.ca), a design research practice based in Cape Town, Chicago, and Montréal. Afield projects range from studies of progressive refugee housing solutions in South Africa to repurposing solutions for a postindustrial Chicago community of color after the shuttering of a public school.

Afield’s current major project is Democratic Early Childhood Development. Funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) grant, Mah and Rivers use the project to design, construct, and study a prototype early childhood development (i.e., a crèche, or daycare) centre in poor rural and urban South African communities.

Beyond highlighting the challenges of the DECD project, Mah and Rivers will discuss their work through the lens of research-creation. They specifically promote research-creation as method enhancing assessment and innovation within international development programs.

CPID Talks
Center for Public Interest Design
Shattuck Hall Room 217
SW Broadway & Hall Streets
Portland, Oregon

Free and open to the public.