by Emily Langner
Pascale Sablan
On season 2, episode 8 of the Build Better podcast, Anastasia welcomed Pascale Sablan, associate at Adjaye Associates in New York City, and the founder and executive director of Beyond the Built Environment, an organization that addresses the inequitable disparities in architecture and within communities most underserved by the profession.
Beyond the Built Environment elevates the identities and contributions of minority architects and designers through exhibitions, curated lectures, and documentaries that testify to the provided value of their built work and its spatial impact. Additionally, it strives to educate the masses through opportunities that introduce architecture as a bridge to fill the gaps of inequity, and collaborates with community stakeholders and organizations to crowdsource information and amplify opportunities to advocate for equitable and reflectively diverse environments.
Sablan created the organization when she realized there was a gap in the advocacy work she was already doing in the profession. She says what was missing was the effort to celebrate women and BIPOC designers.
Her ultimate goal is to “completely eradicate racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression from the built environment and the profession.” She says, “Culture and identity is manifested into the built environment, and I really want to create a space and a relationship and a bridge to allow the community at large, the stakeholders, to understand the important roles that they play in designing and deciding their built environment and providing an introduction to great designers who can be engaged in that process.”
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Listen to season 2, episode 8 now!
