DCG Exhibitions Denver 2022
Design for the Common Good International Exhibition logo

2022 Denver Exhibition

The Design for the Common Good International Exhibition hosted at MSU Denver’s Center for Visual Art marks an inaugural occasion where a coalition of international organizations have come together to share best practices in public interest design. Representing design practices from around the world, the exhibition showcases 30 projects from six continents and twenty-two countries, and features regional projects situated in and around the Rocky Mountain West.

LOCATION: Metropolitan State University of Denver, Center for Visual Art, Denver, USA

DATE: January 14–March 19, 2022

curated works

  • Exhibition Location

  • Exhibition Theme

Photo Credit: Iwan Baan

African Leadership University

SEED Network

Kigali, Rwanda

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Agbogbloshie Makerspace Platform

SEED Network

Accra, Ghana

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Photo Credit: Ria Tan

Ah Ma Drink Stall

Pacific Rim Community Design Network

Singapore

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Test Caption

Alternative Shelter & Village Building

SEED Network

Portland, United States

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Photo Credit: Kurt Hoerbst

Anandaloy

Curry Stone Foundation

Bangladesh

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Photo Credit: Jesse Kuroiwa

Auraria Bike Pavilions

Design Build Xchange

Denver, United States

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Photo Credit: JC Buck Gallery

Beloved Community Village

Curator Invited Regional Project Selection

Denver, United States

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Photo Credit: Günter R.Wett

bilding

Design Build Xchange

Innsbruck, Austria

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Photo Credit: Clint Abrahams

Bong’s Place Macassar’s Storytelling Shack

Live Projects Network

Cape Town, South Africa

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Photo Credit: Santiago Oviedo

Chamanga Cultural Center

Design Build Xchange

Chamanga, Ecuador

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Photo Credit: Tanulni FOX

Collaborations in Design + Architecture Education

Curator Invited Regional Project Selection: Emerging Voices in Education

Tolcsva, Hungary

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Photo Credit: ISAU/PBSA/RWTH

Ecole Primaire Santiguyah

Design Build Xchange

Guinea

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Photo Credit: William Ti, Jr.

Emergency Quarantine Facilities

Pacific Rim Community Design Network

Manila, Philippines

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Photo Credit: Joti Weijers-Coghlan

Fish River Rangers Accommodation

Live Projects Network

Tipperary, Australia

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Photo Credit: Vicenzo Floramo

Gaw La Heh Primary School

Curry Stone Foundation

Myanmar (Burma)

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Photo Credit: Original Concept and Meanings by Gordon Yellowman (Tribal Cultural Artist); Translation of Art into Architecture: Scott Moore y Medina (Architect of Record)

George Hawkins Memorial Treatment Center Mural

Curator Invited Regional Project Selection

Clinton, United States

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Photo Credit: Rural Urban Framework

Ger Innovation Hub

Curry Stone Foundation

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

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Photo Credit: Kyle Pearce

Grange Pavilion

Live Projects Network

Cardiff, United Kingdom

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Housing in Historic Rural Palestine

Curry Stone Foundation

Nablus

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Photo Credit: University of Sheffield, School of Architecture

Imagine Castlegate

Live Projects Network

Sheffield, United Kingdom

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Photo Credit: Leon Klassen

Infozentrale auf dem Vollgut

Design Build Xchange

Berlin, Germany

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Photo Credit: InterACTION Labs Team

InterACTION Labs

Pacific Rim Community Design Network

Iquitos, Peru

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International District Urban Agriculture Plan

Curator Invited Regional Project Selection

Albuquerque, United States

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Living Rooms at the Border

SEED Network

San Diego, United States

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Photo Credit: Sanrok Studio

Microlibraries

Pacific Rim Community Design Network

Indonesia

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Photo Credit: Katie Edwards

Naidi Community Hall

Pacific Rim Community Design Network

Naidi, Fiji

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Photo Credit: Community Design Agency

Niramay Place

Curry Stone Foundation

Shevgaon, India

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Photo Credit: Markus Fattinger

OBENauf Bed-and-Breakfast

Design Build Xchange

Unternalb, Austria

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Photo Credit: Chad Kraus

Passerine Pavilion

Live Projects Network

Lawrence, United States

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Renewal of Déri Miksa Street

Regional Project Selection

Budapest, Hungary

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Photo Credit: Jason Henry for Alta Magazine

Restore Oakland

Curry Stone Foundation

Oakland, United States

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Vertical University Project

SEED Network

Nepal

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Photo Credit: Dr. Péter Paári

We All Need a Home

Regional Project Selection

Pécs, Hungary

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Thank You

Organizers: Design for the Common Good Network, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and Center for Visual Art

Exhibition Sponsors: Community Development Partners; Center for Public Interest Design, Portland State University; Curry Stone Foundation; Design Corps; Lawrence B. Taishoff Communication Design Development Fund; MSU Denver College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Mini-Grant; MSU Denver Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Diversity Initiatives Grant; National Endowment for the Arts.

Exhibition Logo Design: Emily Douglas and Allie Fabrizio

Denver Exhibition Catalog

This catalog presents a compendium of exhibition projects and accompanying narratives organized according to key issues addressed. Six overarching thematic issue groups have emerged from this collection and serve as frameworks for understanding how public interest design operates to maximize social, economic, and environmental impacts within communities across the globe. The issues are Equity, Education, Community, Cultural Heritage, Sustainability, and Urban Resilience. While each project is unique in its methods, the fundamental philosophy of working to achieve community-derived and -driven goals are found throughout.

Front cover of the exhibition catalog featuring select projects
Exhibition catalog and cover design by MSU Denver Communication Design students

View the Denver Exhibition Catalog

Exhibition App

Designed and developed by Shawn Meek, the app features six projects selected by curator Lisa M. Abendroth to encapsulate a range of global perspectives representative of the exhibition as a whole. Find and download the app at iOS App Store and Google Play for a unique experience of exhibition content and use the QR codes located throughout the gallery (see exhibition project narratives embedded in the Matterport Virtual Tour above), to access additional “Insights & Perspectives” about each of the curator pick projects. 

Sample screens from the Design for the Common Good exhibition app

Exhibition Committee

Black and white photo of Lisa Abendroth
Curator

Lisa M. Abendroth

Metropolitan State University of Denver

Lisa M. Abendroth is the curator and organizer of the Design for the Common Good International Exhibition (Denver 2022, Budapest 2023). Her research focuses on public interest design and the social, economic, and environmental impacts created with, and within, the contexts of underserved people, places, and problems. Lisa is a Professor in Communication Design at Metropolitan State University of Denver where her pedagogy is committed to community-led design practices that embolden access and equity. She is a SEED Network co-founder, a Design for the Common Good Network executive committee member, and a co-editor/co-author of two books in Routledge’s Public Interest Design Guidebook series. She holds degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University and Rhode Island School of Design and is an AIGA Fellow. Lisa lectures, exhibits, and publishes her work nationally and internationally.

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Committee Representatives 

While each network has a unique focus, we acknowledge our mutuality in supporting the growth of design for the common good. In this we seek to scale our effectiveness through our existing network affiliations, the inclusion of new networks, and the promotion of relationships that share new knowledge and critical PID approaches to working, teaching, and learning.

Ursula Hartig

Ursula Hartig

DesignBuildXchange

Nina Pawlicki

Nina Pawlicki

DesignBuildXchange

Simon Colwill

Simon Colwill

DesignBuildXchange

Jane Anderson

Jane Anderson

Live Projects Network

Colin Priest

Colin Priest

Live Projects Network

Hendrik Teiben

Hendrik Tieben

Pacific Rim Community

Chong Keng Hua

CHONG Keng Hua

Pacific Rim Community

Bryan Bell

Bryan Bell

SEED Network

Sergio Palleroni

Sergio Palleroni

SEED Network

LOCATION INFO

Metropolitan State University of Denver, Center for Visual Art

The Center for Visual Art (CVA) provides diverse, high-quality art experiences that bring local and international artists, MSU Denver students and the broader community together to advance the global urban dialogue.

In addition to showing significant contemporary art, the award-winning CVA serves as an interactive art laboratory for MSU Denver students and the larger community. The CVA was founded in 1990 to expose students to leading-edge art and to broaden MSU Denver’s art program. The non-profit art space makes an important contribution to visual art offerings available in Denver and the Rocky Mountain West, bringing in art that would not otherwise be seen here.

CVA is a division of the MSU Denver Department of Art which is dedicated to providing students with an unparalleled urban learning environment and a strong sense of community within the local art scene. The Center for Visual Art contributes to MSU Denver’s status as a higher education art program in Colorado that maintains accreditation from the National Association of Schools of Art and Design.

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Students at the Metropolitan State University of Denver Campus

Photo Credit: Aly McClaran

conference events

01/14: Exhibition Opening

Lecture: Exhibition Introduction and Welcome, Curator, Lisa M. Abendroth; Keynote address, Sergio Palleroni, Professor and Director, Center for Public Interest Design, Portland State University and Executive Committee Chair, Design for the Common Good Network.

03/04: Conference Day 1

Join us for a day filled with inspiring events including panel discussions, network presentations, and a keynote address by Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a special viewing of the Design for the Common International Exhibition that evening. Meet speakers and experts promoting systemic change in the practices of design to amplify positive change in communities around the world.

03/05: Conference Day 2

Seated breakfast with speakers, concurrent sessions, in-person and virtual walkthrough of projects, facilitated open discussions, conference closing and a walking tour of the Auraria Bike Pavilions project by ColoradoBuildingWorkshop, University of Colorado Denver faculty and students.

Two online conversation events, on 3 March and 19 March, extend the global community created by the Design for the Common Good Exhibition and Structures for Inclusion Conference. Join with public interest designers, community members, and leaders in the field for a curated dialogue about the exhibited projects and the stories behind them.

03/03: Online Conversation

A selection of five project teams and communities from the exhibition will reflect in a dialogue between DCG networks, open to all. The Conversations will focus on understanding the stories of community design projects and held online to support team members and communities around the world. The March 3rd Conversations will be held 8:00-12:00pm GMT (3-7am EST) and feature keynote speaker Akiko Okabe.

03/19: Online Conversation

A selection of six project teams and communities from the exhibition will reflect in a dialogue between DCG networks, open to all. The Conversations will focus on understanding the stories of community design projects and held online to support team members and communities around the world. The March 19th Conversations will be held 4:00-8:00pm GMT (12-4pm EST) and feature keynote speaker Nabeel Hamdi.