Building on Dana is pleased to support the theme of our annual conference, inclusive health equity.
Using the strategies from John Portman, who designed the Dana Fine Arts Building (1965) and believed his architecture to be dynamic and responsive to changing needs, our Building on Dana project is confronting existential challenges through history, design, sustainability, accessibility, health equity, and social justice. In interdisciplinary courses and community partnerships, we are proposing and adopting plans that are better for all of us and our planet, recognizing this histories of our spaces and developing new directions, more inclusive inside and outside.
We are creating the third organic site on campus in our three courtyards and “secret garden” to support biodiversity. Faculty and students, with alumna Eliza Crofts ’22, who is leading the Dana Gardens project, removed more than 50 invasive shrubs and tidied the greenspaces in and around the building to prepare for native, pollinator-friendly plants, to be managed with regenerative land care.
We hope to raise awareness about the effects of pesticides on human health, especially on lower socio-economic communities, from occupants of public housing to lawncare workers. Please look out for our spring program schedule, coming soon!
Dana is open to those attending the conference. Handouts and signage describe the project – and progress.
Full program is here.
