Liz Martin-Malikian is Decarbonizing the Curriculum

Justin R. Wolf: As you prepare to begin your tenure at Miami University, how do you plan to define your role as chair of the architecture school, and how do you think your past experiences will inform that direction?

Liz Martin-Malikian: When I was at Cosanti Foundation, we asked ourselves: how do we build a sense of belonging and become accessible to a diverse range of students? Cosanti has strong connections to Indigenous nations, and [founder] Paolo Soleri’s work was heavily influenced by Indigenous philosophies and land stewardship. Leading Cosanti was like earning an MBA in sustainable leadership. I stepped into that role at a moment when it was critical to engage with the intersection of design, climate, and equity. One of the things that really drew me to Miami University is the school’s active acknowledgement of Indigenous lands and its connection to the Miami Nation. The institution’s ethos resonates deeply with my efforts at Cosanti, where we partnered with the Hopi Nation and developed a land stewardship initiative that is rooted in ecology and cultural respect.

That direct connection with the Miami Nation will inform my leadership at the architecture and interior design department. It will help embed Indigenous knowledge systems and reciprocal land practices, a kind of place-keeping in the design pedagogy. Design doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens in a place, with its history.

JRW: You’ve long been a proponent of what you call “Decarbonizing the Curriculum,” and conducted several workshops under that title. Can you elaborate on what this entails?

LMM: It’s largely based on “arcology”, or architecture and ecology, which was a term coined by Soleri, where he used Arcosanti as a demonstration site for sustainable living. Arcology challenges ideas of sprawl and resource-intensive urban models that we’re currently living in. Instead, it promotes dense and resilient communities that are integrated with the natural world.

Early on I held workshops in Chicago, sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), with several schools participating. We were in AISC’s offices discussing materiality. We talked about the implications of steel as a building material and how its impacts are considered versus, say, heavy timber. We spent the day crafting a template for how to move design curricula forward. Everyone in architecture and other professions are being taught about sustainability, but we really need a more holistic pedagogy.

JRW: What will decarbonizing the curriculum look like for Miami University’s students?

LMM: Miami is a smaller school with a strong undergrad program, and a master’s program that’s very focused on community engagement and urban issues, all of which definitely appealed to me. I see Miami’s architecture and interior design school functioning as a living laboratory for decarbonizing the curriculum.

It will begin with workshops and site retreats and a lot of brainstorming with faculty and students. And from that, I want to create a template for how to embed decarbonization across design studios, to combine material studies and systems thinking, not as a siloed course but as a design ethos that cuts across the curriculum and a variety of disciplines. Then students can really begin to look at ecology, land stewardship, preservation, placemaking, physical architecture, and how it all fits together. It’s not just about reducing carbon footprints. It’s more about training students to become active agents of climate resilience and environmental justice, to become sustainable leaders.

JRW: There are certainly other architecture programs that are making all those things you mention—resiliency, sustainability, placemaking, stewardship, etc.—core parts of their curricula. How will your design ethos make Miami stand out from other design schools?

LMM: Schools face a lot of challenges now, especially with student retention post-COVID and even just maintaining their accreditation. Students are questioning everything. As educators, that presents us with an opportunity to really look at what students want to learn and what they need to learn now. Miami University benefits from low student-teacher ratios, a smaller campus, and an open-mindedness among the president, provost, all the deans, and department chairs; there’s no ivory tower. Most of our students either come from urban environments like Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus, or from very rural environments. The marriage of these two experiences is really going to help reinforce learning from the land and how important that is in terms of stewardship and ecology and the built environment.

JRW: The design profession doesn’t suffer from a lack of bold ideas, but there does seem to be a lack of audacity when it comes to carrying them out. What can Miami’s students glean from their education that will prepare them for careers that strive to balance bold ideas with bold action?

LMM: Big picture:experiential learning, immersive education, and mentorship. We are bringing design issues that deal with density, affordable housing, adaptive reuse, and other concerns to the forefront. Through residencies and other programs, students have opportunities to engage in hands-on community projects that emphasize inclusivity and accessibility. We are turning our campus into a living laboratory to deepen students’ understanding of social context and prepare them to design for diverse communities. We want to mentor students to become ethical creative leaders.

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• Education

• Architecture Education
• Justin R. Wolf
• Liz Martin-Malikian
• Miami University