Dr Craig Wilkins

Architect, artist, academic and activist, Dr. Craig L. Wilkins currently on the faculty at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. A 2017 Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum National Design Award nominee and Hip Hop architectural theorist, his creative practice specializes in engaging communities in collaborative and participatory design processes. He’s particularly interested in the production of various forms of space, understanding publically accessible and responsive design can radically transform the trajectory of lives and environments, especially for those on the margins of society. His award-winning design work has been featured in such publications as the Washington Post, Miami Herald, Houston Chronicle, The Atlantic and Fast Company. A leading scholar of African Americans in the field of architecture, his books, essays, articles, and public talks explore the rich social, cultural, political, historical and aesthetic contributions of oft-ignored practitioners of color with the kind of broad, critical and celebratory insight that comes from over 3 decades of personal, professorial, and professional experience. His essays have been published in the Journal of Architectural Education, International Review of African American Art, Art South Africa, Volume, Minneapolis Star Tribune and Detroit News among others. Recipient of the 2008 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture's Collaborative Practice Award and the 2010 Kresge Fellow, the former director of the Detroit Community Design Center is the author of “The Aesthetics of Equity: Notes on Race, Space, Architecture & Music” (University of Minnesota 2007), “Ruffneck Constructivist” (Dancing Foxes Press/ICA 2014) and “Diversity Among Architects: From Margin to Center” (Routledge 2016) as well as co-editor of “Activist Architecture: A Field Guide to Community-Based Practice” (DCDC Publications 2015). The Doctor can be reached at: clwilks@umich.edu