Space to Thrive with Ganesh Nayak

Tangible Remnants

This episode features a conversation between Nakita and Ganesh Nayak on the intersection of sustainability and accessibility in the built environment. Ganesh shares his journey from being an architect to starting his own consultancy focused on sustainability and accessibility. They discuss the challenges of retrofitting historic buildings and the need to go beyond compliance with accessibility codes. Ganesh emphasizes the importance of designing for invisible disabilities and creating inclusive spaces. They also touch on the inequities in schools and the power of well-designed spaces to promote equity. The conversation concludes with a discussion on designing for the margins and creating spaces where everyone can thrive.

Links:

• Framework for Design Excellence: https://www.aia.org/design-excellence/aia-framework-design-excellence
• COTE: https://network.aia.org/communities/community-home?CommunityKey=3b790506-aca5-4eff-aaf6-8a7b553dc0ef
• AIA guidelines for equitable practice: https://www.aia.org/resource-center/guides-equitable-practice
• Metier, inc: https://www.metierinc.net/about.html
• ARTICLE: Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "A Special Needs family during Covid-19" https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v6ernHxTLPc7OteO6NNIrDkOqPFk7pjH/view
• ARTICLE: Ekistics and the New Habitat Journal. 2020, Volume 80, Issue No. 2, Article "Accessibility in Urban Spaces: The Potential and Limits of Jugaad" https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uxTBk3ey9wk_ICHz49FUlTtLQL-kiVQS/view?usp=sharing
• Tangible Remnants on Instagram
• Tangible Remnants Website
• LinkedTr.ee for resources
• Earn CEUs for listening to this podcast
• Signup for Ask Me Anything w/ Nakita Reed
• Gabl Media Network
• Sarah Gilberg's Music

Bio: Ganesh Nayak, AIA, NOMA founded Metier Inc. in Atlanta, GA consulting on sustainable design and accessibility. Growing up in India, he did his undergraduate studies in architecture before acquiring a graduate degree from Kansas State University. He worked in architecture in St. Paul, MN, and Wichita, KS before moving to Atlanta, GA. He has published, taught, and presented extensively on architecture, sustainability, and accessibility.

Ganesh and his wife Sitara are fully involved in the daily care of their young-adult son with developmental disabilities, and he brings this personal experience and voice to bear on issues of equity, design, and advocacy for disability. He served as chair of Georgia’s State Advisory Panel for Special Education, and on the Kansas Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities as a parent. He is a member of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Leadership Group and serves as secretary on the board of AIA Georgia. He also presently chairs the USGBC Equity Working Group for LEED v5.

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