SPATIAL JUSTICE

(CRC) The architecture of Michael Smith Masís in San José, Costa Rica, encourages participation, collaboration and ownership of low-income residents, rural and indigenous communities and informal settlements, the true protagonists of the city. Smith has facilitated projects from housing to public space, guided by the principles of replicability, efficiency, functionality, viability and environmental sustainability. His work has received important awards and distinctions, including the 2017 CICA Award for the Practice of Young Architects and the 2015 International Architecture Prize at the Buenos Aires Architecture Biennale. It also won the 2016 Biennial Grand Prize and the 2016 and 2014 Icomadera Awards at the International Architecture Biennial in San José, Costa Rica, and the 2015 Sustainable Construction Award from the Costa Rica Construction Chamber, among others. Alongside his architectural practice, Smith has taught and lectured around the world to build capacity for transformative processes within the communities he works with. He is a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University, co-founder of the Space Agency (San José-Cambridge) for the development of social impact projects, and founder of Spatial Justice.