dig.nify magazine Summer 2026 | Page 88

and remain accountable long after ribbon cuttings.

This approach has deeply shaped our work in public memory and memorials. Projects like the Gun Violence Memorial Project, which emerged not from a predefined brief, but from sitting with grieving families and listening to what they needed to honor their loved ones. Each glass brick encases a remembrance object donated by a family — everyday items like a photograph, a baseball, a comb — transforming private grief into collective memory while preserving the singularity of each life. As the memorial travels from city to city, our role has evolved from designer to steward, accompanying families not only in mourning, but in building a growing community of survivors who are organizing, advocating, and demanding change.

Seeking Abundance

More recently, our work has been guided by an

ecological understanding of abundance.

Abundance is not excess. It is balance. Human wellbeing and environmental health are deeply intertwined, and architecture design must align the two. By restoring landscapes, supporting local economies, and designing buildings that work with, rather than against, their ecosystems, the built environment can contribute to long-term resilience for both people and the planet.

The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, located outside the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, reflects this ethos. There, buildings emerge from the

landscape rather than dominate it, supporting conservation, education, and community simultaneously. The campus is a living laboratory for conservation, research, and education — designed to regenerate the land, support biodiversity, and serve as an entry point for a lifetime of conservation activism. Located at the base of the seismically active Virunga Mountains, the campus required robust

Photograph Courtesy of:

MASS

Haven Shelter, Montana

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