Beyond Beats and Rhymes: The Architecture of Hip Hop
Michael Ford, NOMA, AIA Assoc., is a designer, born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Ford received his Master of Architecture degree from the University of Detroit, Mercy (UDM), where he completed his graduate thesis, “Hip Hop Inspired Architecture and Design.” He has worked as a designer at Hamilton Anderson Associates located in Detroit and as an adjunct professor at his alma matter. Ford also worked as a designer at Flad Architects in Madison, Wisconsin.
Ford has spent the past decade working to blur the lines between professional practice and academia. He is dedicated to stimulating cross-disciplinary discourse between practitioners and residents on the sociological and cultural implications of architecture and urban planning on its inhabitants. More specifically, Ford unveils the subconscious roles of historical architectural figures such as LeCorbusier in envisioning the built environments which necessitated the birth of Hip Hop culture.
Ford’s Hip Hop Architecture research has been published in a variety of publications, including Fast Company Design, Blavity, The Fader, CityLab, Vibe Magazine, and NBC’s The TODAY Show. He has lectured widely at universities including the University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign, University of Detroit, Mercy, University of Pennsylvania and Carnegie Mellon University.
Ford was invited to be the keynote speaker at the 2017 American Institute of Architects National Conference on Architecture and delivered the keynote speech at the 2016 SXSW Eco Conference in Austin, Texas.
Through his research, publications, and lectures, Michael Ford is recognized in the architectural and Hip Hop communities as a galvanizer and pioneer of a new era of architectural practitioners. He is currently an instructor in the architecture program at Madison College and Co-Founder of The Urban Arts Collective, where he created and conducts The Hip Hop Architecture Camp™ with a mission to increase the number of minorities in architecture and urban planning. Ford is currently working with Hip Hop artists as he leads the programming and development of The Universal Hip Hop Museum in the Bronx.