Hector is an urban design, planning, and civic arts studio whose recent projects include a memorial for an eco-feminist nun, a riverfront park, a fourteen-foot city model celebrating the 350th anniversary of the founding of Newark, New Jersey, and an experimental exhibition on mortgage finance. Hector’s work has been exhibited at the Queens Museum, the Lisbon Architecture Triennale, the Newark Public Library, and Mural Arts Philadelphia. Using the slogan “Design for Organizing,” Hector attempts to craft things so that people in the future will have a reasonable answer to the question, “Who put that there?” Hector’s research into real estate development negotiations has been supported the National Endowment for the Arts and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.
Damon Rich is a designer, artist, and partner at Hector, an urban design, planning, and civic arts studio. He has previously served as planning director and chief urban designer for the City of Newark and is the founder of the Center for Urban Pedagogy, an internationally recognized nonprofit that uses art and design to increase meaningful civic engagement. His work has been recognized with the American Planning Association National Planning Award, the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, the Loeb Fellowship in Advanced Environmental Studies at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, a MacDowell Colony residency, and inclusion in the United States Pavilion at the 11th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice.
Jae Shin is a partner at Hector, an urban design, planning, and civic arts studio, whose work combines architecture, urban design, and exhibitions. She recently served as an Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellow at the New York City Housing Authority, where she facilitated efforts to define and implement design principles for preserving and rehabilitating New York’s public housing. She holds degrees from the Rhode Island School of Design and Princeton University, and her projects have received support from the MacDowell Colony and the National Endowment for the Arts. Shin has led design studios at New Jersey Institute of Technology and the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
