Etta Madete on Homes vs housing: Spatial equity through dignity, sustainability, and inclusivity
On February 13th, in the first lecture in the 2023 Spring Urbanism Lecture series, co-hosted by the City Design & Development Program (CDD), SMArchS Urbanism Program, and Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism at MIT, Etta Madete from University of Nairobi shared her work on HOMES VS HOUSING; Spatial Equity Through Dignity, Sustainability, and Inclusivity.
Etta Madete is an Architect, EDGE Expert, Aspen Senior Fellow passionate about affordable sustainable housing. She is currently the Affordable Housing Lead at BuildX Studio and a lecturer(TF) at the University of Nairobi. In all capacities she practices, teaches and does research on architectural design innovation that brings sustainable economic, social and environmental development to Kenya and beyond.
Most recently she was the lead researcher for East Africa section of the 2020 exhibition with Rem Koolhaas, OMA, Harvard GSD happening at the Guggenheim museum in New York on the countryside. She has worked with Musau Kimeu Architects; an expert in environmental design, Morphosis architects and is now the Affordable Housing Lead in charge of the Zima Homes flagship project at BuildX Studio; an architectural firm focused on design innovation for social impact and sustainable development.
By Sylvia Jimenez, Norman B (1938). and Muriel Leventhal Fellow, MIT Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism.
