“In The Wake”

Africatown International Design Competition 1st Prize

Site 2 : Former Josephine Allen Houses Site Africatown (Mobile), AL design team : Jerome Haferd (principal / lead), Sidnie Ancion, Suraya Babb, Shadeen Dixon, Violet Greenberg, Tiffany Gonzalez, Gabriel Moyer Perez

“ In The Wake”, embraces the multi-layered “in-between” of water and land urbanistically, architecturally, materially, and conceptually. The proposal seeks to tap into the inter-woven histories of both Native and African stewardship of the site, and celebrates both solid (earth) and flowing (woven) design elements that encourage the remediation and co-existence with the natural floodplain ecology. The design concept and elements invoke the “doubleness” of Cudjo Lewis and the Africatown descendents’ identity (“Trees of Two Woods”) in both ancestral and futuristic ways through a “doubling” of ground and building envelope surfaces : the literal layers that define a new relationship to earth and water. The project proposes this “imaginary” for our relationship to the ground, sky, and social plane of Africatown : one that is layered, billowing, and porous.

The Jerome Haferd team, composed almost entirely of designers with African diaspora backgrounds, proposed a new urban design site plan overtop the now razed Josephine Allen site, that interweaves an intentional floodplain with four venues of Site 2 : a new Africatown Museum and adjacent Clotilda Boathouse Archive for the display of a replica of the Clotilda slave ship, as well as design concepts for over 300 units of “maritime housing” to coexist with the aquatic landscape, and finally a ceremonial Gateway of Baptism, which creates a public plaza connecting land and water. “In The Wake” is meant to be a provocation to work with the community to develop this language into a robust urban, iconic, and everyday architecture that is their own.

sankofa Culture, Creativity & Care Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem

public installations and multi-year plan (2023) lead artist, infrastructure / community design support

“Sankofa” is the first of multiple interactive installations to serve as centerpiece “nodes” of the Mellon funded Culture, Creativity, and Care initiative over summers of 2023 and 2024. Designed by Jerome Haferd of BRANDT : HAFERD, a local Black-led public art and architecture practice, “Sankofa” is the first of these outdoor hubs to be unveiled. “Sankofa” derives from the Akan African folklore, symbolizing remembrance of things forgotten, and “in order to know our future we must look to our past”. The installation is simultaneously futuristic and ancestral.

The design concept, inspired by working in community with members of the Marcus Garvey Park, draws upon intersectional cultures including African, Afro-caribbean and indigenous craft traditions as well as the everyday histories and contemporary life of the Park. The 32 foot circular structure incorporates a gathering space below a striking fabric mesh canopy that features a complex printed design depicting archival images and digitally composed layers evoking a “mythology” of Marcus Garvey Park, as well as other Harlem-inspired motifs. The central space is surrounded by a rotating art gallery.

The piece is conceived of as a community engagement device itself - a process which will unfold, evolve, and showcase the work and co-production of as many local artists as possible. Visitors pass underneath to reveal a ring of mounted artwork, a rotating exhibit that will feature the work of numerous local artists over the course of the summer. Despite its bespoke appearance, the installation is based on a modular system and uses sturdy, reusable materials that can be reconfigured for a number of future uses or sites.