Designing for Freedom

Although human rights advocates have begun to raise awareness of the pervasiveness of forced labor in construction projects around the world, the use of raw and composite materials produced by forced labor in the built environment largely continues with impunity.

Join experts and industry leaders across the ecosystem of the built environment, for an illuminating panel on modern slavery in the architecture and global construction industry, one of the largest industrial sectors in the world. The discussion will address the importance of human rights as a fundamental criterion in building material procurement, and share innovative, new frameworks that are being proposed to expose and dismantle exploitation in building supply chains.

This will also be an opportunity for the public to get insight into Grace Farms Foundation’s recently launched GFF Architecture + Construction Working Group (https://gracefarms.org/slave-free-architecture-supply-chains/), an interdisciplinary coalition formed to disrupt modern slavery in the built environment.

Panel Participants
Sharon Prince | President and Founder of Grace Farms Foundation
Ambassador (ret.) Luis C.deBaca | Senior Justice Initiative Advisor at Grace FarmsFoundation
Nat Oppenheimer | Principal and EVP of Robert Silman Associates and structural engineer for Grace Farms
Hayes Slade | President of AIA New York and Founding Partner and Principal of Slade Architecture