A VIP Design Conversation

VIP members are invited to join Museum Director/CEO Julie Decker and special guests Todd Ferry of Portland State University and Michael Fredericks of SALT for a design discussion related to addressing houselessness. 

Todd is Associate Director and Senior Research Associate at the CPID. Before earning a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Texas at Austin, Todd worked for over a decade in the nonprofit field. His current work investigates how social needs can be addressed by architecture in underserved communities and seeks to develop new tools and models of engagement to aid in this effort. Recent projects at the CPID include the design of a sustainable community center in Inner Mongolia, China; a collaboration with the Portland Opera to create a mobile opera stage to bring the arts to more communities; and the POD Initiative to provide new visions for addressing houselessness in Portland using a participatory design and construction process. Todd is a Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Sustainable Solutions, Director of the Architecture Summer Immersion Program at the PSU School of Architecture, coordinator of PSU’s Graduate Certificate in Public Interest Design, and Co-Founder of PSU’s Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative.

Michael was born and raised in Alaska, and is a direct descendant of the late Glenn Fredericks, an Alaska Yup`ik Native and an Elder for the Georgetown Tribal Council. Michael has a deep and enduring commitment to design. The creation of RIM First People with her father, Glenn, was an ideal blend of Michael’s passions in life and her activism in Alaska Native and American Indian issues with her role as a designer. She is currently the president of SALT, an Anchorage based interior design and strategic planning firm.