Josh Safdie has served as the Director of the IHCDStudio since 2008. As Director, he has primary responsibility for the Studio’s architectural and multi-disciplinary consulting and design projects, as well as for developing methods that ensure cross-fertilization of these projects with the organization’s educational and research mission. Recent and current projects which the Studio has undertaken under Mr. Safdie’s leadership include Universal Design consulting on the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and the Old State House Museum in Boston; the Giant Steps school for children with autism in Fairfield, CT; the Witkin Senior Living Center in West Hollywood, CA; the National 9-11 Museum and Memorial and the Capital Master Plan for the United Nations Campus in New York, NY; and L’Hopital Sant Nicholas outside of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Additionally, the Studio has completed or is currently working on multiple Universally-Designed renovations for residential, commercial, and institutional clients throughout Massachusetts and greater New England.
Mr. Safdie brings to the Studio a critical combination of experience in both the teaching and practice of architecture and design. Prior to becoming the first Director of the IHCDStudio, Mr. Safdie was a full-time faculty member and the Director of Foundation Studios at the Boston Architectural College, while simultaneously maintaining his own design practice. He has taught design studios and lectured on Universal Design both in the US and abroad, and in 2008 he served as the Scholar-in-Residence at Taliesin, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. For the past several years, Mr. Safdie has been an adjunct faculty member and critic in the School of Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design, and he has served as a frequent lecturer and critic at Massachusetts College of Art, Northeastern University, and the BAC. Mr. Safdie has also presented on Universal Design and other design topics at professional conferences sponsored by such diverse organizations as the American Institute of Architects, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the AARP.
Mr. Safdie lives with his wife and son in Somerville, MA, where he is an active community member and where he serves on the Zoning Board of Appeals. Mr. Safdie holds a Bachelors Degree in Architectural Studies from Brown University and a Master’s Degree in Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design.