NOOR UL-AIN

Portrait courtesy of Noor Ul-Ain.

Noor is a Brooklyn-based artivist and current student at the City College of New York. For the past few months, she has been working at the Building Energy Exchange, an organization dedicated to reducing the effects of climate change through the building industry. Throughout her time at CCNY, she has been locally and nationally involved in advocacy efforts within the architecture community. She served as the 2019-2020 Director of the Northeast Quad of the American Institute of Architecture Students and as the 2019 Student Director of AIA New York State. She strongly believes in the role of architecture as a fundamental change agent in designing a sustainable and equitable future. Noor believes this change begins with equity within architectural education and empowering students to be active leaders in building tomorrow.

Making Changes through Activism, Art, and Organizations for Equitable Design and Resiliency

What inspired you to view architecture as a form of activism for an equitable future?

I think I innately grew up with this understanding of place, or the idea of place, and what that meant for belonging, for safety, and for the foundation of a society. As an immigrant I never quite felt like I belonged in any one place and that contributed to a sort of loss of identity – a big chunk of who we are is informed by our surroundings. I formed a habit of making a home wherever I went, this ultimately meant building community. One community that became a true sanctuary space for me was a mural painting studio in Brooklyn – Groundswell. A home for youth and artists all over the city who wanted to channel their energy into collaboration, social change, and beautiful artwork. This space, along with the walls we transformed, inspired me to view architecture as an agent of activism. I began to believe in all the possibilities of transforming the built environment for an equitable future and in architects to be pioneers of change.

Speech at Forum Seattle. Photo courtesy of Noor Ul Ain.

How did painting murals that illustrate social issues across New York City change your perspective of art as a source of expression and activism?

Regardless of the intention of the artist, art will always be open to interpretation, this is not unique to murals but is something that I became more aware of when painting in a public space. In the rapidly changing neighborhoods of New York City, as artists we explored how our work potentially contributed to gentrification and displacement of residents. I recently found out the last mural project I worked on is being removed as the building was bought by a developer shortly after our project was completed. It is the mural titled “Respect Is the Strongest Compliment,” a project that was a true testament to our resilience as we suffered the very harassment we were calling out when we were painting it. That project made our work as artivists so real. Over a few weeks, as our paintbrushes revealed the message of our mural, people began to pause and would often respond. The mural stirred conversations and questioned the norms of our society that were very damaging. Some women would pause and feel seen, sometimes mentioning how they had experienced street harassment just moments before walking past the mural, it validated their experience. Others were angry, feeling we were targeting men in the neighborhood in the mural. Painting murals and oftentimes getting to observe viewer reactions in the process allowed me to learn not to get too attached to how work is received or in this case – its permanence in one space. The conversations that we had – even just in the process of painting the mural, was an empowering experience of its own. Its impact was clear. I view art as both a vehicle for self-expression as well as resistance – for questioning societal norms, for prompting conversations on social issues. I believe art, like architecture, can never be neutral.

Team picture - Groundswell Mural. Photo courtesy of Noor Ul Ain.

We were inspired by your participation in CUNY’s ServiceCorps project to rebuild houses affected by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Can you tell us more about the rebuilding process and your experience with the community?

In Puerto Rico I found more strength than I could have ever imagined. We worked with Nechama, a volunteer disaster relief organization. They had been on the island for a while, working primarily on roof repairs. As our flight landed in San Juan, we saw a sea of blue tarps below us, those were all roofs that needed to be worked on. I had woodworking experience, so I got placed on a carpentry site. My team got to work on Noemi’s house in Vietnam, Catano. When NECHAMA first got to Noemi’s house, they found the roof had been ripped off by Hurricane Maria, taking with it all the walls, doors and windows broken in. The basement was completely flooded, there wasn’t working plumbing, or electricity, and water damage over the course of the last 9 months had been eating away at the exterior walls and structure of the house. We found a woman living alone in a deteriorating home, who had gotten sick from the fungus growing in the walls and ceiling, was suffering from depression...but every morning we would get there and she was there to greet us, with her two dogs Cotonelle and Erika jumping around her with more energy than a whole team of volunteers combined, and we found a community that supported each other, in which no one was alone. This was evident in how the dogs of the neighborhood wagged their tails into any home, knowing they would be welcome.

In the neighborhood of Vietnam, Cataño, the residents had ultimately been ignored by the government, but they built their own network of support for one another. We recognized the woman who lived across the street as the “mayor,” Neida who would bring us Café con leche, feed us hand-picked acerolas, and guava candies. I learned that we were not in Puerto Rico to build houses. We were there to rebuild homes. The work we were doing was in rebuilding homes...restoring houses that had history, that had been built by someone’s grandfather, in which every wall that was put up, every nail hammered in was a testament to the love of family, and resiliency of people who had survived things greater than all of us. We were not building houses we were restoring homes, so families could stay together instead of being displaced. On our last day working on the house, Noemi’s family was able to return to live with her. We got to meet her grandchildren and were seen off with lots of dog kisses.

There will always be many more families, more homes that need to be rebuilt. Every single person has the ability to help. Coming back from Puerto Rico, I had never felt so certain about what I want to do in my whole life…a life dedicated to service is a life fulfilled, a life with a purpose. And service can come in so many different forms, even when not in Puerto Rico, now I find myself advocating for the island, for the people. I am not Puerto Rican but I feel like I will always have a family on the island and I will definitely return. Everything I do, I feel I must evaluate now – how will this make a positive impact on my community? How will it affect communities outside of my own? What is the impact a few years down the line or 20 or 50…we need to think of sustainable development for communities not just in the short term, but long term. Climate change is real, and Puerto Rico WILL get hit by another hurricane, perhaps even stronger than the last, as will every coastal city in the world. We have our work cut out for us.

Puerto Rico Service Corps - Day 1 - Airport. Photo courtesy of Noor Ul Ain.

Team Warriors - Puerto Rico Service Corp. Photo courtesy of Noor Ul Ain.

Puerto Rico Service Corps - Last day - Naomi and family. Photo courtesy of Noor Ul Ain.

As the Co-Chair of the National Sustainability and Resiliency Task Force, what was one of your favorite topics? Why?

 I ran to serve on the Sustainability and Resiliency Task Force and began co-chairing upon my return from Puerto Rico. I was excited about how much potential there is for architects to be stewards of the environment, champions of resilience. For that to happen, we need a strong emphasis on sustainability in or architecture school curriculums. As one of our charges for the year, we evaluated the opportunities to explore sustainability and resiliency in architecture schools, beginning with looking at NAAB’s criteria for accreditation. We found sustainability only mentioned once and resiliency was not at all mentioned. We pushed for environmental stewardship to become a priority moving forward, something that we made an AIAS priority at the NAAB Accreditation Review Forum last year. Now, architecture schools must demonstrate environmental stewardship in their programs to be accredited by NAAB, as per the 2020 NAAB Conditions for Accreditation.

AdvocAIASy Resiliency Co-Chairs. Photo courtesy of Noor Ul Ain.

Based on your extraordinary experience in activism, how will you use your platform to inspire equitable design?

Lead by listening, has always been my personal motto, I have found it applicable in many different situations. I think it applies to equitable design as well – we must be sure to listen to the communities we are building for and create agency in spaces. So much of my activism has just been listening, listening to my peers, listening to my mentors, and sometimes listening for what is not being said, for who is not being advocated for. Designing for equity must begin with uplifting designers with a diverse set of experiences to offer, especially BIPOC women who are the most underrepresented in the industry. This is the first step.

AIA Queens Student Award and Holiday Party. Photo courtesy of Noor Ul Ain.

What advice would you give to the future generation architects who want to become activists to promote resiliency?

To find mentors, people and places that inspire them. I am undoubtedly indebted to a network of mentors who have opened doors for me, who have listened to my vents, who have helped me find my own voice and resiliency. Mentorship is how we keep the torch going. If you see someone who demonstrates the values you believe in and is doing the kind of work you want to be doing, reach out to them and start that relationship.

CCNY Arch Alumni Vegas 2019. Photo courtesy of Noor Ul Ain.

AIAS CCNY at SHoP Architects in front of Woolworth building. Photo courtesy of Noor Ul Ain.