Manuel Cordero Alvarado

Critic - Architecture
Image
head shot of Manuel Cordero
BA, Yale University
MARC, University of California - Berkeley

Manuel Cordero is a designer, advocate and educator with an interest in expanding the audience and participation in the planning and design of public spaces. He is a licensed architect in Rhode Island with several years of experience in large-scale institutional projects, with a focus on educational and community planning projects. In 2020, he founded CIVIC, a multidisciplinary design firm working to reimagine our public places and shared spaces to be healthier, safer, more accessible and joyful.
 
Manuel is the co-founder of DownCity Design, a nonprofit design organization dedicated to improving civic life while offering inquiry-based, experiential learning opportunities. He enjoys sharing his passion for design with students of all ages, including high school and middle school students, via DownCity Design and as an adjunct faculty member at RISD. His practice, research and teaching have recently focused on the role and efficacy of participatory engagement practices in public placemaking and urban infrastructural systems. 
 
Manuel previously worked at the School Building Authority (SBA) at the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE), where he helped to build a nationally recognized school construction program and launch a “once in a lifetime” state investment in public school facilities. In this role, he oversaw more than $1 billion in school construction investments and ensured cost-effective, sustainable construction aligned with 21st-century teaching and learning.
 
An active member of the Providence community, Manuel has served on the boards of several local nonprofits and currently chairs the Providence Redevelopment Authority Board. He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and earned a MArch degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Courses

Fall 2023 Courses

ARCH 2108-01 - URBAN ECOLOGIES
Level Undergraduate
Unit Architecture
Subject Architecture
Period Fall 2023
Credits 6
Format Studio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

ARCH 2108-01

URBAN ECOLOGIES

Level Undergraduate
Unit Architecture
Subject Architecture
Period Fall 2023
Credits 6
Format Studio
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2023-09-06 to 2023-12-13
Times: MTH | 1:10 PM - 6:10 PM Instructor(s): Manuel Cordero Alvarado Location(s): Bayard Ewing Building, Room 310 Enrolled / Capacity: 14 Status: Closed

SECTION DESCRIPTION

The Urban Ecologies core studio introduces students to the city as a designed environment with an emphasis on sustainability, giving them the tools to work through impressions, analysis and design operations as ways to understand the relationship between naturally formed and culturally constructed landscapes and strategies for urban ecological development. Students confront the design of housing as a way to order social relationships and shape the public realm and attack the problems of structure, construction, access and code compliance in the context of a complex large-scale architectural design. Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00 - $200.00

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Junior Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | BArch: Architecture

Image
head shot of Manuel Cordero
BA, Yale University
MARC, University of California - Berkeley