Leeland McPhail

Critic

Leeland McPhail is founding principal of Here Here, a practice with one foot in community advocacy and the other in architecture. From his work with Ghana Free Community Libraries, he brings experience navigating the complex interrelationships of labor, ecology, economy and theory and a belief that the discipline of architecture has a responsibility to support and lift up communities.

Prior to founding Here Here, McPhail’s work ranged from research on and design of mass timber construction with Gray Organschi to large-scale affordable housing developments with Bernheimer Architecture to obsessively designed and detailed commercial, cultural and institutional work with BLDGS. He also sees the need to step out of the pristine, controlled environment of the office and into a sometimes messy community. He’s done this most recently in Atlanta, where he lived and practiced for the past few years, by leading projects for Neighbor in Need to combat gentrification and by organizing within his community to combat predatory development practices.

Before practice, McPhail was the Frederick C. Bland Scholar at Yale School of Architecture, where he earned his MArch. He earned his BSArch at Georgia Tech, where he was awarded the Alpha Rho Chi medal and was a President’s Scholar. He works both locally and globally, and his work has been exhibited internationally.

Courses

Fall 2023 Courses

ARCH 2108-02 - URBAN ECOLOGIES
Level Undergraduate
Unit Architecture
Subject Architecture
Period Fall 2023
Credits 6
Format Studio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

ARCH 2108-02

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): Leeland McPhail Location(s): Bayard Ewing Building, Room 310 Enrolled / Capacity: 14 Status: Open

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

ARCH 2199-01 - ARCHITECTURE PROFESSIONAL INTERNSHIP
Level Graduate
Unit Architecture
Subject Architecture
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Internship
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

ARCH 2199-01

ARCHITECTURE PROFESSIONAL INTERNSHIP

Level Graduate
Unit Architecture
Subject Architecture
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Internship
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2023-09-06 to 2023-12-13
Instructor(s): Leeland McPhail Enrolled / Capacity: 1 Status: Closed

SECTION DESCRIPTION

ARCH-2199 is the required summer internship. It may be completed in any summer prior to entering the final year. Total hours required are 280. This internship can count for NCARB Architectural Experience Program AX-P. The internship hours for ARCH-2199 can be used towards architecture licensure through the NCARB Internship. Student's intent upon becoming registered architects in the USA after graduation should enroll in the AXP as soon as possible. AXP is the internship program required by all registration jurisdictions. The work experience accomplished during ARCH-2199, the department's minimum Internship experience (280 hours) can be recorded as acceptable experience in the AXP (3740 hours) and thus accelerate one's pace towards architectural licensure. Visit the NCARB website for more information. Register through RISD Careers website (ArtWorks).

Registration is not available in Workday.

Major Requirement | BArch, MArch (3yr), MArch (2yr): Architecture

Spring 2024 Courses

ARCH 102G-01 - GRADUATE CORE 2 STUDIO: CONSTRUCTIONS
Level Graduate
Unit Architecture
Subject Architecture
Period Spring 2024
Credits 6
Format Studio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

ARCH 102G-01

GRADUATE CORE 2 STUDIO: CONSTRUCTIONS

Level Graduate
Unit Architecture
Subject Architecture
Period Spring 2024
Credits 6
Format Studio
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-02-15 to 2024-05-24
Times: MTH | 1:10 PM - 6:10 PM Instructor(s): Leeland McPhail Location(s): Bayard Ewing Building, Room 308 Enrolled / Capacity: 12 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

The second core studio addresses the agency of the building to simultaneously construct new spatial, social, and material orders in the context of the contemporary city. The second core studio situates architecture as the strategic interplay of spatial and constructive concepts towards specific aesthetic, social, and performative ends. The studio seeks to create a productive friction between abstract orders (form, pattern, organization), technical systems (structure, envelope), and the contingencies of real-world conditions (site, climate, politics). The studio asks students to link disciplinary methods to extra-disciplinary issues, with concentrated forays into the realms of structure, material, and critical preservation. Students iteratively develop architectural concepts, ethical positions, and experimental working methods through a series of focused architectural design projects with increasing degrees of complexity, culminating in the design of a mid-scale public building in an urban context.

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

Major Requirement | MArch: Architecture (3yr)

ARCH 2199-01 - ARCHITECTURE PROFESSIONAL INTERNSHIP
Level Graduate
Unit Architecture
Subject Architecture
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Internship
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

ARCH 2199-01

ARCHITECTURE PROFESSIONAL INTERNSHIP

Level Graduate
Unit Architecture
Subject Architecture
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Internship
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-02-15 to 2024-05-24
Instructor(s): Leeland McPhail Enrolled / Capacity: 1 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

ARCH-2199 is the required summer internship. It may be completed in any summer prior to entering the final year. Total hours required are 280. This internship can count for NCARB Architectural Experience Program AX-P. The internship hours for ARCH-2199 can be used towards architecture licensure through the NCARB Internship. Student's intent upon becoming registered architects in the USA after graduation should enroll in the AXP as soon as possible. AXP is the internship program required by all registration jurisdictions. The work experience accomplished during ARCH-2199, the department's minimum Internship experience (280 hours) can be recorded as acceptable experience in the AXP (3740 hours) and thus accelerate one's pace towards architectural licensure. Visit the NCARB website for more information. Register through RISD Careers website (ArtWorks).

Registration is not available in Workday.

Major Requirement | BArch, MArch (3yr), MArch (2yr): Architecture