Michael Graves, FAIA, has channeled many avatars during his career, from one of the academically minded New York Five in the 1970s, to a populist product designer for the retailer Target. After a bacterial infection paralyzed him from the waist down in 2003, the now wheelchair-bound architect works to be a champion of universal design, a movement that advocates creating spaces and products that any person, regardless of physical ability, can use.
The American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) recently appointed Graves as the honorary chair of its “Beyond Architecture” campaign, which seeks to establish a $2 million endowment to support its Freedom By Design program (FBD), among other initiatives. FBD enlists architecture students to renovate houses for low-income and disabled people. The AIAS had already raised half of its goal as of January, when Graves joined, and it hopes that his affiliation will be a driving force in raising the remaining amount.
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