How Architecture is Free Foundation is Building Opportunity Through Access

What if you could remove any financial, social, and geographic obstacles contributing to the educational exclusion of a section of our society? Today's guest fought hard to turn the idea into reality and started the Architecture Is Free Foundation nonprofit. He brought together different groups of marginalized teachers and students to remove any barriers to architectural education for those without proper access to in-person educational resources. In this episode, we welcome Daniel Horowitz, Founder of Architecture Is Free Foundation. From learning Architectural Technology at the age of 49 to creating a community of passion-led free educators, Daniel's life journey would inspire you to view education from a broader lens. He talks to us about his innate belief in educational inclusion, understanding the essence of education, and overcoming the limitations of classical models of learning. You'll also learn who the Architecture Is Free Foundation is for, how you can contribute to its cause, and how it has progressed so far in its journey to making architectural education accessible to all. You'll also learn: The idea of sideways thinking and bringing people in groups together Why everybody has a unique journey and why you need to have an open view as to where your life is taking you The power of social media in uniting communities Why you need to stop being afraid and start working on your dreams Meet The Guest... Daniel Horowitz is an architect-entrepreneur, educator, and Founder of the nonprofit educational organization for architectural students called Architecture Is Free (AIF). His mission in life is to make architectural education free or at least accessible to anyone who needs it. Time Stamps... [04:45] Why social media is the best medium for architects to connect and engage with others [07:02] AIF's thoughts on free education, the type of education that's more valuable than getting a job, understanding the larger cultural project that constitutes architecture, and the discipline of architecture. [11:15] Daniel talks about their primary pedagogical points of view on education -- "that students come to architecture with a lot of knowledge, they have their own knowledge of who they are, where they come from, their culture, their biases, also a keen sense of of the moment in time in which they exist in which the world exists, and that they're very keyed into some of the political questions and things that we want to hear about." [12:57] Daniel on how they set their project up [18:35] How Daniel stepped out of his comfort one to engage in deeper conversations with organizations [23:05] Why learning should be accessible to everyone and the educational revolution that YouTube has caused [26:08] How being an outsider turned out to be a precious experience for Daniel [30:03] Why Daniel doesn't support recipe-like education or the kind of education where students are taught how everything should look like [33:16] How Daniel got involved with Princeton University for talking about his project [38:32] Famous people who joined Daniel on his project [42:03] Getting students involved in educational projects [46:16] Daniel talks about how typical educational institutions today are focused mainly on paying for a lot of administrative tasks [51:34] You shouldn't have to wait for people to tell you to learn; grab the opportunity when it arises Connect with Daniel... Website: https://www.danswork.com/dan (https://www.danswork.com/) and http://architectureisfree.org/ (http://architectureisfree.org/) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-horowitz-aia-38379914/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-horowitz-aia-38379914/) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielhwtz/?hl=en (https://www.instagram.com/danielhwtz/) and https://www.instagram.com/architectureisfree/ (https://www.instagram.com/architectureisfree/) Connect with the podcast... Website: https://www.letsconnectforgood.com/...