Christine Gaspar

Christine is the Executive Director of CUP. She has over fifteen years of experience in community design. Prior to joining CUP, she was Assistant Director of the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio in Biloxi, Mississippi, where she provided architectural design and city planning services to low-income communities recovering from Hurricane Katrina. In 2012, she was identified as one of the “Public Interest Design 100.” She holds Masters in Architecture and in City Planning from MIT, and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University.

She’s been a CUP fan since 2001, and a staff member since 2009.

Laura Giraudo

Laura Giraudo is an Art Director and Graphic Designer from Argentina, living and working in NYC.Born in Tucumán, she majored as Graphic Designer at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, where she also taught the subjects Typography, Editorial and Graphic Design. After finishing her studies she established her own studio and then moved to Milan, Italy to complete a Visual Design Master Course at the Scuola Politecnica di Design (SPD).Through the years she has collaborated with different brands such asLAN, Greenpeace, GREY, Kraft Foods, Camelbak, the Center of Urban Pedagogy and Random House, among others, and artists like Lucía Cuba and Irving Flores.She’s currently the Creative Director and partner at Bardo Ind., a graphic design studio based in Brooklyn, NY.

Oscar Nuñez

Oscar was a Community Education Program Manager at CUP. He is a graduate of the City and Regional Planning Master’s Program at Pratt Institute with a concentration on Community Development. While completing his studies at Pratt, Oscar worked and interned in various local community organizations and groups, including CUP, on issues dealing with planning, design, and community education and engagement. Previously, he received a B.A. in Sociology and Latin American Studies from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.  Originally from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, he moved to Washington, D.C. at a young age. He is fluent in English, Spanish, and French and can give pretty good directions in Portuguese.

Christine Gaspar

Christine is the Executive Director of CUP. She has over fifteen years of experience in community design. Prior to joining CUP, she was Assistant Director of the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio in Biloxi, Mississippi, where she provided architectural design and city planning services to low-income communities recovering from Hurricane Katrina. In 2012, she was identified as one of the “Public Interest Design 100.” She holds Masters in Architecture and in City Planning from MIT, and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University.

She’s been a CUP fan since 2001, and a staff member since 2009.

KUDOS Design Collaboratory

KUDOS Design Collaboratory™ is a team of passionate graphic designers, web developers, and strategists working with forward-thinking brands, institutions, and agencies. Since 2008 we continue to create beautiful, thoughtful, and sincere products that bring about positive change. We believe in collaboration, experimentation, good typography, user-friendliness and attention to detail. We produce end products that are engaging, coherent, cohesive, and sustainable. kudos.nyc

Jeff Lai

Jeff Lai is a creative director and graphic designer. He started his studio, Office of Jeff in 2004 and works with clients in every industry across a broad range of media including print, motion, and digital. He has taught at the Rhode Island School of Design and Pratt Institute. Office of Jeff worked on What is Affordable Housing?, Bodega Down Bronx, Making Policy Public, and the Zoning toolkit with CUP.

Mark Torrey

Mark Torrey was a Community Education Program Manager for CUP, working on Making Policy Public and the Envisioning Development Toolkits. Previously he spent a good long while working as an Information Technology Specialist (computer guy) at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, but then decided to firm up his understanding of cities by getting a Masters in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University. He wears his pants in the Highwater fashion, which most of the CUP staff find to be ridiculous, but it keeps his pants from getting caught in the bike chain.

He was a CUP staff member 2011-2020.

Christine Gaspar

Christine is the Executive Director of CUP. She has over fifteen years of experience in community design. Prior to joining CUP, she was Assistant Director of the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio in Biloxi, Mississippi, where she provided architectural design and city planning services to low-income communities recovering from Hurricane Katrina. In 2012, she was identified as one of the “Public Interest Design 100.” She holds Masters in Architecture and in City Planning from MIT, and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University.

She’s been a CUP fan since 2001, and a staff member since 2009.

Lynn Kiang

Lynn Kiang is co-founder of DOME, a multi-disciplinary design studio in graphic design, interaction design, and built environments. Previously she led experience design at SYPartners, collaborating with strategists and company leaders in transforming their brand. She was also a media designer at Local Projects, leading graphic and interaction design for museums and cultural institutions. She has also designed at Fathom Information Design in Boston. She received her MFA in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design, a Certificate of Collegiate Teaching from Brown University, and a BS in Psychology from the University of California at Los Angeles. lynnkiang.com 

DOME is working with CUP on the ULURP Envisioning Development Toolkit.

Katie Lee

Katie Lee is a graphic designer working in print, interactive, and motion design and co-founder of DOME. She began working as a print designer for Shapiro Design Associates in New York, then as a web designer for Razorfish in its New York and San Francisco offices. In 2004, she moved to Los Angeles where she worked for Brand Integration Group/Ogilvy & Mather, ReVerb, and Prologue Films. Lee was a Creative Director at Local Projects where she designed interactive experiences for museums, cultural institutions, and public spaces from 2007 to 2014. She holds a BA in art from Yale College and an MFA in graphic design from the Yale University School of Art. katielee.info 

DOME is working with CUP on the ULURP Envisioning Development Toolkit.

Christine Gaspar

Christine is the Executive Director of CUP. She has over fifteen years of experience in community design. Prior to joining CUP, she was Assistant Director of the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio in Biloxi, Mississippi, where she provided architectural design and city planning services to low-income communities recovering from Hurricane Katrina. In 2012, she was identified as one of the “Public Interest Design 100.” She holds Masters in Architecture and in City Planning from MIT, and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University.

She’s been a CUP fan since 2001, and a staff member since 2009.

Jeff Lai

Jeff Lai is a creative director and graphic designer. He started his studio, Office of Jeff in 2004 and works with clients in every industry across a broad range of media including print, motion, and digital. He has taught at the Rhode Island School of Design and Pratt Institute. Office of Jeff worked on What is Affordable Housing?, Bodega Down Bronx, Making Policy Public, and the Zoning toolkit with CUP.

John Mangin

John Mangin is a construction manager and housing litigator at Fair Share Housing, an affordable housing developer that grew out of the Mount Laurel exclusionary housing cases in the 70’s and 80’s. He was formerly a homebuilder and continues to take building and furniture-making jobs out of his Philadelphia studio. He graduated from Yale Law School in 2008. He was one of three staff members at CUP from 2008 to 2010.  

Mark Torrey

Mark Torrey was a Community Education Program Manager for CUP, working on Making Policy Public and the Envisioning Development Toolkits. Previously he spent a good long while working as an Information Technology Specialist (computer guy) at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, but then decided to firm up his understanding of cities by getting a Masters in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University. He wears his pants in the Highwater fashion, which most of the CUP staff find to be ridiculous, but it keeps his pants from getting caught in the bike chain.

He was a CUP staff member 2011-2020.

Rosten Woo

Rosten Woo is a cultural producer living in Los Angeles. He makes work that helps people understand complex systems and participate in group decision-making. He produces that work in partnership with local and national groups ranging from the American Human Development Project to the East Los Angeles Community Corporation. His work has been exhibited at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Triennial, the New Museum, the Venice Architecture Biennale, Netherlands Architectural Institute, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, on the internet, and in various public housing developments, tugboats, shopping malls, and parks in New York City and Los Angeles. His first book, “Street Value,” was published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2010. He is co-founder and former executive director of the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP). His website: www.wehavenoart.net

Valeria Mogilevich

Valeria is a visual storyteller who creates tools for participation in collaboration with social justice organizations. She also consults with cultural institutions, education non-profits, and others on community engagement and youth education. Valeria was formerly the Deputy Director of CUP, where over the course of eight years she created popular education tools with community-based organizations and developed curricula to help public high school students change the way the see their own neighborhoods. She has shared her thoughts on project-based learning, collaboration, and design for social impact at places like the New Museum, the Cooper-Hewitt, Pratt Institute, and institutions from Indianapolis to Rotterdam. Valeria holds a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University in Modern Culture and Media.

Douglas Paulson

Douglas Paulson is an artist who explores the ways people construct cultural moments and spaces through collaboration.  Douglas has organized and participated in expansive projects, adventures, and shows across the U.S. and Europe, and loves asking the question: “What art are you for?”  

He is the New York wing of the international collective Parfyme, initiator of an informal collaborative group Action Club and a member of Flux Factory, where he runs the residency program.  As a CUP teaching artist, he explored vacant property in Flatbush with middle school students, street-level banking mechanisms, and affordable housing placement with high school students.