a PLACE meant
Sai Sinbondit
Founding Principal & Executive Director
Sai comes from a family of refugees who came to this country when he was a child. On their journey to the United States, his family spent several years in a refugee camp and finally settled in a small community in the northwest corner of Ohio. While growing up, the challenges his family experienced as displaced people along with his parents’ commitment, and self-reliance to get his family to a better place inspires him to not only experience the world, but to question it, engage it, and contribute to it.
As the Founding Principal of I_You Design Lab, Sai continues to use architecture and art as tools to access and engage the dynamic relationship between people and place – focusing on lifting the quality of daily life for people that has been displaced. Sai holds a Master of Architecture from Syracuse University, a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Center of Visual Arts, and Bachelor of Science in Art History from the University of Toledo.
Exhibition Description
a PLACE meant
Affordable housing is often misunderstood, obscured in many of the same misconceptions as other social policies aimed at helping low-income and vulnerable populations. According to the 2023 State of the Nation’s Housing report, over 37 million households in the U.S. pay more than 30% of their income on housing. More than 1 in 7 of these households pay more than 50% of their income on housing. In most of the neighborhoods across the country, rising housing costs and interest rates, high barriers to housing access, legacies of discrimination policies, and practices have disproportionately excluded lower-income families from the opportunities that come with a stable, affordable home.
Cleveland has celebrated a recent resurgence, yet there remains an undeniable need for affordable housing here, the lack of which is one of the leading causes of displacement and homelessness. Never in history has there been a time when so many people are displaced. Yet, with Cleveland’s surplus of abandoned houses and vacant lots, NE Ohio is uniquely positioned to lead the country in modeling innovative approaches to creating quality affordable and sustainable housing.
a PLACE meant examines how housing infrastructure can be part of the solution through innovative ideas that can help shift the landscape of affordable housing here and beyond. Looking beyond traditional building and construction means and methods, the exhibition focuses on innovative concepts at the nexus of environmental responsibility, energy efficiency, and contemporary design.
This exhibition asks what it takes to innovate affordable housing solutions in our city. Complacency maintains an unacceptable lack of housing and displacement for many Clevelanders. To embrace and drive change, we need forward thinking, fast-paced response, curiosity, inclusiveness, risk taking, a willingness to invest in new processes, partnerships, planning, and designs, and an embrace of change.
