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Nina Cooke John

@ninacookejohn

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Architect | Mother | Creative | https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/14784-flexible-sole-practitioner-nina-cooke-john
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Let’s talk about the future of placemaking. 🎙️ In this episode of FUTURE OF XYZ, acclaimed architect and artist Nina Cooke John (@ninacookejohn) joins us to talk about the practice of placemaking “as a way to transform relationships between people and the built environment.” In this remarkable discussion, Nina shares her detailed perspective on how a “legacy becomes living,” why people get “excited about the gathering,” when art makes architecture “playful and energetic,” and where design increasingly responds to the cultural abundance of a particular locale rather than generalized sameness. Don’t miss this creative conversation with one of the world’s leading visionaries in the built environment. 🎧 Tune in now! Link in bio, or listen on your favorite podcast app, surroundpodcasts.com or watch on YouTube. Enjoyed the episode? Leave us a review. #FutureOf #Podcast #iFDesign #Design #Architecture #BuiltEnvironment #Urbanism #PlaceMaking @studiocookejohn by @ninacookejohn
2
22 days ago
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The Story of Art In America closed out the day with Nina Cooke John, the artist and designer behind “Shadow of a Face,” the Harriet Tubman monument standing in Harriet Tubman Square. Hearing directly from the person who designed a piece of public art with that much weight and history behind it was a powerful way to end the day. 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼 #HarrietTubmanMonument #ShadowOfAFace #Newark #thestoryofartinamerica taken in Newark, New Jersey by @ninacookejohn
2
a month ago
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RSVP at link in bio. Join us Thursday, April 9 at 2:05pm EST. (Jamaica Time) in conversation with Nina Cooke John, Founder and Director at Studio Cooke John. @studocookejohn is a multidisciplinary design studio that values placemaking as a way to transform relationships between people and the built environment. Working at the scale of the human body; individually or collectively, in the home or on the street, they respond to how we use space in our everyday lives, whether in the family unit or as a community. Throughout the design process, their collaborations with clients and community members, yield insights that inform how they, alongside their network of craftsmen, fabricators and consultants, transform spaces within the home and in the public sphere. What emerge are spaces tailored to each client’s needs, revealing elements of serendipity and surprise. by @ninacookejohn
2
7 months ago
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‘Relics of Return’ is on view through March 15th at Studio 616 in the East Village. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 616 East 9th Street, NYC ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ‘Relics of Return’ is the first group exhibition of ‘Refugium’, a five-woman artist collective formed in 2025. The collective emerged from a shared desire not simply to find refuge within the art ecosystem, but rather to support, care for, and encourage one another through the rhythms of an artistic career. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Unfolding in three movements, the exhibition guides audiences through recent works by Negar Ahkami, Maya Ciarrocchi, Nina Cooke John, Sarah Fairchild, and Patte Loper. It first considers the constant flow of life: shifting homes, migration, and the ways in which borders and state structures impose identities onto individuals. Here, home is understood as being continually redefined. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The second movement then turns toward fractured realities and the enduring force of human nature. Despite constraints, the pursuit of freedom persists across these works, revealing how individuals and communities reclaim space, dignity, and joy in the face of oppressive systems. Nature emerges as a force that adapts, returns, and refuses erasure. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The final movement looks forward, demonstrating our ability to build the future when we allow ourselves to imagine it. Through immersive and speculative works, the artists envision new worlds shaped by contradiction and possibility, spaces where overlooked narratives are celebrated, and adaptation coexists with preservation. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Together, these pieces offer an exploration and a collective ballad of return, endurance, and becoming, allowing the show to demonstrate what a support system, this collective, can achieve when envisioning shared futures. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #artistcollectives #groupshow #negarahkami @scvignette @mayaciarrocchi @sarahfairchildstudio @patteloper by @ninacookejohn
7
7 months ago
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Did you know that the concept of “collective memory” began as a theory of “national memory” but was expanded to include bodies both larger than a nation (a continent) and smaller as well (a family)? How do monuments relate to collective memory? How can oral historians build counter-monuments in the same spirit in which we build counter-narratives? This May, as part of our summer intensive in Hudson, Nina Cooke John @ninacookejohn will lead us in an interactive workshop that takes her experience creating Shadow of a Face as our jumping off place. Questions that will guide this session include: What stories about you, your life or the times you are living in do you want to pass along after you have gone? What stories that have been shared with you by friends or family members have stayed with you as important lessons or as guidance for how you live your life? What historical narratives or stories about the place in which you live or the people in your community that you’ve read about or have been taught about have become an important part of your life story? Link in bio for our May workshop info and application. Application window 1 closes March 7. by @ninacookejohn
3
7 months ago
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BOUQUETS FOR HOME is our second iteration, this time in Bangkok. We will be hosting a workshop at Pak Khlong Talat (flower market), with immigr4nt workers from Laos, Myanmar, and the neighboring region who currently live and work here. Parallel to this, our collective will be participating in a panel at the 13th Conference of the Pacific Rim Community Design Network at Thammasat University, ‘Design with Precarity’ taken in Bangkok, Thailand by @ninacookejohn
0
10 months ago
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@thepillarsnwk is open! We opened up the facade of this office building to welcome on the people of #Newark to this new retail destination. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Three sides of the vertical façade at the ground floor perimeter are opened up, with canopies added that bridge the outside and inside. A new central court and outdoor arcade pull the outdoors in and provide a space for activation. The renovation is part of a downtown activation project by @insideaudible in the newly named Arts and Education district of Newark. by @ninacookejohn
2
10 months ago
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A week ago, I had the pleasure of celebrating #rekiaboyd birthday with @alongwalkhome and @monument_lab. I presented ‘Sweet Harbor’ our proposal for the Rekia Boyd memorial in #douglasspark #chicago ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ‘Sweet Harbor’ will reimagine Douglass Park as a hush harbor for ritual, mourning, and remembrance of Rekia Boyd’s life. ‘Sweet Harbor’ anchors around Rekia’s tree and unfolds within the grove. Wood elements are layered onto yellow steel spines that rise from the ground, bending and branching up towards the tree’s canopy. At the ground, the spines curve and take root, providing seating and respite for visitors. Throughout the spinal structure, openings, we’ve named beads, emerge within the sculpture where visitors can connect ribbons, rope for double dutch, and hair braiding directly to the sculptures. Rekia’s tree will remain an important marker of remembrance, serving as an altar where visitors are invited to bring offerings in the form of candles and ribbons. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #studiocookejohn @studiocookejohn taken in Douglas Park Chicago IL by @ninacookejohn
8
a year ago
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‘Material Clarity’ Salvaged Glass, Salvaged Windowpane, Stainless Steel Cables, Painted Steel Frame, Painted Tree Branch 5’ × 10’ × 6” ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ After several years of engaging with the Design for Freedom movement @dffmovement @gracefarmsct, I’m honored to create a site-specific work for ‘With Every Fiber | Pigment, Stone, Glass’, an exhibition that brings visibility to ethical sourcing within architecture and construction. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ‘Material Clarity’ continues my exploration of how found and salvaged materials can be layered to form new spaces - both literal and imagined. In this piece, I focus on glass as a mediator: a material that connects us to the outside world while simultaneously defining boundaries of safety and separation. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ By reclaiming and recontextualizing glass, I aim to expose its dual role - as both a transparent barrier and a lens for reflection - inviting viewers to consider borders, boundaries and separation. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Slide 1 Photo: @dionnelford Slides 2-3 Photo: Andrew Werner taken in Grace Farms, CT by @ninacookejohn
44
a year ago
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Thank you to the AMAZING @hadleyfruits for so beautifully capturing the spirit of ‘Lift’ - from above, below and within the courtyard at Saarinen’s First Christian Church @exhibitcolumbus on opening day and during solitary visits. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Images: Hadley Fruits for Landmark Columbus Foundation taken in Columbus, Indiana by @ninacookejohn
10
a year ago
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✨ Strategic Advisory Board Members | Meet Nina Cooke John: Founding Principal, Studio Cooke John Architecture and Design | @ninacookejohn @studiocookejohn⁠ ⁠ Nina Cooke John is the founding principal of Studio Cooke John, a multidisciplinary architecture and design practice that explores the relationship between people and the built environment — from private residences to major public art.⁠ ⁠ Her acclaimed work includes "Shadow of a Face", the Harriet Tubman Monument in Newark, NJ, and "Point of Action," originally commissioned for the Flatiron plazas and now on view at @wassaicproject. Nina’s approach is rooted in human-scale design and centers everyday experiences as a lens for architectural impact.⁠ ⁠ An educator and award-winning practitioner, Nina was named a 2022 United States Artists Fellow and @centerforarch’s 2024 New Perspectives honoree. Her work has been featured in @archrecordmag, @nytimes, @dwellmagazine, and more.⁠ ⁠ As a member of the FDC Strategic Advisory Board, Nina brings a bold and thoughtful voice to our mission to expand equity and access in design. We’re honored to have her perspective and leadership.⁠ ⁠ Join the FDC at the link in bio to connect with changemakers across the design world.⁠ ⁠ #FemaleDesignCouncil #WomenInArchitecture #PublicArt #DesignLeadership #MeetTheBoard #StudioCookeJohn #NinaCookeJohn by @ninacookejohn
5
a year ago
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What a beautiful opening weekend @exhibitcolumbus ! I am honored to be one of the #MillerPrize recipients. Go check out our installation ‘Lift’ and the beautiful work of the other 3 Miller Prize recipients, the UniversityDesign Research Fellows and the Design Education Teams either in Columbus, Indiana or at the link in bio. taken in Columbus, Indiana by @ninacookejohn
11
a year ago
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