Design for Social Justice
April 22, 2026
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
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Basking Ridge Country Club
185 Madisonville Rd
Basking Ridge, NJ 07920
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Join us on Wednesday, April 22, from 6-8 PM at the Basking Ridge Country Club for a special presentation, Design for Social Justice by guest speaker Edmund Klimek, AIA, NCARB, Partner Emeritus at KSS.
Dinner + cash bar.
Course Description (1 HSW)
Architects can impact social justice through design for institutions that serve the common good. Yet this presentation asks whether design can more directly and broadly advance that common good by shaping the environmental and spatial conditions that affect human health, safety, and welfare in the built environment. While environmental sustainability has developed metrics and systems that guide practice, justice in architecture often lacks a similarly integrated framework. This session considers whether such a framework might direct design toward broader human flourishing.
Concerning human safety and welfare, the presentation draws on research related to well-being in industrial workplace environments—where such considerations are frequently overlooked—to examine how environmental and spatial conditions influence worker safety and welfare. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for architectural decision-making and their broader application across project types, ultimately reframing health, safety, and welfare not only as technical requirements, but as fundamental expressions of justice in the built environment.
Learning Objectives
- Describe a justice-centered framework for design and explain its relationship to health, safety, and welfare outcomes in the built environment.
- Identify environmental and spatial conditions in industrial workplace settings that influence worker health, safety, and well-being.
- Examine research findings on occupational well-being and discuss their implications for architectural decision-making.
- Evaluate strategies for integrating equitable health, safety, and welfare considerations into broader architectural practice.
Guest Speaker
Edmund Klimek, AIA, NCARB, Partner Emeritus, KSS
Over the course of his 30+ year tenure with KSS, Ed provided design and project leadership across a wide range of projects and markets including academic, government, workplace and industrial projects. Some notable projects include Burlington Stores Headquarters, NJEDA Headquarters, Mercedes-Benz Parts Distribution Center, and the West Quad Academic Building at Stockton. Many have won NJAIA design awards. Through his leadership, the firm obtained research grants to study and publish guidelines on Sustainable Industrial Development as well as Wellness in the Industrial Workplace. He is known as a pioneer in conceiving and designing projects for emerging industry in multi-story and mixed-use urban environments. Ed became a partner at KSS in 2000, acting as managing partner for much of that time.
Ed returned to school near the end of his career to obtain a master’s degree from St. John’s University in Global Development and Social Justice, inspired by his work in establishing and running a Solidarity Lending Program in Guatemala through his local parish in partnership with Catholic Relief Services. He works in the local community assisting those living on the edge of poverty through the Saint Vincent de Paul Society as well as serving on the Plainsboro Library Board.
Since achieving his emeritus status, Ed has blended his justice and design concentrations to focus on larger issues that can be shaped by integral design thinking. That work has included planning for industrial development that serves the equitable and sustainable goals of cities, while providing for the greater human rights of its inhabitants and workforce. Ed continues as a Research Fellow for NAIOP, is a frequent industry speaker and has lectured at a variety of institutions including MIT.
Accreditation and Licensure
American Institute of Architects
National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB)
Registered Architect, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York
Education
Master of Global Development and Social Justice, St. John’s University, Queens NY
Bachelor of Architecture, University of Detroit, Detroit MI
Tickets
$0.00 AIA CNJ Members
$75.00 Non-CNJ Members
$25.00 AIA Members From Other Sections
$0.00 EPiC Members from Other AIA Sections
