News
The Architekturmuseum der TUM is dedicating its exhibition to the emergent field of visual investigation to show, through a series of seven case studies, how architecture operates between advocacy, journalism, and the law in the pursuit of justice and accountability.
Featuring 25 site-specific, newly commissioned installations, Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial explores design’s role in shaping the physical and emotional realities of home across the United States, US Territories, and Tribal Nations.
The first ever interactive platform for experiencing courtroom evidence at the ICC shows its utility in the Al-Hassan case
A custom platform created by SITU Research aided the International Criminal Court to prosecute a war crimes case for the first time. It could change how justice is enacted on an international scale.
Architecture, Planning, and International Law is an open-ended series that brings together legal and built environment experts to discuss urgent topics at the intersection of their jurisdictions.
SITU Research and the Mexican human rights organization, Centro Prodh, release a new visual investigation recounting one of the most clandestine programs of the so-called "Dirty War" era.
The report is based on 240 interviews with mostly displaced Mariupol residents and an analysis of over 850 photos and videos, documents, and dozens of satellite images. The digital multimedia feature includes 3D reconstructions of seven buildings damaged in apparently unlawful attacks, graphics on damaged schools and hospitals, and an analysis of grave sites to help estimate the death toll.
Brad Samuels, Partner at SITU, participates in a live panel on What AI Means for Location Strategy at Mapbox's BUILD conference.
Distinguished professors present a panel exploring the intersection of architecture, design, and pedagogy.
Crime Scene: Bucha nominated for the 44th News & Documentary Emmy Awards in two categories: Outstanding Investigative News Coverage: Long Form an Outstanding Research: News
Videos produced during discovery show that NYPD misconduct during the BLM movement of 2020 were widespread and pervasive.
As part of this year’s RightsCon, we're excited to co-host the conversation, “Beyond Open Source,” which brings together panelists and attendees to co-establish what constitutes a holistic vision of human rights investigations, including an array of practices in which OSINT, and technology in general, is de-centered in service of a collaborative, multidisciplinary model for making human rights claims. Co-organized with The University of Chicago Law School's Global Human Rights Clinic.
Historic NYPD settlements, new reporting on Russian attacks, closing arguments at the ICC, and more.
Bora Erden, Technical Lead of SITU Research, participates in a panel on "Forensic Practice and Its Critiques" at Dartmouth University's Media Forensics Symposium.
On February 21, 2023, SITU and Human Rights Watch released a report and video analyzing a Russian Cluster Munition Attack on the Kramatorsk Train Station in Eastern Ukraine.
SITU Research's Bora Erden presents at a Geneva Academy panel on the use of open-source information in investigations of international crimes and serious human rights violations.
Brad Samuels joins featured speaker Sarah Williams, Director of the Civic Data Lab at MIT, to discuss her recent exhibition, "Distance Uniknown."
Partner Brad Samuels and researcher Gauri Bahuguna present a lecture at The Cooper Union on methodologies for event reconstruction, alongside the opening of an exhibition of SITU Research's recent visual investigations.
SITU Research and The Associated Press have been awarded the 69th Scripps Howard Award for “Excellence in Visual Journalism” for collaboration on the investigation, "The Cost of War” (2021).
SITU Research awarded a Special Citation in AIA New York Design Awards.
On June 7, 2022, SITU Research will hold a workshop to release a beta version of Codec, a newly developed digital platform for managing, analyzing and presenting video evidence.
Partner Brad Samuels presents alongside experts in the fields of human rights law and open source research at European Human Rights Advocacy Centre’s “Challenges of Open Source Investigations in Human Rights Litigation” panel.
SITU’s design initiative for COVID-19 screening booths and testing centers receives an Honorable Mention in Pandemic Response Category of the 2021 Innovation by Design Awards
Our firm’s multidisciplinary workflow is the subject of a case study featured in a Belgian publication titled ‘Thinking-Making. When Architects Engage in Construction’. The book explores methods of practice that challenge the division between design and construction.
Partner Brad Samuels presents methodologies and emerging tech tools used in forensic archaeology at the ICRC’s roundtable event, part of their Digital Dilemmas Debate series.
SITU Research convenes a panel of experts to discuss “The Anatomy of a Visual Investigation: Innovation in Human Rights and Investigative Reporting” for the 10th anniversary of RightsCon.
An Intercept and SITU Research reconstruction of an incident in North Carolina last June shows police intentionally trapped and tear-gassed hundreds of peaceful protesters.
UNITAD and SITU Research launch a 21-minute video documenting evidence of the crimes committed by ISIL against the Yazidi community in Iraq.
SITU presents to students in Rutgers University’s Department of Landscape Architecture, sharing current work and processes in each of our divisions, and speaking to how our multidisciplinary approach reinforces the creative and social impact of our work.
Director of Research Brad Samuels joins a panel hosted by MIT’s Transmedia Storytelling Initiative, focused on the ethical constraints and opportunities presented with the acceleration of 3D mapping capabilities and 5G broadband service.
Andrew Emmet and Bora Erden introduce landscape architecture students at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design to our Studio, Research and Fabrication divisions.
Student organizations at Harvard Graduate School of Design and Harvard Business School host RealityxDesign—a conference exploring how design shapes the multiple, blended realities that we move through everyday. Brad Samuels joins the panel of “Constructing Reality”, aimed at challenging the value of designers reinterpreting and reimagining the present.
SITU Research has recently shifted its focus to investigating police violence and excessive use of force against protesters in the U.S. This presentation explores how our investigations have leveraged citizen documentation of each event and merged it with digital reconstruction techniques to isolate and analyze key interactions from multiple perspectives and spatial contexts.
NYS Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against the NYPD for their “excessive, brutal, and unlawful force against peaceful protesters”. The lawsuit cited the NYPD’s June 4 planned assault on protesters in the South Bronx, which SITU Research investigated with Human Rights Watch in a video analysis published last September.
As part of the Architectural League of New York’s First Friday series, we are hosting a virtual tour of our practice and latest projects in studio, research and fabrication.
The Oregon District Court rules in favor of Don’t Shoot Portland (DSP) and protesters, finding that the Portland Police Bureau violated a temporary restraining order when using less-lethal weapons against a Black Lives Matter protest on June 30, 2020. SITU Research developed an event reconstruction of individual incidents of police violence for Don’t Shoot Portland’s testimony in court.
The Intercept covers SITU Research’s visual investigation of the Portland Police Bureau’s violent repression of a Black Lives Matter protest on June 30. This work was presented in the U.S. District Court in a case filed by Don’t Shoot Portland.
Researcher Bora Erden discusses recent work at this virtual panel examining effective techniques for using digital evidence to litigate human rights violations, hosted by the UCLA Law's Promise Institute for Human Rights and The National Lawyers' Guild-LA.
Streetsblog offers criticism on using design to address protester safety concerns, noting how this logic omits the responsibility of the police enacting violence. The article draws on our latest project with Amnesty International, which unpacks some of the ways in which urban environments can become “weaponized” in conjunction with the use of tear gas.
TimeOut New York features our strategies for increasing access to COVID-19 testing around the city.
NYC DDC awards SITU and Jaklitsch / Gardner team a contract to design COVID-19 testing centers for NYC DoHMH.
The Architect’s Newspaper features new work from SITU Research for Amnesty International, which documents the abuse of tear gas worldwide and examines the dangers of this “less lethal” weapon.
In April and May of 2018, Nicaraguans gathered in record numbers to protest against their government. Violence resulted, and at least 109 people were killed. We reconstructed how three protesters died on May 30, 2018—during Nicaragua’s historic Marcha de las Madres.
Alongside the Van Alen Institute and Bjarke Ingels Group, SITU explores how architecture and urban design can help NYC strengthen public health in the post-COVID era, and in the process, deepen the city’s resiliency for decades to come.
NYC Builds BIO+ hosts a virtual roundtable on how professionals across the life science, construction and real estate industries have shifted their businesses to crisis relief. As part of the discussion, SITU presents strategies for improving COVID testing centers and distributing them more broadly across the five boroughs.
The Cooper Union includes our Patient Screening Booths in their roundup of alumnae designing tools for COVID-19 relief.
Fast Company features our Patient Screening Booth strategy for increasing COVID-19 testing and evaluation capacity in urban areas.
Amnesty’s Citizen Evidence Lab unpacks how we developed the SMOKESCREEN platform, a visual investigation into the lethal use of tear gas by Iraq security forces.
Through an exclusive new visual investigation, the project shows how Iraqi security forces intended to kill or severely maim dozens of protesters when they fired military-style grenades directly into crowds on the streets of Baghdad from last October onwards.
Director of Research Brad Samuels joins Andras Riedlmayer, Hariz Halilovich and Robert Farley for roundtable presentations and discussion at UCLA, centered on exploring the use of geospatial technologies in human rights documentation.
SITU Research participates in this year’s Creative Time Summit—a three day series of events exploring the complexity of radical truth-telling. Our “Counter-Surveillance and Contested Narratives Workshop" guides participants on analyzing protests by leveraging citizen-generated footage and mapping techniques.
Partner Brad Samuels shares SITU Research’s recent casework at the intersection of design, technology and human rights.
Highlighting a range of recent projects in Ukraine, Mali, Nicaragua, the U.S. and elsewhere, this lecture discusses SITU Research's work at the intersection of design, technology and human rights.
Founding Partner Brad Samuels spends a week in Alaska, giving lectures about SITU’s interdisciplinary business model at cities across the state.
officeinsight spotlights SITU and our cross-divisional work in their July issue.
Bringing together practitioners across fields, this two-day event explores how evidence is gathered and used to prosecute intentional attacks on cultural property.
Organized by Berkeley’s Human Rights Center, this symposium is part of an ongoing initiative to create international protocols for open source investigations.
SITU cohosts the Cooper Union's Spring Trustees and Alumni Reception alongside fellow Cooper alumni and Brooklyn Navy Yard neighbor Crye Precision.
Partner Brad Samuels discusses the role of design in SITU’s unique research work as part of the Global Guest Lecture series at the School of Visual Arts.
SITU Research joins members of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) to discuss their report on the violent repression of public protests in Nicaragua in April and May of 2018.
Mapbox showcases our interactive platform for the Rohingya crisis as one of their favorite community maps of 2018.
As part of the Spring 2019 Lecture Series at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Architecture, Director of Research Brad Samuels presents the interdisciplinary work of SITU Research reflecting on the expanded agency of the architect and the implications of technology across different disciplines.
Partner Brad Samuels joins Harvard Graduate School of Design for a second year to unpack SITU's interdisciplinary approach to architecture.
Director of Research Brad Samuels speaks at UC Berkeley about harnessing the power of technology towards the advancement of human rights accountability.
As technology is increasingly shaping our experience of the built environment, Partner Brad Samuels presents how SITU's interdisciplinary practice leverages digital and physical design methods to shape the built environment.
As part of their School of Architecture Lecture Series on ETHOS, SITU discusses the role of user empowerment in architecture projects.
We host a Workplace Wednesday tour of our fabrication shop and design studio as part of Center for Architecture's Archtober event series.
SITU Research is invited by Security Force Monitor to take part in the 20th anniversary event series "Resist | Decolonize | Create" at Columbia Law School's Human Rights Institute.
SITU joins the MIT Design Club for an overview of SITU’s interdisciplinary practice and a broader discussion on design-thinking as an opportunity for entrepreneurship and problem-solving across a wide range of industries.
Joining the AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program, Brad is included in a presentation and dialogue about the future of geospatial evidence in international human rights litigation.
Architect’s Newspaper published an article about SITU and Amnesty International’s new interactive platform.
Mapbox published an interview with the SITU Research team about the platform that maps atrocities against Rohingya and turns a massive catalog of evidence into a poignant and striking interactive platform.
The New York Times published an investigative article on our reconstruction of events during Ukraine's Euromaidan protests.
Presented at Cooper’s 2018 commencement, the award is given to alumni who have made important contributions to art, architecture, engineering or interdisciplinary studies.
Joining a panel on new technologies for criminal and human rights investigations, Brad presents SITU Research’s interdisciplinary work at the nexus of advocacy, fact-finding and technology.
SITU’s Brad Samuels will give a lecture on SITU’s interdisciplinary approach to architecture at Harvard on Monday, November 27th. Sharing SITU’s story as an alternative firm model, Brad will explore how this nontraditional perspective has informed the firm’s output, staff and vision.
Dedicated to observing, understanding and shaping the city, Urban Omnibus is an online publication affiliated with The Architectural League of New York.
SITU’s Director of Design, Aleksey Lukyanov-Cherny shares new approaches to updating and activating spaces within commercial buildings.
What role can the visual arts play in fact-finding and reporting on human-rights issues? This question will guide Brad Samuels’ lecture at Yale University Art Gallery on October 12th. Presenting casework from SITU’s research division, Brad will discuss emerging methods, tools and technologies for visual and spatial analyses of human-rights violations, focusing on the interdisciplinary nature of these efforts.
Our L+ project to re-envision NYC libraries competes in SXSWedu's Learn by Design competition.
AAAS—the world's largest multidisciplinary scientific society— invited SITU partner Brad Samuels to speak at their annual Human Rights Day breakfast in Washington, D.C.
AN delves into our work with Amnesty International.
Our "concrete pumpkin void" earned a "Pritzker Pumpkin" from the AIANY.
The AIA reports on SITU Research competing at SXSWEco with our Spatial Practice for Evidence and Advocacy initiative.
We presented our Spatial Practice as Evidence and Advocacy (SPEA) initiative at conference's Place by Design competition.
The collaboration documents the use of chemical warfare on civilians in Jebel Marra, one of the most remote regions of Darfur.
The publication explores SITU's work to leverage smart design in legal and advocacy contexts.
Artforum covers our collaboration with the International Criminal Court as it conducts its first ever trial on the destruction of cultural heritage.
This piece unpacks Section 581, our research project that visualizes how antiquated property tax codes contribute to inequity across Manhattan.
CityLab covers our Section 581 project that renders visible the inequity of NYC property taxes.
Recognized in the City Solutions category, our project captured the informal housing networks within New York City, and proposed alternative solutions to support ground-up development.
