DESIGN WEEK RI

Saturday
September 25
4-6 PM

22 Balcom Road Foster, RI.
30 minutes from Providence, off of RT 6

Fee: $10
Refreshments: Beer, wine, soda, and snacks
Recording Allowed: No

Ilzro House tour and reception

You are invited to tour The Ilzro House, a structure and 8 acres in Foster, RI that was designed and built in 1972. The house project was a partnership between Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and The International Lead and Zinc research Organization (ILZRO) with Marc Harrison as the leader of the team of faculty and students that completed it. The house utilizes zinc panels for its construction and is designed for wheelchair bound and able-bodied people to live together; thus being one of the first examples of Universal Design. Harrison went on to be a pioneer in the Universal Design movement and over his 40 year teaching career at RISD educated a generation of students around the concept. With his interest in designing for all people, his firm, Marc Harrison Associates, created products to be used by folks with all abilities including the iconic Cuisinart machines and cookware, the Boston subway turnstiles, the first super computers and scores of medical and home products that are still in production today. After Harrison and his family moved out of the Ilzro House in 1978, Lorraine Howes, the head of the Apparel Design department at RISD, resided there until 2020 when Marc’s daughter, Natasha Harrison and her husband Ben Randall purchased it. The house is being updated while keeping the intentions of the original design to be utilized for programming and continue to be an inspiration as well as a living space for those interested.

DxRI