Manuel Cordero is a designer, advocate and educator with an interest in expanding the audience and participation in the planning and design of public spaces. He is a licensed architect in Rhode Island with several years of experience in large-scale institutional projects, with a focus on educational and community planning projects. In 2020, he founded CIVIC, a multidisciplinary design firm working to reimagine our public places and shared spaces to be healthier, safer, more accessible and joyful.
Manuel is the co-founder of DownCity Design, a nonprofit design organization dedicated to improving civic life while offering inquiry-based, experiential learning opportunities. He enjoys sharing his passion for design with students of all ages, including high school and middle school students, via DownCity Design and as an adjunct faculty member at RISD. His practice, research and teaching have recently focused on the role and efficacy of participatory engagement practices in public placemaking and urban infrastructural systems.
Manuel previously worked at the School Building Authority (SBA) at the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE), where he helped to build a nationally recognized school construction program and launch a “once in a lifetime” state investment in public school facilities. In this role, he oversaw more than $1 billion in school construction investments and ensured cost-effective, sustainable construction aligned with 21st-century teaching and learning.
An active member of the Providence community, Manuel has served on the boards of several local nonprofits and currently chairs the Providence Redevelopment Authority Board. He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and earned a MArch degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
Courses
Fall 2024 Courses
ARCH 2108-01 - URBAN ECOLOGIES
LevelUndergraduate
UnitArchitecture
Subject Architecture
Period Fall 2024
Credits 6
FormatStudio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date
ARCH 2108-01
URBAN ECOLOGIES
LevelUndergraduate
UnitArchitecture
Subject Architecture
PeriodFall 2024
Credits6
FormatStudio
ModeIn-Person
Start and End2024-09-04 to 2024-12-11
Times: MTH | 1:10 PM - 6:10 PMInstructor(s): Manuel Cordero AlvaradoLocation(s): Bayard Ewing Building, Room 310Enrolled / Capacity: 14Status: Open
SECTION DESCRIPTION
The Urban Ecologies core studio introduces students to the city as a designed environment with an emphasis on sustainability, giving them the tools to work through impressions, analysis and design operations as ways to understand the relationship between naturally formed and culturally constructed landscapes and strategies for urban ecological development. Students confront the design of housing as a way to order social relationships and shape the public realm and attack the problems of structure, construction, access and code compliance in the context of a complex large-scale architectural design. Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00 - $200.00
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Junior Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | BArch: Architecture
Spring 2025 Courses
LDAR 2205-02 - URBAN SYSTEMS STUDIO
LevelGraduate
UnitLandscape Architecture
Subject Landscape Architecture
Period Spring 2025
Credits 6
FormatStudio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date
LDAR 2205-02
URBAN SYSTEMS STUDIO
LevelGraduate
UnitLandscape Architecture
Subject Landscape Architecture
PeriodSpring 2025
Credits6
FormatStudio
ModeIn-Person
Start and End2025-02-13 to 2025-05-23
Times: MTH | 1:10 PM - 5:10 PM; M | 9:40 AM - 11:40 AMInstructor(s): Manuel Cordero AlvaradoLocation(s): Weybosset St Studios, Room 200Enrolled / Capacity: 15Status: Open
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This final core studio stresses large-scale and planning issues, complex sites, and urban conditions. The city is a living organism which evolves in a particular locale with a particular form due to a combination of environmental and cultural factors. These factors, the forces they represent and the material results of their interaction form, in their interrelated state, what can be called urban systems. The many forces at play within cities-social, cultural, economic, ideological, ecological, infra structural, morphological and visual-combine in various ways to created both an identifiable urban realm and the many sub zones within this. Yet, none of these factors is static and unchanging; and, as a result, urban systems, urban dynamics, and urban identity are likewise in a continuous state of flux. This studio will explore these systems and the complex issues at play in our urban areas and the potential for positive change. Estimated Cost of Materials: $250.00
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Landscape Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | MLA-I, MLA-II Landscape Architecture
