Cathi Ho Schar, FAIA

Assistant Professor, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Architecture, Director, University of Hawai’i Community Design Center

Cathi Ho Schar FAIA is an Assistant Professor, licensed practicing architect, and the inaugural director for the University of Hawaiʻi Community Design Center. The center is uniquely positioned at the intersection of the university, government, and community, which allows UHCDC faculty, staff, and students to work on a broad array of projects that serve the public interest. In the last five years, the center engaged over 20 faculty, 10 full time staff, nearly 70 paid student assistants, and hundreds of students in UHCDC projects and related courses with 12 state agencies and various City, County, and non-profit organizations. This public sector model of teaching and practice received a national 2020 AIA/ACSA Award for Practice and Leadership and a 2020 ACSA Collaborative Practice award for the UHCDC Waipahu TOD Collaboration team. Both Cathi’s private and public sector work reflect her commitment to exploring new forms of practice, collaboration, and applied design and research that supports a more affordable, equitable, and livable Hawai’i. Cathi was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai’i, and received her B.A. from Stanford University and M.Arch from University of California at Berkeley.

Peer-reviewed presentations and publications

Schar, Cathi, “Decolonizing Toolbox for Corrections,” Routledge Companion to Architectural Education in the Global South, book chapter, forthcoming

Schar, Cathi, Nicole Biewenga, & Mark Lombawa, “Decolonizing Prisons,” Journal of Architectural Education (74:2), forthcoming

Schar, Cathi, “Distributed Resources: A Studio Approach”,  2020 AIA/ACSA Intersections Research Conference: Carbon, held virtually September 30-October 2nd, 2020 (presented)

Schar, Cathi, “UHCDC: Exploring Public Sector Practice,” ACSA Annual Meeting OPEN, held virtually June 11-14 2020  (presented and  paper submitted)

Schar, Cathi and Nicole Biewenga, Mark Lombawa, “Decolonizing Frameworks: A Cultural Design Resource for Corrections,” ACSA Annual Meeting OPEN,  March 12-14 2020 San Diego, CA  (presented and paper submitted)

Schar, Cathi, “The University as a Public Sector Practice,” EDRA51 Transform: Socially Embedded Collaboration, Tempe Arizona,  April 4-7 2020 (presented)

Schar, Cathi,  “Cultural Infrastructure,” NCBDS Conference After Form, University of Texas A&M April 2-4 2020  (abstract accepted)

Schar, Cathi, “Top down, Bottom Up,” American Architectural Organizations Annual Conference  Design Matters Chicago, November 8, 2019 (presented)

Schar, Cathi, “Design In Government,” ACSA Fall Conference Less Talk | More Action: Conscious Shifts in Architectural Education, Stanford University, September 14, 2019 (presented and published in proceedings)

Schar, Cathi “Toward Public Sector Practice,” ACSA/EAAE Teachers Conference Teaching of Practice, Practice of Teaching, University of Antwerp, June 28, 2019 (presented and published in proceedings)

Schar, Cathi, “How Community Design Can Support Campus Facilities Planning and Design,” SCUP Regional Conference The Role of Discourse Today, University of Colorado at Boulder,  March 27-29, 2019 (presented)

Schar, Cathi, “Notes on Community-led Collaboration: Waipahu Transit Oriented Development,” 2019 CELA Annual Conference Engaged Scholarship, Sacramento, March 7-9, 2019 (presented and published in proceedings)

Schar, Cathi, “Design as a Public Service: A Case for the University of Hawaiʻi Community Design Center,” 17th Annual Hawaiʻi International Conference on Arts and Humanities, Honolulu, January 9-12, 2019 (presented)

Schar, Cathi and Daniel Friedman, “The Politics of Repair in a Post-colonial Context”  ACSA/SOAM International Conference, New Instrumentalities, Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid,  Madrid, Spain,  June 16-18, 2018 (presented and published in proceedings)

Schar, Cathi, “Rethinking Outcomes: Mutual Benefit in Community Engaged Teaching,”
Association for Community Design Annual Conference, Baltimore Maryland June 8-9, 2018 (presented)

Registered Architect , Hawaii