Our work is centered on the ideation and strategy development that is born out of an empowering engagement process. We partner with community engagement, design and planning teams to develop ways of activating space through art and creative workshops to meaningfully provide a platform to amplify community voice and empowerment.
Project Location: Brooklyn, New York
Partners: BlackSpace Urbanist Collective, New York Coalition of Black Architects, Elizabeth Kennedy Landscape Architect, Caples Jefferson Architects, University of Orange
Date: 2019
Role: Lead
About:
Community design workshop as the kickoff event for the 2019 National Conference for the National Organization of Minority Architects in Brooklyn, New York entitled “Believe the Hype: A Global Collective of Industry Change Agents”. Held at the Weeksville Heritage Center this event combined a design competition, heritage education and an exploratory workshop. Referred to as a “Blackathon” - the workshop included students from the Motts Bridges Academy, in partnership with conference participants, in a competition to design the BlackSpace of the future using the principles of the BlackSpace Manifesto. .
Short Film documenting the event
Project Location: New York City
Partners: Sekou Cooke; BlackSpace Urbanist Collective
Date: 2018
About:
Hip Hop Architecture Design Workshop as a part of the opening of the Hip Hop Architecture Symposium curated by Sekou Cooke at the NYC Center for Architecture. The workshop explored the inspiration behind Hip Hop Architecture and the potential for its use to promote Black history and culture.
Project Location: Durban, South Africa
Client: Project Build
Date: 2009
Role: Facilitator
About:
Contracted by Project Build - a South African based school construction non profit - to facilitate a design engagement workshop with students who attend school in their facilities. Legos were used as a tool to create a relaxed atmosphere for reimagining the design of their educational facility. The main topic centered on ways that their school can be redesigned to serve the social and health needs of their community.
Project Location: Brooklyn, New York
Partners: BlackSpace Urbanist Collective
Date: 2019
Role: Lead
About:
Design Workshop as a part of the 2019 Hindsight Conference. This exploratory workshop used the BlackSpace Manifesto as a tool to reimagine places and spaces for Black people and Black culture to matter and thrive.
Project Location: Durban, South Africa
Client: Project Build
Date: 2009
Role: Facilitator
About:
Design operations workshop for the Kwa Zulu Natal based non-profit Project Build Trust. They strive to build educational buildings for the learners and educators of KwaZulu-Natal with a mission to empower independent building contractors whilst creating employment opportunities and passing skills to communities. The workshop involved all staff (architects, engineers and contractors) and explored the extent to which their existing design and building process can support capacity building in the community. Legos were used as a tool to break down hierarchy across the room and remove the social boundaries as they collectively brainstormed new solutions to address their challenges with community engagement.
Project Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Client: Microsoft, Jones Lang Lasalle Inc (JLL)
Date: 2022
Role: Facilitator
About:
This workshop explored various principles and practice of using design to address equitable access, and environments of safety and well-being particularly for communities of color. The session inspired attendees to consider intersectionality in design and what it means to design truly inclusive and empowering spaces. The equitable design and development workshop was a two-hour interactional session that explored critical issues on equity and the built environment through case studies and guiding questions for discussion. Case studies explored were transdisciplinary and multi-scalar in nature and were meant to showcase the opportunities and challenges to a more just practice. The learning objectives of this session included:
• Learning Objective 1: Understanding the concept of design & spatial justice as applied to design strategies at diverse scales
• Learning Objective 2: Articulating the power dynamics inherent in the exercise of design: between experts and non-experts, between owners and end-users, and between organizations and practitioners of color, etc.
• Learning Objective 3: Recognizing disruptive strategies that amplify community voice and empowers design teams to center equity
• Learning Objective 4: Becoming familiar with examples of how public and private organizations have approached issues of intersectionality and inclusion in design
