Designing with Communities

Later on, as a co-director at an Architectural non-profit focused on social justice, I built my passion and capacity for collaborating directly with communities to design our own environments and futures.

There is so much wisdom in community.

Collaborations with disability advocates as members of our project teams transformed how I design gatherings, facilitate engagement, and create opportunities for multi-sensory participation. I relish the delight that I have witnessed when we are free to create together. 

As we design the built environment, we can practice being the kind of community we hope to create—ones grounded in trust, relationship, lived experience, curiosity, and a willingness to listen. The process matters as much as the outcome. 

Lived Disability

Mid-career, I developed a chronic illness affecting both motor and sensory function, and began experiencing many aspects of the built environment differently myself. I am acutely aware of how architecture can enable or constrain participation, care, and creativity. The experience is humbling. It reveals gaps between what I thought I understood and what accessibility can actually mean in daily life. 

It also made me aware of how much teams working on the built environment still need to know, and inspired my desire to serve as a resource for you.