Architecture + Advocacy
USC student-leaders hosted our 4th annual architecture workshop series with LA Commons.
Co-Founder Kianna Armstrong gave a 3-minute pitch for Social Justice Partners Los Angeles, and earned a $10,000 grant
We officially adopted our New York chapter, following a successful pilot led by two of our co-founders.
Co-Founder Abriannah Aiken spoke at the AIA National Conference on Architecture.
Read more about the work our grads are doing outside of A+A to advance spatial justice
4th Annual Architecture Workshops with LA Commons
This year’s architecture workshop series with community-based arts organization LA Commons gathered local youth (aged 15-20) to shape narratives around sustainability in their own terms. Through five weeks of architecture workshops, youth participants from Expo and Leimert Park created schematic designs for a sustainable community center of their imagining through floor plans, sketches, and models. These designs were based on sustainable urban design approaches, like the 15-minute city.
Every year, the entire 5-week curriculum is created by USC Architecture students, who serve as instructors, mentors and advisors throughout the program.
As the culminating event of this series, our design-build team helped the youth artists create take-home community garden boxes, with each piece decorated by the artists, telling the story of their community. Prior to the public event in the Expo rose garden, the youth artists created models of what they wanted their boxes to look like. We are looking forward to continuing this successful program with LA Commons for its fifth year, next year!
Presenter: Kianna Armstrong
Architecture + Advocacy - Kianna Armstrong - SJPLA Fast Pitch 2024
Kianna Armstrong (Co-Founder | B.Arch, USC) was selected for Social Justice Partner’s “System-Change Cohort” along with 6 other non-profit leaders from across Los Angeles. As part of the program, she received nine months of coaching and a $10,000 grant for our work. This 3-minute pitch ties her personal story to the mission of Architecture + Advocacy
Learn more about Fast Pitch and Architecture + Advocacy at SJPLA.
NY Chapter Launch
When Architecture + Advocacy co-founders Katie Hayes and Abriannah Aiken moved to New York to begin their professional careers, they wondered if A+A could support communities there.
In 2023, Abri and Katie initiated a pilot project with funding from the GSAPP Incubator prize. Partnering with the Youth Design Center, they hosted architecture workshops in Flatbush, culminating in a pro-bono design build by youth participants to address food inequity, knowledge sharing, and a lack of community gathering spaces at the local Central Caribbean Marketplace.
Based on the success of their pilot project, and the need for community-led design it demonstrated, our Board voted to adopt the New York chapter in March.
Abri and Katie have since been awarded the GSAAP Incubator Prize for the second time. Columbia students who volunteered on the first pilot projects are now taking on further leadership roles in our organization. And just a few weeks ago, Abri presented this project at the AIA National Conference on Architecture.
The launch of our New York chapter is an incredible indication of the success of our programs; Our model is being replicated in other parts of the country to teach more people how to practice community-led design.
Co-Founder Abriannah Aiken spoke at the AIA National Conference on Architecture.
Abriannah Aiken (she/her) Assoc. AIA is a designer and activist. She joined DLR Group in 2022, where she specializes in urban planning and cultural and performing arts projects. In addition, she is the co-founder and New York Operations Officer of Architecture + Advocacy, an organization that works to un-design spatial injustice in the built environment through community workshops and design builds, including the Sustainable Futures Youth Design Build.
[Read More]
Spotlight on Our Grads
Graduate Spotlight: Lauren Jian
Lauren Jian (USC B.Arch ‘23) used an A+A workshop during her thesis to demonstrate the power— and relative ease— of community-driven design.
After graduation, her artwork will be on display at the Venice Biennale. Then, she will head to Columbia to pursue her Masters in Architecture, and continue her design-advocacy work.
Graduate Spotlight: Madelene Dailey
(USC M.Arch ‘23) research applies A+A’s values of community-driven design to rural and indigenous communities in Latin America.
After graduation, Madelene will continue this research through a Habitat for Humanity’s fellowship. She seeks to help her family’s hometown in Guatemala create a Master Plan for its development that centers the needs of its rural residents.
[Read More]
