I am a highly motivated and creative problem solving recent graduate with a bachelor of architecture and a minor in environmental studies from the university of Oregon. As a designer, I have always demonstrated a strong willingness to learn, a commendable work ethic, and innate design instincts. I graduated from the University of Oregon in June of 2021.
During my education at the University of Oregon, I have studied and designed a variety of civic, higher education, and urban design projects that have allowed me to gain a wide range of experience. These projects feature sustainable design methods, spatial composition, human behavior in architecture, regional planning, details in construction and different forms of environmental control systems. As a designer, envisioning dynamic and inclusive projects that inherently revitalize space and people alike, is my driving passion.
I am originally from Los Angeles, California, where I was raised by two immigrant parents who have instilled both my passion and my drive in life. I truthfully believe in the saying that “we are products of our environment” and I am thankful for the life I was given, and also the designer that it has made me today. My late grandfather was an architect in my mother’s home country of Ethiopia and due to distance and a language barrier I sadly never got to share my passion for the field with him, however, he is one of the main reasons why I do what I do today. I have come to believe that we as architects truly have an undercover superpower. In layman’s terms, one can design a bridge and connect two worlds, but one may also design a wall and disconnect those same two worlds.
With this great power that architects are gifted, we have a responsibility to always design spaces that inherently revitalize underserved communities and people, because our job, is to elevate the human experience each time we pick up our pencil. With that being said, as an African American architectural professional, who rarely sees another individual that looks like me in the field, I plan to use my platform as I progress in my career to mentor and help expose people of color to the intrinsic power that we as architects possess. Some of you may now, but in America less than 2% of licensed architects in this country are African American and that of course is derived from a multitude of systemic issues that this country has still yet to resolve but more importantly I believe it is due to a lack of exposure to the field. As I mentioned earlier, there is a drastic lack of a narrative which is present within architecture and I hope that through me and the many kids I hope to inspire one day, we can work to begin to tell our story through design.
With this great power that architects are gifted, we have a responsibility to always design spaces that inherently revitalize underserved communities and people, because our job, is to elevate the human experience each time we pick up our pencil. With that being said, as an African American architectural professional, who rarely sees another individual that looks like me in the field, I plan to use my platform as I progress in my career to mentor and help expose people of color to the intrinsic power that we as architects possess. Some of you may now, but in America less than 2% of licensed architects in this country are African American and that of course is derived from a multitude of systemic issues that this country has still yet to resolve but more importantly I believe it is due to a lack of exposure to the field. As I mentioned earlier, there is a drastic lack of a narrative which is present within architecture and I hope that through me and the many kids I hope to inspire one day, we can work to begin to tell our story through design.
I hope you enjoy my work.