Hey listeners, this episode marks both our 80th episode and the finale of this series and season. It’s been a true pleasure sharing the stories of licensed architects from diverse backgrounds, and I hope these conversations have given you valuable insights into why some designers choose to pursue licensure. Most importantly, I hope you’ve found inspiration in each episode.

To close out the series, I have a conversation with Dyesha Holmes is a licensed architect at Cooper Carry. With an interdisciplinary background, she works in their Atlanta office planning + urban design and mixed-use studios. She graduated from Kennesaw State University’s Bachelor of Architecture program in 2019, where she was the first recipient of the ARCC King Medal award for her architectural thesis research on “Reframing Urban Redevelopment via Women Empowerment: Sustaining Existing Community in the West End Neighborhood.” This has driven her passion for social and environmental justice design and her belief that architectural design should be based on advocacy over agency. She has a defined purpose of helping people see their full potential within themselves, in the places they

live, and in the work they do. With this purpose in mind, she actively uses design to tell stories through community-led, people-first approach to design to advocate for people in communities.

In her free time, she enjoys volunteering her time in community outreach. She enjoys having opportunities to be involved with different community efforts and professional organizations. In 2021, she acted as community liaison for a mural in the Reynoldstown neighborhood in Atlanta,

GA, organized by the Young Architect’s Foundation of Atlanta (YAF of ATL). In 2021, she was the Director of Communications for NOMAtlanta. She had the honor of being a 2022 graduate of the AIA Georgia Christopher Kelley Leadership Development Program. She sat on the 2022

board for the Atlanta Art and Entertainment. She was a part of Cooper Carry’s Equity and Diversity Council (EDIC) helping to further the advancement of equity within the workplace and design. Currently, she sits as secretary on the Architecture Foundation of Georgia board and was a recent 2024 Project REAP graduate.

While we shared similar feelings towards completing the ARE’s Dyesha shares with us how she merges her love for Urban planning and Architecture in her daily practice. 

We sketched the roof top bar at The Betty Hotel. You can check out her sketch on our LinkedIn profile. I hope you enjoy this episode! 

Hey listeners, in this episode, I have a conversation with Chris Gongora, a Miami native with Cuban-American roots, Chris's early experiences cycling through the vibrant neighborhoods of South Florida cultivated his appreciation for natural beauty, cultural diversity and unique architecture.

A graduate of Florida International University's Master of Architecture program, Chris's professional journey was inspired by an interest in urban revitalization, particularly in Rust Belt cities. In 2017, he left the plantains and palm trees behind and moved to Detroit, where he has since contributed to the city's renaissance. His work spans a comprehensive range of architectural interventions, including new construction of single-family homes, townhomes, and apartment buildings, as well as significant adaptive reuse and renovation projects.

Beyond his profession, Chris leads architectural bike tours, serves on the board of a local preservation advocacy group, and provides architectural advisory services to small-scale minority developers. Currently, he continues to pour his passion for restoration into renovating his 110-year-old home, a project he shares with his boyfriend and their senior feline companion.

Beyond reminiscing about college, Chris and I delved into the complex mix of guilt and relief that comes with the licensure process. He used powerful analogies to describe the range of emotions he experienced, and they truly resonated with me.

We sketched Paul L. Cejas School of Architecture. You can check out his sketch on our LinkedIn profile. I hope you enjoy this episode!

Hey listeners, in this episode, I have a conversation with Bob Farrow. His professional career has spanned over five decades in the architectural field, with a mission of designing facilities which offer healing and wholeness of life – our healthcare environs. This expertise has taken him across the world, from Alaska to Kuwait to China.

Bob is a national thought leader and frequent speaker/lecturer of design/healthcare trends at national conferences and academic venues such as SCAD, Clemson University, Georgia Institute of Technology and Auburn University. He is a former Board Member and past President of the Atlanta Chapter of the AIA, and Emeritus CEO/President of the Health Facility Institute (HFI), which is a national organization dedicated to the education and training of professionals responsible for managing, designing and constructing healthcare faculties across the world. 

Bob also holds a Master of Divinity from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University and is an ordained Deacon within the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta and is a Chaplain with Piedmont Healthcare.

I have gotten to know Bob over this past year as we co-host the design podcast - Voices By Design. He is thoughtful in his approach to design thinking. It’s always a pleasure learning from him and I’m glad I am able to share his story with you all. 
We sketched Colony House. You can check out his sketch on our LinkedIn profile. I hope you enjoy this episode!

Hey listeners, in this episode, I have a conversation with Darral Tate Jr., an Architect in Atlanta, Ga who is currently working as a Project Architect at Moody Nolan. 

Since the start of his professional career, Darral’s primary focus has been to help build a bridge between individuals from underrepresented communities and the Architecture profession. In 2020 he began working with local firms to address systemic issues centered around topics of EDI. His contributions included leading and co-creating several events that focused on professional development, mentorship, and education on important cultural and historic events.

Outside of the office, Darral is an active member of several organizations. Since 2020, he has served on the board of SPIKE Studios and was recently elected as the 2024 Vice Chair. He is a member of NOMA and is a mentor to the Kennesaw State University NOMA student chapter.

I thoroughly enjoyed conversing with Darral. His honesty about his journey was inspiring to say the least. We get into the emotional aspects of the licensure process and why it's so important to plan your next steps after passing that last exam. 

We sketched 999 Peachtree. You can check out his sketch on our LinkedIn profile. I hope you enjoy this episode! 

Hey listeners, in this episode, I have a conversation with Jodi van der Wiel, A member of the AIA College of Fellows and past president of the AIA Cleveland chapter, Jodi is known for her design work and diligent efforts to foster diversity, equity and inclusion for women and minorities. She is a principal and project designer with Moody Nolan, a national practice, known for its design process and diversity of thought.

Jodi left me feeling truly inspired by her unwavering passion for architecture and her dedication to introducing young girls to the field. In our conversation, she shared her background in architecture, her early inspirations, and the journey that motivated her to create a course aimed at introducing the next generation of girls to the profession.

We sketched a project of hers in Ohio - Process Technology. You can check out her sketch on our LinkedIn profile. I hope you enjoy this episode!

Hey listeners, in this episode, I have the pleasure of conversing with Garfield Peart, the Director of the Atlanta Studio for Moody Nolan Architects with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He is also the 2023-2025 Georgia State Representative to the American Institute of Architects Strategic Council. Garfield is a Registered Architect in the State of Georgia and the Commonwealth of Virginia. He received his Bach. of Architecture at Howard University and MBA in Sustainability Business with a concentration in Green Development from Marylhurst University in Portland, Oregon. He is a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve with over 27 years of service.

Prior to Moody Nolan, Garfield was the President of his own design practice, Syntony Design Collaborative LLC. The firm’s mission was to design healthy and integrated buildings that help empower urban communities to be more sustainable and combat historic equity issues. Garfield is also passionate about increasing access to the profession for underserved communities.

Garfield is co-founder and Chairman of the SPIKE Studio, Inc., an Atlanta-based educational non-profit (501.c.3) organization started in 2004 that is dedicated to the exposure of inner-city high school youth to the profession of architecture.

Garfield is an active advocate for community engagement, historic preservation, the creative arts, and diversity. His other honors and organizations include the 2021 class of the Christopher Kelley Leadership Development Program, past Commissioner, Atlanta Urban Design Commission, past National Treasurer and South Region Vice-President for the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), 2019 Dorothy Spence Citizen Architect Award, and 2016 James Gant Fausett, FAIA Service to the Profession Award from AIA Atlanta Chapter and 2012 Ford Freedom Unsung Heroes Award, by the Ford Motor Company and Atlanta Center for Civil and Human Rights. His articles and work on diversity and sustainability have been featured in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Saporta Report, Curbed Atlanta, VoyageATL, and Design Equilibrium, a publication of AIA Atlanta.

Hey listeners, in this episode, I have the pleasure of interviewing a dear friend who I met my first year of college. It'll be safe to say we've grown up together for at least a decade. She's one of the most talented and hardworking designers I know so I'm thrilled to have her on the podcast! 

Let me introduce you to Alexis Ortega, a registered Architect with several years of experience in the design industry, focusing on commercial interiors, mainly on workplace and hospitality. She has a passion for creating beautiful, functional environments and loves the challenge of working on projects that require unique functionality, an excellent attention to detail, and aesthetic appeal to the client.

While sharing her why behind licensure, we'll talk about how though she's a licensed architect, she's currently practicing as an interior designer and she shares insight into what made her choose this path and how she leverages her architecture experience in her daily practice. Let's get into it!

Hey! This episode wraps us the Global Architects theme and this years episode releases. We’re closing the podcast early this year to wrap up projects behind the scenes. I’d like to say a big thank you to our listeners, supporters and sponsors for tuning in throughout the year and I hope you enjoyed our conversations! I’m looking forward to exciting plans for next year but in the meantime, don’t hesitate to catch up on any episodes you may have missed.

Our guest today is Trevor is the Dean of the School of Design at Dunwoody College of Technology. He is an award-winning architect with over 25 years of professional experience. He has significant international experience; working on a wide range of architecture, landscape architecture and planning projects in Europe, the Caribbean, and the United States. In addition to his role as Dean, Trevor has taught architectural design at the Boston Architectural College, the City College of New York as well as the University of Minnesota and is a frequent guest critic at schools of architecture nationwide.

Prior to joining Dunwoody, he was a Senior Associate and Director of Operations at Snow Kreilich Architects, the recipient of the 2018 AIA Architecture Firm Award. From 2000 to 2016, he co-founded and led an architecture and planning studio on the island of Grenada, completing more than 30 built projects. The work of his firm has been published extensively in journals and books as well as being exhibited at the 2021 Architecture Biennale in Venice.

This episode was refreshing! I appreciate Trevors honesty in navigating the worlds of architecture practice and academia as a Global Architect. He gave us insight on practicing in different countries, why he had to break out of the crowd and differences between practice and academia.

Nmadili Okwumabua is a cultural designer, urbanist and educator in African architecture and community planning. Her passion for design is rooted in a vision where communities in Africa and the Diaspora are developed with new architectural languages that preserve heritage, and are culturally and environmentally sustainable. In 2005, she founded Southern Sahara USA, an international consultancy specializing in the research and development of this new architecture. 

Nmadili Okwumabua attended the University of Tennessee and Georgia State University, where she pursued undergraduate studies in architecture and urban studies. She holds a masters degree in African and African American studies from Clark Atlanta University, where her research centered on the evolution of modern vernacular architecture in Nigeria. In 2013, the fruits of these efforts gave birth to the Community Planning & Design Initiative, Africa, (CPDI Africa), a research-based, culture-inspired initiative created to develop new African architectural languages through design competition. Believing that the redevelopment of Africa's built environment should be as it has always been, built as a collaborative effort between the community members and designated master builders, Ms. Okwumabua engages participation from the design community throughout the African Diaspora, for the accomplishment of the CPDI Africa vision.

In this episode we dive deep into Nmadili's journey in the world of architecture and design, some challenges she took on while exploring what architecture meant for her and why she founded CPDI Africa as well as what the future looks like for her organization.

Link to CPDI Africa: https://cpdiafrica.blogspot.com/

Tune into the first Architecture & The Culinary Space episode!

Architecture & The Culinary Space hosted by The Layers of Design Podcast as part of the Design X Community, is a unique dining and design event aimed at bridging the gap between architects and the public. The event consisted of an intimate dinner with 20 guests, a conversation with the architect, Clayton Daspit and interior designer, Callie Harris of the By George Restaurant at The Candler Hotel, a tour of the hotel, and a delicious dinner. This series offers a unique opportunity to experience dining from an architect's perspective, while connecting with like-minded individuals.

Event Recap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg3ib21FMI0