Featured Projects

Mobile Makers

Mobile Makers Chicago’s Lobby — Photo by Tom Harris

The Mobile Makerspace

The Mobile Makerspace is a converted USPS delivery van repurposed as a design studio and educational space. Design, digital
fabrication, and building workshops are held in underutilized spaces, from empty lots to a parking lots to summer street festivals.

Alternative Practice

Every day, there’s a new reminder that climate change and growing inequities are catastrophically changing how we live. The world desperately needs radical design solutions, and innovative alternative practices will be at the forefront. An alternative practice operates outside traditional modes, both in its structure and approach to design problems. It consciously stands at the periphery and strives to challenge the status quo.

This project, led by Maya Bird-Murphy, Verda Alexander, Kaleb Germinaro, and Megan Simmons, documents and builds accessible, place-specific monographs of design practices. More at alternativepractice.org.

The Design Summit for
Friends of Friends

The Design Summit for Friends of Friends is an interdisciplinary and intergenerational event that brings together like-minded creatives for meaningful conversations about leveraging design to create positive change. The summit aims to unify the design community, foster genuine conversations about equity in the built environment, amplify the work of underrecognized designers, and create opportunities for connection among established creatives, emerging creatives, and youth interested in design as a career. The biannual summit has featured some of the most exciting minds creating work across disciplines, including Theaster Gates, Amanda Williams, Martellus and Michael Bennett, and more.
More at friends.design.