About Colloqate

Remember Then, Remember When Installation at the New Orleans African American Museum.

Mission & Vision

The language of the built environment tells a complex story of place that can either speak to our collective values and ideals or reveal persisting inequity and injustice.

The struggle for human and civil rights is one that has largely evaded the design profession and we have framed our work around addressing this void. Established in 2017, Colloqate Design is a multidisciplinary Design Justice practice focused on expanding community access to, and building power through the design of social, civic, and cultural spaces. Our mission is to intentionally organize, advocate, and design spaces of racial, social and cultural equity.

We believe that to design is to have an unyielding faith in the potential for a just society. It is an act of individual and collective hope requiring, not only, an awareness of true inequity, but a compulsion to speak out against it in its many forms. Our work speaks to the potential for equitable spaces and attempts to visually and physically represent our collective aspirations for the future.

The Context

Our values are validated through the spaces and places we invest in building. We acknowledge that the system of racism manifested in the physical environment decimates neighborhoods, communities, and regions; blocking communities of color from accessing specific geographies or services, reinforcing legacies of segregationist policy while damaging efforts to create economic inclusion and ecological resilience.

This ongoing exclusion has wide-spread negative impacts on individual and community well being: safety and quality of life, employment and economic prospects, health outcomes and life expectancy, access to high-quality education, nutritious food, and basic services. The struggle for social and civil rights is one that has largely evaded the design profession and we have framed our work around addressing this void. Equity requires recognizing the role of histories of inequity in shaping our society and actively addressing the ongoing effects of those legacies as well as working to dismantle barriers to opportunity, access, and inclusion moving forward.

Definition

Colloquial + Locate + Collocate: Colloqate

col·lo·qui·al : adjective (of language) used in ordinary, informal or a familiar conversation; not formal or literary. Conversational. Informal

lo·cate : verb 1. discover the exact place or position of. 2. Situate in and of a particular place. 3. place within a particular context

col·lo·cate : verb 1. (of a word) be habitually juxtaposed with another at a frequency greater than chance. 3.place side by side or in a particular relation.

col·lo·qate : A familiar design dialogue situated in and of particular place. Considering people and place habitually juxtaposed with one another at a higher frequency than chance.

Theory of Practice

For nearly every injustice, there is an architecture built to sustain and perpetuate it. At the root of our climate crisis is an infrastructure that exhausts 39% of our carbon emissions and demands 40% of our energy production. At the root of housing, transportation and economic injustice there are remnants of redlining and convents that continue to extract wealth and codify structural or de facto segregation. At the root of the unjust policing is a prison industrial complex sustained by spaces that extract human dignity and economic potential from marginalized people in the name of profit. At the root of food and commercial insecurity is the idea that retail (structures) follows rooftops, meaning the viability of a neighborhood is measured by the acceleration of housing values and individual assets. The force of these issues are often invisible but they are not insurmountable. We hold ourselves to a standard of design that recognized our collective voice in the process of dismantling systems of power.

principles + values

HONOR THE GRIOT.

Amplify the voice of the extant communities who have the knowledge of place and needs far better than anyone else.

CHALLENGE POWER.

Seek to challenge existing power and forward the efforts of racial, social, and cultural reparation through the processes and outcomes of design.

BUILD COLLECTIVE POWER.

Work to build collective power with communities to address larger systemic issues made manifest through the built environment.

STRATIFY THE PROCESS.

Recognize the level of knowledge in communities and develop roles and opportunities for members to be substantially conscribed into the process.

CULTURE IS EVOLUTION. CULTURE IS REVOLUTION.

Lift the stories of place as to develop an understanding of the hidden relationships and networks that make space meaningful. Memory is the gateway to potential.

IMAGINE RADICAL JUST FUTURES.

Imagine a world that prioritizes healing and marshals collective power in support of historically marginalized communities.

FORM FOLLOWS FICTION.

The language we use to tell the stories of place reveal our values and expose our biases through the interpretation and translation between the architectural language of place and the language of cultural interaction in place.

REPARATION AND LIBERATION.

Seek to create spaces and places that acknowledge and repair our past and push systems toward a free and liberated state of being.

Funders

We are honored to have the continued support of funders aligned in the mission to dismantle systems of oppression and build centered on the pursuit of justice.

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The Team

Sophia Xiao-fan Austrins

**Director, Architect**

Sophia seeks to share the power of the built environment with communities who have been left out of our design processes; not only because they deserve to create their own futures, but also to find the moments of delight and community growth that the act of designing together can create. Projects by the community and for the community are her passion. She also finds delight in working with larger clients to challenge the status quo and improve their processes to better meet the needs of communities they serve.

Bryan Bradshaw is a designer who brings transparency and collaboration to Colloqate’s processes. His collective design approach acknowledges historical disparities and advocates for elevating voices that have been marginalized in traditional design processes, continually spreading resources to those that do not share the same privileges as others. In addition, Bryan’s art background brings a level of craft and sculptural creativity to our work.

Angela French provides mission driven accounting services through the support of local nonprofits and startups. Her work enables us to continue to grow Colloqate while also setting a foundation for other Design Justice organizing and advocacy, including work with the Design as Protest Collective and Dark Matter University.

Karim Hassanein

**Director, Storytelling & Communications**

Karim Hassanein is an interdisciplinary, values-driven design professional committed to supporting civic engagement and creating a more just world in everything he does. He works and thinks at multiple scales, from storytelling to event coordination to urban design, with a commitment to excellence and tangible positive outcomes for the organizations and communities he serves. Karim is motivated by hope for a liberated future, and strives to democratize organizational structures. All of this is fueled by his love of complexity and the ways that embracing uncertainty can lead to radical change.

Bryan Lee Jr.

**Design Principal, Architect**

Bryan Lee is an architect and national Design Justice Advocate with over a decade of experience in the field of architecture. He is the founding organizer of the Design Justice Platform and organized the Design As Protest National Day of Action. Bryan has led two award-winning architecture and design programs for high school students through the Arts Council of New Orleans and the National Organization of Minority Architects. He works to give other people and practices the tools to pursue Design Justice themselves, spreading the reach of Colloqate’s mission for generations to come.

Mahalah has brought a social justice lens to the work of architecture and design from early on while participating in and directing camps for Project Pipeline, a program where students identify needs in their communities and help them design buildings fulfilling that need. Her work at Colloqate enables us to continuously improve our own internal processes and seek justice with our clients for the communities we serve.

Katherine Marple weaves her passion for culture, history, and storytelling into a design practice that seeks to uplift community voices and advocate for imagining and building community-centric futures. This comes with a love for graphic design and spatial design that tells a story. Her narrative-based approach supports Colloqate’s design process that is rooted in place and building relationships with the folks we are working with.

Lelund Marzell puts his heart into helping people with whatever resources are available both within and outside of the office. Lelund supports Colloqate’s ability to rethink the design process and implement creative practices that heal and empower communities while breaking systemic oppression for marginalized groups including people of color and those with limited financial resources.

Amina D. Massey

**Design Justice Organizer**

Amina D. Massey, Ph.D. is a medical sociologist and community organizer committed to developing and implementing adaptable strategies for positive social transformation. She has worked with academic and medical institutions, non-profit organizations, researchers, urban planners, policy makers, and artists to establish accountable partnerships and collaborations. Amina’s work and research has employed creative and participatory methodologies to illuminate shared meanings and experiences, expand access to social resources, and foster equitable communities.

Kalin Norman

**Visual Video Storyteller**

Kalin Norman is a New Orleans native and visual video storyteller. His goal is to shed light on the conditions and experiences of communities, and those who work to improve them. Growing up in southern Louisiana, Kalin witnessed firsthand the impact of design on communities of color, and how even the smallest changes can have lasting effects. Through his video work, Kalin aims to inspire hope and motivate people to take action and do their part in creating a better future.

Natalia Revelo La Rotta challenges inequality and injustice through an interdisciplinary perspective that seeks to uproot oppressive policy, cultural practice, and relationships. She strengthens Colloqate’s vision of working at the intersection of organizing, advocacy, and design through a holistic view that sees the urgent necessity for each part in support of the other. In her project work, she brings in the colloquial knowledge of people impacted by the design process by embracing the idea of the pluriverse, where there is more than one approach to any challenge.

Tina Taeb is a designer with experience in mutual aid and Disability Justice and a strong drive for clarity and delight in graphics as artifacts of communication. She challenges injustice and oppression that is manifested through the built environment by prioritizing the needs and narratives of impacted communities, and approaches design as a tool for collective liberation. She is passionate about being a conduit for human connection and joy by building and fostering authentic relationships personally and professionally.

Alumni

Elizabeth Chen uses design in support of community-based movements that lift up human rights. She believes in shifting systems to prioritize people’s well-being over social hierarchy or wealth and seeks knowledge from the lived experiences of populations who have historically not had their cultures honored by design industry norms. Our work is strengthened by her ability to persistently shift conversations on projects to keep community safety and care at the forefront. She brings this thinking to all scales of design including production and detailing.

John Ludlam sees the power in relationships, and enjoys connecting with community partners and clients to move us forward together towards a more just future. As a designer, he values our ability to shape design policy in addition to the shaping of built spaces and works fluidly across architecture, planning, and outreach. John’s work has been key in developing genuine ways for architects to reach out and bring community members into our design processes and constantly evaluate how we can be effective in our mission driven work.

Our Board

Jose Alvarez

A native of Caracas, Venezuela, José is a Principal at Eskew+Dumez+Ripple. A talented architect and leader, he is currently serving as Commissioner for the City of New Orleans Board of Zoning Adjustments (BZA), and serves on the Advisory Board for Tulane School of Architecture.

Steven Lewis

Steven Lewis is a principal at ZGF who brings a wealth of experience across urban planning and design, most recently holding a post with the City of Detroit where he served as the Design Director for the Central Region of Detroit’s Department of Planning and Development.

Casius Pealer

As Director of Tulane’s Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development (MSRED) program and a Professor of Practice in the School of Architecture, Pealer also is Principal of Oystertree Consulting, where he concentrates in the areas of public housing development, affordable housing policy, and the impacts of design and construction on health outcomes, energy use, and water use.

Rosa Sheng

Rosa is a respected Designer, Architect, Thought Leader, and Innovator with over 24 years of experience, who has led a variety of award-winning and internationally acclaimed projects. Rosa joined SmithGroupJJR in October 2017 as a Principal in the San Francisco office. She will help build the Higher Education and Workplace practice as well as other project pursuits that tap her expertise.

Jess Zimbabwe

Jess Zimbabwe is the Principal of Plot Strategies. Until recently, she served as founding Executive Director of the Daniel Rose Center for Public Leadership—a partnership of the National League of Cities and the Urban Land Institute. She is a licensed architect, a certified city planner, a LEED-Accredited professional, and a member of the urban planning faculty at Georgetown University.