Who We Are
Open Architecture Collaborative, Inc. (OAC) is a global learning community mobilizing architects, designers, and a diverse range of professionals who shape the built environment with technical skills to build capacity with communities experiencing systemic racism and marginalization.
We cultivate new models of design practice that prioritize:
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We advance racial justice in our professions by offering trainings focused on systems thinking: understanding the structures, policies, and cultures in place that uphold racial inequity. And cultivate shared learning and practice community, knowing that change happens with support, care, and accountability with your peers.
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We believe that investing in our wellness, physically and mentally, enables us to be intentional and thoughtful in our community engagement and design practice. In our trainings and programs, we incorporate grounding exercises and meditations as well as share trauma-informed approaches to community engagement and how to navigate conflict.
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Our programming shares skills and strategies for design practitioners to incorporate climate driven design solutions across scale in their design solutions.
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Co-Director
Director of Programs & Partnerships
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Almas Haider is an architectural designer, community organizer, and storyteller. For over a decade, Almas has supported the existence and just alignment of South Asian, queer, trans, and non-binary Muslim collectives in the movement for the liberation of Black, Indigenous, and people of color. They have worked most extensively in social justice campaigns related to immigrant rights, detention and deportation, and state surveillance.
They have worked most extensively in the non-profit sector, including South Asian Network, South Asian Americans Leading Together, and the International Rescue Committee. Almas has also worked in the federal government in the U.S. Department of State’s Educational and Cultural Affairs Bureau. And as chaired committees and boards, including the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance, Satrang-LA, KhushDC, and API Equality-LA.
This informs his understanding and relationship to the built environment, inspiring Almas to pursue a career in architecture. She practices a land and design based strategy for liberation, primarily working with queer and trans land stewards across the U.S.
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Co-Director
Director of Consulting
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Shalini Agrawal is trained as an architect and has over 25 years of experience creating and facilitating community workshops between participants of all ethnicities, and socio-economic statuses in Chicago, Oakland and San Francisco. She is founder of Public Design for Equity that centers equity in outcomes, co-founder and director of Pathways to Equity, a leadership experience that brings self-reflective practice to support responsible social impact design practice. Pathways to Equity was a recipient of the 2020 NOMA NAACP SEED Award for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in community-based work. Shalini’s work in equity consulting is shaping the national conversation of equitable practices in architecture, planning and land use development, and is at the forefront of bringing equity and anti-racism pedagogy to architectural practice and education.
Shalini is Associate Professor in Critical Ethnic Studies, Interdisciplinary Studio and the Decolonial School at California College of the Arts. Her research and practice focuses on revealing the historical legacies of colonization in architecture and design and dismantling its lasting impacts. She has been recognized for her teaching and facilitation with the AIA SF Community Alliance Award for Education and the Interior Design Education Council's award for Community Service. Shalini is a Core Organizer for Dark Matter University, and contributing author to Design for Democracy: Techniques for Collective Creativity and Public Interest Design Education Guidebook.
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Finance & Compliance Manager
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Garrett is the founding director of the Open Architecture Collaborative and previously led programs and national networks at Code for America and Architecture for Humanity. He has produced creative placemaking and leadership programs in the Bay Area, piloting Pathways to Equity.
Garrett serves as Director of Research & Evaluation for Designing Justice Designing Spaces where he leads the discovery of project outcomes and manages projects and business development. He has an M. Arch from Tulane University, was selected as a 2016 Next City Vanguard.
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Cesar is the Senior Business Transformation Consultant
at AECOM. Cesar brings a range of experience in public, community-based and academic approaches to design and architecture for equitable urban planning. He conducts mapping + zoning analyses, demographic and neighborhood research, as well as implements community engagement materials, tools and strategies. Last year, he researched development opportunities created by East Harlem’s most recent rezoning and the future development sites for the Second Avenue Subway. The basis of this research and recommendations was guided by the East Harlem Neighborhood Plan, an intensive multi-year community-based planning process done prior to the rezoning.Cesar holds a B.Arch. in Architecture from the City College of New York. Before Hester Street, he worked for NYC’s Department of Design and Construction overseeing cultural capital projects citywide and interned in non-profits such as The Van Alen Institute, J. Max Bond Center and In Our Own Back Yard (IOBY).
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Christopher M. Schutte is an Anchorage-based community and economic development consultant focused on transformative infrastructure and commercial real estate across Alaska. As an expert owner’s representative, he provides strategic oversight in zoning, project management, financial planning, and rural economic growth.
In 2021, Chris transitioned to consulting after six years as the Director of Economic & Community Development for Anchorage, leading key initiatives under two mayors to enhance economic resilience and livability. He previously served as Executive Director of the Anchorage Downtown Partnership, where he improved safety, cleanliness, and vibrancy in the city’s Downtown Improvement District.
Chris holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Alaska Anchorage and an M.A. in American Politics from Claremont Graduate University. He lives in Anchorage with his wife, two kids, and two cats on the traditional lands of the Dena’ina people.
Board of Directors
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Sarah Long is an Urban Planner and Environmental Engineer with a background in global community-built water infrastructure, environmental justice, and community development.
She earned a bachelor’s of science in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University and dual masters in City and Regional Planning and Environmental Sciences and Engineering from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
She is a devotee to the earth, lover of water, and dedicated to land-based community autonomy to Black, brown, and indigenous communities.
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A designer, facilitator, and strategist, Allie focuses on projects and uses methods that foster local self-determination and improve lives. She is a proven leader with the ability to enact visionary change and a designer expert at using participatory processes to achieve equitable design outcomes. She believes that the most resilient solutions are responsive to local context, honor grassroots expertise, and spark imagination and inspiration.
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Jakiel Sanders, an accomplished architect with over 15 years of experience in designing inclusive K-12 schools, strives to create designs that respond to diverse learning needs and foster community connections. He is actively engaged with professional organizations such as the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, where he is a champion for access and equity within the architectural licensing process. Moreover, Jakiel’s commitment to mentoring aspiring architects further highlights his belief in the transformative power of giving back.
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Alexis Plair is a creative design strategist with a mission to co-create a just world where communities are liberated and empowered to shape their own
lives and futures. In her 10 years working with mission-diven firms, Alexis has worked across infrastrcture, clean energy, and transportation sectors. Currently a consultant in the social impact space, Alexis shines brightest when co-creating community-based solutions that make lives better.
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Audrey Alverson has held leadership roles in organizational strategy, marketing, and communications for 15 years – as an employee, consultant, and volunteer for various architecture, housing justice, human rights, and social justice organizations. Her work in the architecture profession has always been driven by her commitment to equity and justice, and her belief that the profession has great opportunity to use its power for the good of people and communities broadly. Today Audrey leads The Bold Work Collaborative, a strategy and communications consultancy that helps purpose-driven organizations position for bigger impact, more resilience, and better recognition.
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Stephanie Leedom, AIA, is Executive Director of the Great Lakes Region of CannonDesign. She is a licensed architect with a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Virginia Tech and a Master of Urban Design from University of Michigan. After a 20 year career in public service, Stephanie brings her purpose driven leadership to driving impact through strategic vision at CannonDesign.
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Jacquelyn Iyamah is a designer reimagining interiors and architecture as sites of racial liberation. She created Interior Race Theory, which explores how the elements that shape our spaces can affirm or erode racial identity. Through her practice, Making the Body a Home, she educates designers on creating racially liberational spaces.Her work has been featured in Architectural Digest, Harvard Graduate School of Design and more.
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Natalie Desrosiers is a design and construction project manager with a background in architecture and a focus on community-centered, sustainable building. She leads projects across residential, small-scale commercial, and mission-driven spaces, translating complex technical requirements into thoughtful, well-executed environments.
She believes the built environment can be a quiet act of care, shaping spaces that help people feel held, grounded, and at home.
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Lupe Mahida (they/them, elle) has been working at the intersections of trans and queer liberation, racial and gender justice, migrant and climate justice, healing justice and youth leadership development for over eighteen years. Since 2019, Lupe has helped move over $18 million in philanthropic funds to BIPOC trans-led groups across the U.S. and U.S. territories at the Fund for Trans Generations. Prior to Borealis, Lupe worked at BreakOUT! which fights the criminalization of LGBTQ youth of color in New Orleans. In their spare time, they enjoy cooking delicious food, getting to know plants, doing ancestor reverence, and spending time learning new crafty skills.
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Heba Hendawy is an AI policy and governance researcher focused on the institutional oversight of frontier AI systems. She holds a double MSc degree in Integrated Urbanism and works on government readiness, accountability, and democratic resilience within U.S.–EU and transatlantic governance frameworks.
Her background in urban systems and built environment governance grounds her work in the institutional oversight of complex, safety-critical infrastructures, where regulatory coordination, public accountability, and multi-level authority are central.
Trained in the governance of large-scale urban and infrastructural systems, she approaches frontier AI as a safety-critical domain requiring layered oversight, regulatory interoperability, and clearly assigned institutional responsibility.
Her work draws on established models of public-law accountability and infrastructure regulation to inform the design of AI governance architectures. Her training in integrated urbanism and infrastructure governance further informs her focus on state capacity and institutional design in AI oversight. She applies lessons from the regulation of built and safety-critical systems to the emerging governance of frontier AI.
She brings continuity from the governance of safety-critical infrastructure, urban systems, and public law into frontier AI governance, grounding contemporary AI oversight in established regulatory and institutional practice. Her research examines how concentration in advanced AI infrastructure reshapes regulatory authority and accountability, and how legal and institutional design can rebalance responsibility under conditions of uncertainty.
She has authored policy research translating technical AI safety challenges into actionable recommendations for public-sector and international stakeholders.
Her work has been recognized through a SXSW Place by Design Innovation Award Finalist distinction and an IEEE Gold Medal for Sustainable Innovation. She is a DAAD Fellow and a two-time recipient of fellowships from the U.S. Department of State.
In 2026, she is co-founding the U.S.–EU Council for AI and organizing AI Governance Talks, a transatlantic policy forum on legal and institutional responses to frontier AI risks.
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Kimberly Jackson is an architecture and interior design leader with over three decades of experience guiding creative studios and complex projects. Her portfolio spans large-scale interior architecture and product development for global retail and hospitality brands, including landmark work in New York and abroad. She is a licensed architect and a committed advocate for inclusive and equitable design practices.
Board Members Emeritus Ida Cheinman, Ricardo Daza, Maryam Eskandari, Audrey Galo, Christina Garmendia, Steve Jones, Geoff Malia, Sandy Mendler, Casius Pealer, Bryan Malong, Annie Ledbury, Ashrita Shetty, Allan Co, and Karen Robichaud
Advisors Shakira Ferrell, Allen Hunn, Ashley Hand, Katherine Darnstadt, Bob Sofman, Dr. Antwi Akom, Tessa Cruz, and Aekta Shah
Thanks to Our Funding Partners
Thanks to Our In-Kind Supporters
Legal Support – Melanie Ruthruaff at Mintz Levin
Branding – Eric Piper and Homestead Design & Branding
Design Support – Steve Jones, Plantain Studio
Branding Research – Mo Dhaliwal and Skyrocket
Business Model Research – verynice.
Software – Autodesk Foundation