Episode 088: Latina Voices in Practice
“Why is it that the largest community of color within the US still makes up such a small percentage of the profession?” ~ACSA Hispanic & Latinx in Architecture
Four leaders in the profession share their diverse perspectives on race, equity, and architecture.
Practice Disrupted is committed to elevating conversations on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion to teach, empower, and build greater awareness across the industry. Building from prior diversity conversations, this week we learn about Hispanic & Latinx in Architecture.
Guest:
Venesa Alicea-Chuqui, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP, an Architect, Educator and Advocate, is Founding Principal of NYVARCH Architecture, a NYC based collaborative Architectural Practice focused on building community and equity through design.  With over 15 years of experience designing multi-family sustainable affordable, and supportive housing developments and civic projects, she is committed to working with local communities to develop good design, both sustainable and socially conscious. She’s the Vice Chair of Outreach to the https://network.aia.org/communities/community-home?communitykey=5dccd29e-2089-48ae-8452-471d5068b76d&tab=groupdetails (AIA Small Firm Exchange) and President of the Architecture Alumni Group of the Alumni Association of the https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/ (City College of New York), her alma mater (B.Arch ‘05), where she has also taught the Coop Internship and Professional Practice classes. Committed to design justice in the built environment, she’s an active contributor to https://darkmatteruniversity.org/ (Dark Matter University), https://www.dapcollective.com/ (Design as Protest), and a former co-chair to the https://www.aiany.org/committees/diversity-inclusion-committee/ (AIANY Diversity & Inclusion) and https://www.aiany.org/committees/emerging-new-york-architects/ (Emerging New York Architects) committees. She is past chair of the AIANY Puerto Rico Resiliency task force, an active member of the AIANY Planning and Urban Design Committee, and a 2019 Fellow of the https://www.communitydesign.org/ (Association for Community Design).
Siboney Diaz-Sánchez is an affordable housing advocate and the community engagement administrator for the City of San Antonio's Neighborhood and Housing Services Department. She serves as a https://www.noma.net/e3/ (NOMA) Empowerment Committee Co-Chair, organizes with https://www.dapcollective.com/ (Design As Protest) Planning and Policy Committee, and is proud to teach Community Practice at The Boston Architectural College. In 2021 she joined the https://www.communitydesign.org/about (Association for Community Design) board of directors.  Prior to returning to San Antonio Siboney was an Enterprise Rose Fellow and project/design manager at https://www.oppcommunities.org/ (Opportunities Communities) in the Boston area working for two non-profit community development corporations, https://theneighborhooddevelopers.org/ (The Neighborhood Developers) and https://nuestracdc.org/ (Nuestra Comunidad).  While in Boston she developed design standards for affordable housing, helped secure funding for a low income housing tax credit housing development, led a community engagement process for a public arts park and served on the https://www.architects.org/ (Boston Society of Architects) board of directors. Siboney insists creative fields are viable vehicles for social change and believes in just redistribution of systemic power through design. She is committed to prioritizing community voices in design processes.
She is a licensed architect in the state of Texas and holds her Bachelor of Architecture from https://aap.cornell.edu/academics/architecture (Cornell University).  
Vanessa Smith Torres is a Puerto Rican born Architect based in Miami, FL. Vanessa received a Bachelors from https://camd.northeastern.edu/program/architecture-m-arch/ (Northeastern...