Designing in Color

Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Community,

After over eight years of dedicated work at the intersection of architecture, social justice, and spatial equity, we at Designing in Color have made the difficult decision to sunset our organization.

This decision, though not made lightly, comes with immense pride in the work we’ve done, the collaborations we’ve built, and the positive impact we’ve strived to have on our communities. We’ve seen our efforts take root in the spaces we’ve shaped and the conversations we’ve sparked, and for that, we are deeply grateful. We are so grateful to our clients, collaborators, and supporters for giving life to our vision.

While Designing in Color may be coming to an end, our passion for creating equitable and just spaces endures. We encourage you to continue to research, support, and advocate for social and spatial justice in the built environment.

We wish you all the best in your future endeavors, and remind you all to design with empathy, grace, care, and - boundlessly - in color.

feature interview of Chris! http://voyagela.com/interview/inspiring-conversations-with-christopher-locke-of-designing-in-color/

Watts Community Cookout 3!
January 21 2023 - 103rd St / Watts Station
11am-2pm
Come by for refreshments and visuals of the new community space.

Please RSVP
https://bit.ly/WattsCookout3

Catch up on the discussion
Visit www.communityspaceforwatts.com for videos and presentations from past events

What is the Community Space?
The community space will be located in Watts in a 6.5 acre property bordered by Century Blvd to the north, Juniper St to the east, 102nd St to the south and Lou Dillon Ave to the west. While the actual construction of the community space may be a few years away, the community it will support already exists and has roots that run deep throughout the rich history of Watts.

How will Community Engagement Happen?
The planning of a new Watts community space is a community-driven process. Watts community members will have many opportunities to share about their community and its needs, how the community can be strengthened, and what they hope to see in a future community space.
Local knowledge will guide the vision for the space, and Primestor, RIOS + Designing In Color will bring design and programming experience
to facilitate the process.

Join us for Community Events
Join us for a series of events and discussions, and share YOUR ideas on what the future community space should be!

Share Your Ideas With Us
email: [email protected]
instagram:
web: www.communityspaceforwatts.com

Watts Community Update!

To continue the community organizing efforts, the second Community cookout of the year will occur on Saturday, Aug 13th from 11am to 2pm at Freedom Plaza. If you are in the Los Angeles area this weekend and would like to support the community knowledge-sharing for the project, please come by and participate in the design discussions and comment on the progress of the design. RSVP at link in Bio!

Our organizing team consists of Tamika Butler , Marisa Ramirez , Joshua Foster , and Demar Mathews . Together this groups' collective knowledge will help challenge rhetoric, policies, and normative engagement methods, center the communities' voices collaboratively in the process, and lead conversation and ideas toward creating a space that best reflects the needs and future aspirations of residents.

The Community Cookout will display work of the .imagines-led design team and facilitate discussions centered around the neighborhoods of Watts and youth intergenerational spaces. We will focus particularly to amplify student voices, as youth are often silenced in large city public projects and an afterthought in the development process of projects throughout their neighborhoods. In an intentional effort to shift this young-perspectives narrative and truly create an intergenerational space, the community organizing team is proposing an action program and process that gravitates around the education of development and design, while empowering the creative ideas surrounding spaces of art and culture that youth already possess.

Our goal is to launch this program at the Community Cookout. If you have any interest in supporting youth or have local youth focused program your involved in, please support us with your participation or organizations program information. If you can't attend, please spread awareness or support the local non-profits found via project website link in our bio!

See you on Saturday!