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 believe in cultivating new models of design practice that challenge traditional architecture, planning, and design practices.

We prioritize:

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • We ensure land and climate justice are on the forefront of our programming, understanding the interconnectedness of racial and environmental justice. Our programming shares skills and strategies for design practitioners to incorporate climate driven design solutions across scale in their design solutions. And to practice “rematriation,” a term used by Native American women of Turtle Island. It is a practice of restoring a people to their rightful place in sacred relationship with their ancestral land.

  • Co-Director (they/he/she)

    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. Almas has also taught a design at the University of Maryland, College Park, on the intersections of community organizing, archiving, U.S. bathroom legislation and design, and social justice.

    This informs his understanding and relationship to the built environment, inspiring Almas to pursue a career in architecture. As co-founder of Rooted Design, Almas offers architectural design visioning, archiving, and community engagement. And as the Trainings and Consulting Manager of Open Architecture Collaborative, they support sustainable infrastructure development for architects to build a just future.

  • Co-Director (she/her)

    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

Board of Directors

Garrett Jacobs

Director of Advocacy & Strategic Partnerships at Designing Justice Designing Spaces

Ashrita Shetty

Strategy Manager, Urban Activation - Gehl for Google

Anita Cobb

Market Leader - Aviation Equity Strategies
Mead & Hunt

Karen Robichaud

Karen Robichaud

Communications Strategist
Karen Robichaud LLC
Board Co-President

Cesar Mesias

Sr. Business Transformation Consultant
AECOM

Christopher Schutte

Principal
Capricorn Alaska

Jaryn Miller

Service Design Manager
Intuit

Jenine Kotob

Senior Director of EDI Strategies
The American Institute of Architects

Susan Strom

Chief Client Officer
Knowledge Architecture

Allan Co

Program Director
Centre for Public Impact
Board Co-President

Tavia Stewart

Non-profit Consultant
Creative Placemaker

Board Members Emeritus

Ida Cheinman, Ricardo Daza, Maryam Eskandari, Audrey Galo, Christina Garmendia, Steve Jones, Geoff Malia, Sandy Mendler, Casius Pealer, Bryan Malong and Annie Ledbury

Allen “Gunner” Gunn

Director of Aspiration Tech

Ashley Z. Hand

Co-Founder at CityFi Former Transportation Technology Strategist – LA, Former Chief Innovation Officer – KCMO @azhandkc

Katherine Darnstadt

Founder + Principal Architect at Latent Design @LATENT_DESIGN

Bob Sofman

Senior Executive @rsofman

Dr. Antwi Akom, Tessa Cruz & Aekta Shah

@I_SEEED

Shakira Ferrell

Non-Profit Executive, Development Specialist

Advisors

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