what is
designequity™
Designequity™ is a practice that first expanded our hearts to include ALL people but especially our Black and Brown communities as we continue to expand our design applications by introducing innovative practices, concepts and workshops to our human centered process.
It is a practice of empathy that helps us best represent the people we design for using a thoughtful interior design process. Projects with designequity™ at the center allow for radical hospitality, compassion, and a shared community understanding to guide designs that reflect and respect our people’s unique stories and spaces.
A Determinator is a Determined by Design team member who never gives up on ALL the people they serve, no matter what. There is no stopping the Determinator.
How it works
We begin our projects with an exploration that guides us to the Design Concept for each interior design project - a differentiator of the Determined By Design process.
Projects are driven by giving a fuck and Design Concepts that connect to their community and provide context and depth to our designs. They protect places from being tethered to fleeting trends. Instead, creating spaces for DEadvocates like us that provide spaces for ALL people.
The Land
The Site
The Neighborhood
“We take our time to find a concept. We do the research.”
Creating a design concept
Step 1:
Start with some time-travel
+ Start with the land and indegious story
+ Jump to colonization and when it was settled
+ Understand the contemporary context of that neighborhood
Step 2:
Find the human stories
+ Who are the local businesses?
+ Why is the park named this?
Step 3:
Use research to create a Design Concept.
Our team takes schematic designs with equity gaps and turns them into spaces that build community.
In the original schematic design presented, waiting areas did not allow for intentional communing or make the most of the square footage.
In our re-imagining, we offered a solution that fostered gathering and made it multifunctional– transforming the lobby from a standard service to an amenity.
By integrating designequity™ into the schematic design we increased utility, added pathways for traffic, and nurtured spontaneous community building – all within the limits and needs of our design partners, you?
Intentional seating groups host intimate engagements. A new mezzanine anchors the space and increases square footage.
Our team takes schematic designs with equity gaps and turns them into spaces that build community.
In the original schematic design presented, waiting areas did not allow for intentional communing or make the most of the square footage.
In the original schematic design presented, waiting areas did not allow for intentional communing or make the most of the square footage.
By integrating Design Equity into the schematic design we increased utility, added pathways for traffic, and nurtured spontaneous community building – all within the limits and needs of our design partners.
Intentional seating groups host intimate engagements. A new mezzanine anchors the space and increases square footage.
