Our Blog

CHALLENGE: Reimagine the process of participatory design with a majority BIPOC community in Watts on the design of a Community Center & Park on the site of a previous housing project. COLLABORATE: Project was led by the developer Primstore, in partnership with HACLA (Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles) and architecture firm...

Our installation design was inspired by the fruit cart—and its quintessential rainbow umbrella—as a symbol of community, resilience, pride, and delicious food. We fixated on the power of the fruit cart as an iconic symbol of CicLAvia’s love for the street. After all, what’s more LA than a fruit cart?⠀ The abstracted fruit carts...

Black Star Farmers sought out Designing in Color’s services to envision a new, community-centered version of Seattle historic Cal Anderson Park. Unimpressed by the city council’s concept for the site, Henderson sought DCo’s vision of community-centered, narrative-driven, experiential, and non-Eurocentric design. The DCo team approached this through a number of Guiding Principles: Narrative-Based Strategies,...

We are proud to announce that small talks:LA, the DCo collaborative, won the competition through the @aia_la to design & build the 2019 AIA 2x8 Student Exhibition. The installation, titled Exchange, was open from May 8th-June 7th 2019 at Helms Bakery in Culver City, CA. Exchange is a forward-thinking take on the traditional gallery setting....

PART 1: INNOVATION CHALLENGE - REIMAGINE. REUSE. RECLAIM.   Saturday May 4th - Los Angeles State Historic Park - Chinatown, Los Angeles CA “If a community articulated what it stood for, what it believed in, what is aspired to be – as a city, as a neighborhood – would it have a better chance...

Designing in Color submitted a proposal to the 2017/2018 Los Angeles County Arts Commission YES to ADU Competition and were named Finalists for their proposal titled RE: Starter Home. The RE:Starter HOME appropriates the post-WWII “starter home” movement to alleviate the current housing and homeless crisis in Los Angeles through architecture that supports emotional...

Development. Displacement. Community: A workshop highlighting Inglewood and other evolving communities in LA Saturday July 7th - (fer) studio - Inglewood, CA Hosted in collaboration with the Free School of Architecture, the 2nd installment of the Small Talks series centered around the recent development in Inglewood as a result of the new stadium planned for...

Streetscape. Diversity. Impact: A Designing in Color Discussion about Cultural Asylums in Los Angeles Spring 2018 - Legato Studios - Arts District, Los Angeles ​ “…Los Angeles, as cities go, is an especially tough nut to crack.” – Christopher Hawthorne, LA Times Hosted by Designing in Color, the kickoff to small talks:LA focused on...