2026
Participants
Team O1
Community Collaborator:
Celestial Ministries Association
Design Contributor:
Wekeana Lassiter and BKE Designs
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Celestial Ministries Association (CMA) is a faith-based nonprofit organization dedicated to serving underserved families, youth, and seniors in the North Lawndale community of Chicago. Their mission is to provide holistic support through food distribution, youth development, mentorship, and community-centered programming that fosters stability, creativity, and hope. CMA's programs include the Celestial Drumline, a computer science after school program, an audio production studio called Celestial Sound, and community garden, among others.
Wekeana Lassiter is a Teaching Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Her expertise spans building envelope design, master planning, and interior design across healthcare, higher education, workplace, and laboratory sectors. Wekeana’s design philosophy centers on "creating place from thin air"—transforming intangible concepts into holistic, human-centered spaces. A dedicated advocate for inclusion, she co-founded the student National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) chapter at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) and later co-founded WiscoNOMA, believing diversity enriches design solutions. Wekeana holds an interior design degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and previously served as an adjunct professor at UWM’s School of Architecture & Urban Planning (SARUP). Notably, she contributed to Flad Architects' award-winning, LEED Gold-certified Center for Innovation Drug Research.
Brian Keith Ellison is a visionary Chicago-based designer and the founder of BKE Designs, a custom furniture and product design firm operating out of the city's West Side. Academically trained as an architect, Ellison seamlessly translates structural precision into functional art. Prior to his design career, he spent nearly 15 years in residential real estate development. A lifelong maker and tinkerer, he transitioned his focus to bespoke woodworking and furniture design, a journey that led to a national spotlight on the design competition series Framework. Today, his striking pieces are featured in private collections, historic buildings, local restaurants, and the Chicago Mayor's office. Deeply committed to his community, Ellison also empowers the city through his work with organizations like Bethel New Life.
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Team O2
Community Collaborators:
NeighborSpace + Lawndale Triangle Community Garden
Design Contributors:
Madalyn Asker and BNMO Design
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NeighborSpace is a nonprofit urban land trust in Chicago that preserves and sustains gardens on behalf of dedicated community groups, including Lawndale Triangle Garden, located at 4226 W. Ogden Avenue (aka historic Route 66).
BNMO Design and Studio Otherwise are collaborative practices led by Negin Moayer and Madalyn Asker, working across architecture, research, installation, and public engagement. Together, the practices explore how design can support more joyful, equitable, and community-centered futures. BNMO Design is a full-service architecture office focused on vibrant urban environments through adaptive reuse, neighborhood preservation, ecological care, and projects that sustain the affordability and integrity of city communities. Studio Otherwise extends this work through built installations, exhibitions, workshops, and collaborative research that examine architecture’s role in social repair and collective imagination. Across scales—from buildings and interiors to temporary public interventions—the two practices share a commitment to care, participation, and creating spaces that invite new ways of living together.
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Team O3
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Lawndale Christian Health Center is a faith-based organization that promotes wellness and provides quality, affordable healthcare for Lawndale and the neighboring communities.
Adaptive Operations was founded in 2013 by Charlie Vinz and is focused on cultural production and deftly evolving our shared built environment through architecture, art, design, and education. Adaptive Operations primarily undertakes the adaptive reuse, renovation, and research of existing structures as part of an ongoing strategy to prioritize the embodied carbon in our built environment, while also celebrating these spaces as palaces of human memory.
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Team O4
Community Collaborators:
Firehouse Community Arts Center
Design Contributors:
ORDERS Architecture and Design
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The Firehouse Community Arts Center interrupts the cycle of violence among youth and young adults in North Lawndale through the power of the arts and faith. They serve youth, families, schools, artists, and neighborhood stakeholders through restorative arts programming, violence prevention initiatives, wellness experiences, and community-building events that create safe spaces for healing and transformation.
Orders is the architectural practice of Jordan Hicks. Through careful consideration of space and construction technique, Orders projects are functional and efficient. Through focus on shape and material, these same projects are playful and surprising - a mise-en-scène for daily life where people can be curious and relaxed, immersed in the present moment. Our work has been featured in the New York Times and Dwell online. As part of his practice, Jordan also designs furniture. These pieces work simultaneously as components of architecture and as small-scale tests for new design techniques and sensibilities. Jordan teaches design studios at Illinois Institute of Technology. He lives in Chicago’s Belmont Gardens neighborhood with his partner, a fiction writer.
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