Bio:
The great designer, Maya Bird-Murphy has been a designer at several award-winning Chicago architecture firms. She holds a Bachelor and Master degree in Architecture. While working full time and completing her master’s, she founded Chicago Mobile Makers, a nonprofit bringing design focused skill-building workshops to underrepresented communities. Maya is a 2018 Jason Pettigrew Memorial ARE Scholarship Recipient and Design+Diversity Fellow.

How did you first learn about architecture and when did you decide that built environment profession was an area of interest for you?
As a child living in Oak Park, Illinois - the home of many FLW works - I was exposed to architecture immediately. Through my childhood through now I’ve witnessed injustice in the built environment. I knew I wanted to help change that.

What do you do?
I am a designer with an architecture background, but I’m currently carving my own path through the field. I make architecture and design more accessible by hosting workshops all over Chicago.

What excites you in the work you do?
I see my work as more of a duty than a passion. It excites me that this work will positively touch the lives of young people and may give them a path toward empowerment and more equitable and positive space in their communities.

Who or what inspires you professionally?
The Chicago community of designers and architects who are always working to make the city better, Emily Pilloton of Girl’s Garage, Majora Carter, and the many people creating a new definition of architecture.

What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?
Chicago Mobile Makers! We’ve engaged 254 youth ages 7-19, reached 10 neighborhoods, been featured in Fast Company Magazine, were AIA Film Challenge Finalists, were selected for the AIA Emerging Professionals Exhibit. We have much more work to do!

Featured Project Name: 
The Chicago Mobile Makerspace
 
Featured Project Location: 
Chicago, IL
 
Featured Project Completion Date: 
Unbuilt

Role in Featured Project: 
Designer, Researcher, Executive Director
 
Featured Project Description:
Chicago Mobile Makers is a nonprofit organization that offers free and low-cost youth workshops in Chicago communities. We will soon mobilize with The Chicago Mobile Makerspace - a retrofitted truck equipped with power tools, hand tools, a laser cutter, a 3D printer, laptops and anything else needed to design and build designed objects. Students are exposed to architecture, design, and construction early through design thinking, problem-solving, skill building and design-build workshops.

Photography Credit:
Maya Bird-Murphy