Photo by T. Kuei

Deena Darby (she/her), AIA, NOMA is an Architect, Educator, and community organizer based in New York City.

Committed to design justice within the built environment, her work focuses on developing design strategies and practices that prioritize community involvement and working to ensure all users are empowered and given the tools to contribute throughout the design process. She has guest reviewed, spoken, served as a research assistant, and taught widely at institutions such as Columbia, Pratt, Drexel, Harvard, Ryerson, New York City College of Technology, and Syracuse.

Deena is a Project Architect at Studio Cooke John, freelances for Creative Urban Alchemy, and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at New York City College of Technology. Additionally, she is a Core Organizer with Design as Protest (DAP) and Dark Matter U (DMU) and is a fellow with the Urban Design Forum.

Deena received her Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) from Syracuse University and currently resides on the indigenous lands of the Canarsie, Wappinger, and Munsee Lenape peoples (Queens, NY).

Contact me at: darbydeena@gmail.com
Check out Design as Protest’s Anti-Racist Design Justice Index here!