Dawn F. Hicks, NOMA, Assoc. AIA – Enterprise Rose Fellow, Community Design Coordinator/Assistant Project Manager, Venice Community Housing

As part of the AIA|LA Citizen Architect initiative, we are profiling architects that are currently engaged in civic affairs by serving on Boards, Commissions, Neighborhood Councils  or who work for public agencies.

IMAGE CREDITS:  Dawn F. Hicks

Originally from Richmond, VA, Dawn F. Hicks is currently an Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellow, working with Venice Community Housing in Venice, California as their Community Design Coordinator/Asst. Project Manager.

Now in her second year, Dawn serves as a key member of VCH’s housing development team which focuses on increasing affordable and supportive housing options in Venice and surrounding areas of Los Angeles. Dawn’s fellowship role also includes a strong focus on advocacy, community engagement and facilitating community design workshops to foster collaboration on development design.

At a young age, Dawn realized her coloring and drawing skills were advanced, but it was not until college that she transformed her creative passion into architecture. Being a first generation college graduate, her conversations regarding college were limited to the philosophy of “you have to go”. She was unfamiliar with the architect industry, not meeting an architect until college. In middle school Dawn attended Richmond Area Program for Minorities in Engineering (RAPME), in Richmond, VA now called, Richmond Minorities in Engineering Partnership (RVAMEP) a program that encourages minority students to pursue STEM careers. So in 2004, Dawn received her Bachelor of Science degree in Architectural Engineering from The North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

With graduation quickly approaching, Dawn realized the wealth of knowledge she gained about building construction, vastly outweighed the knowledge of who actually designed these buildings. Her inspiration for becoming an Architect grew out of the desire to shine light on the dearth of knowledge pertaining to the architecture industry within minority communities at large. Dawn recognizes that more diversity in the field of architecture is imperative and through her work with the National Organization for Minority Architects (NOMA), committed to bringing awareness to the need for diversity in the field of architecture.

In 2010, Dawn received her Master of Architecture from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte where she focused on the social and economic impacts of Hip Hop on Architecture and how cultural interactions of a particular community can be used to create space.  Her research sparked further inspiration of becoming an architect, not only because of the lack of minority architects, but also from the lack of design for minority communities, who make up the majority of underserve communities.

Dawn has a passion for enhancing urban environments through influences of social, economic, and cultural forces that help shape built environments and develop inclusive communities in affordable ways.  In the year 2019, decades of housing issues such as red lining that aided in shaping demographic patterns of American communities continue to affect underserved, minority neighborhoods, particularly black neighborhoods, which continue to struggle today. The most pressing need is how to break down these systematic patterns of design in order to rebuild what black communities have lost and design inclusive communities. Housing inequality will continue to be a pressing issue as long as people are displaced from their homes and communities through a renewal processes that falter under the pressures of urban living.

What fascinates Dawn in her current role is how VCH navigates barriers to facilitate support to those who have been pushed out, in order to build a more inclusive neighborhood. Dawn seeks to integrate into VCH’s already established redevelopment strategies and continue their mission to reduce homelessness and maximize affordable housing.

“I am fascinated by the fact renewal strategies of urban neighborhoods often create development plans that never seems to reflect or consciously include those who already reside there. I hope to demonstrate the value of designing inclusive communities, particularly those in urban areas with communal, economical, and spatial planning needs.”

Architects can become better listeners and leaders by first recognizing the issues, taking a stance in bringing change and executing that change. Being civically engaged, caring about, and understanding the community you are designing for is the first step. As Dawn becomes more civically engaged, her goal is to teach others to do the same.