The most recent Side of Design podcast from BWBR introduces us to two architecture students whose work demands we reconsider what makes good design. Sierra Espinoza and Pwapadeino Wonosikou (who goes by Deino), this year’s BWBR equity scholarship winners, aren’t waiting until graduation to tackle the industry’s most pressing questions about who benefits from the spaces we build—and who doesn’t.
Art, Science, and Lived Experience
The Scholarship for Gender Equity in Design was awarded to fourth-year Howard University student Sierra, who grew up immersed in creativity. “I’ve come from a big art family. On my mom’s side everybody is either a painter, sculptor, jewelry maker, photographer… except for my mom who decided to go into law, funnily enough,” she says. When you add her love of science and childhood memories of watching her dad build her grandmother’s house in Trinidad and Tobago, architecture feels almost inevitable.
Deino’s path to winning the Scholarship for Diversity and Inclusion in Design winds through three continents. Now studying at Dunwoody College of Technology, she’s lived in Africa, Europe, and North America—experiences that left her with questions. “Something that has been evident for me growing up in these different continents has been the types of buildings that have been produced that I’ve been able to see and visit or just live in,” she explains. These cross-cultural contrasts sparked a curiosity: why do buildings look and function so differently across the world?
When Design Builds Walls—And When It Tears Them Down
When asked about design’s role in creating equity, both students skip the textbook answers.
Sierra cuts straight to the heart of it: design determines who gets what. “Design can be a powerful tool for resource allocation and community empowerment,” she says, pointing to how the right spaces can open doors to education, jobs, and healthcare.
But Sierra doesn’t stop at material resources. Design shapes belonging—or exclusion. “For centuries, especially in this country, there have always been a group of people that are essentially cast away from everybody else, whether that be socially cast away or physically cast away.” Good design, she argues, can “flip this narrative” and create physical proof that marginalized communities belong.
Deino doesn’t shy away from design’s dark side. “It has this power to create beautiful things but also to destroy things that are already beautiful,” she says, referencing how American highways carved up thriving neighborhoods. “The country has a history of creating destruction in communities with design.” The profession’s power is “a double-edged sword in how it can create and how it can hurt and destroy.”
Design That Fights Back
Their award-winning projects don’t just look good on paper—they’re direct responses to real-world injustice.
Sierra’s “Resilient, Biophilic, and Equitable Puerto Rican Housing” takes aim at a painful reality: “Puerto Rico is often neglected by US government aid during tropical storms and hurricanes, and they’re left to fend for themselves without adequate access to fresh water or power.” What sets Sierra’s approach apart isn’t fancy materials or striking forms. It’s listening. Her research uncovered something critical: “Puerto Ricans would rather not be relocated after they lose their homes in tropical storms, but if they had to be relocated, they wanted to, as a community, be moved as a unit.” When disaster strikes, people need more than shelter—they need neighbors. “If you are baking a cake and you don’t have enough eggs, who do you go to? You go next door. It’s the same thing when your house floods or your wall has fallen, and you need to rebuild.”
Deino’s “Hikima” (meaning “The ability to know and apply”) challenges educational environments to embrace African culture. While researching Nigerian schools, she hit a wall: “When I look at precedents, I don’t see a lot of things that are from Africa. You see a lot of things from Europe, America.” Which is exactly why Deino’s concept emphasizes African education and architecture as a point of knowledge and pride. “I went to a boarding school in Nigeria for high school,” she explains. “When I moved to America for college, I wasn’t behind in physics, I wasn’t behind on the sciences, I wasn’t behind on the arts.” The message was clear: “I had a great education. Why isn’t my heritage, my culture, celebrated in what I’m studying?”
“You Don’t Do It All By Yourself”
Our scholarship winners emphasize the importance of diversity in design, showing how different cultural backgrounds and lived experiences lead to more thoughtful, inclusive, and impactful environments.
“I use this illustration myself all the time,” Deino says. “When you’re designing in school or writing a report, you always need some sort of second eye.” That second perspective doesn’t just catch typos—it catches blind spots. “If everyone thinks the same way, that doesn’t help produce something great.”
Deino’s vision of collaboration is radically refreshing in its simple clarity. “When you have someone of a different culture, identity, race, gender, tradition… they come in like, ‘Oh well, where I’m from, which probably could be the client’s background, we do this this way.'” Diverse perspectives make buildings work for the people who use them.
Sierra puts it bluntly: architects who don’t understand communities produce buildings that harm them. “Their designs lack the things that the community needs, like access to healthy foods, educational resources, healthy buildings, green spaces.” The consequences are real: “Designers are hurting communities and not helping them, and, as designers ourselves, I’m sure we’d rather help and not hurt.”
The Future Is In Good Hands
The students’ personal plans reflect their values of innovation and social responsibility. Sierra, who expects to return to New York after graduation, has her sights set on reimagining the city’s housing projects for her thesis. Her goal: transform them “to be equitable, healthier and potentially biophilic spaces that can better serve marginalized populations.”
Deino plans to pursue environmental building design with a focus on social equity, hoping to someday work with the U.S. Green Building Council while also bringing her skills back to Nigeria. Her thesis explores how “activities on the site have created a barrier for people and stripped the environment” through emissions and food access limitations.
These young designers’ thoughtful perspectives offer a hopeful glimpse into architecture’s future, and BWBR is proud to fund a scholarship program that elevates diverse voices and helps shape critical pathways within the design industry. We’re so excited to witness Sierra and Deino’s continued impact in the community!
