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Aisha Densmore-Bey
Aisha Densmore-Bey (I-sha Dens-moor Bay; born 1976) is an American architect, designer, author, filmmaker, and artist.
Early Life-Education and early career
Densmore-Bey was born in Hartford, CT, and raised on “museums and art classes” (1), then later moved to Miami, FL where she attended the prestigious Design and Architecture Senior High School (2) in the Miami Design District. She studied architecture at Florida A&M University, where she received her Bachelor of Architecture. In 2017, she earned a Master of Science in Strategic Design and Management from the Parsons School of Design. Later, she attended the Harvard Graduate School of Design (3), earning a Doctor of Design degree (DDes) in 2023.
Professional work
Aisha began working for architecture firms in Hartford, CT and in Boston, MA prior to establishing the eponymous multidisciplinary practice, Aisha Densmore-Bey, Designer in 2011. The office focuses on architecture, graphic design, design strategy, design education, visual art, writing, and film. Through her office she has developed design programs for teenagers, and small independent film shorts like The Built Perception: Boston and ROOM (4). She is the author and illustrator of the first children’s book on design centered on a child of color called Who Made My Stuff? Miles Learns about Design published in 2018. The book is a part of the collection at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Academic work
Densmore-Bey’s dissertation titled “The Artist-Developer: A case study of impact through art-centered community development in neighborhoods of color.” explores the community development work of three famous African American artists who have used arts-based real estate development to create positive change in their neighborhoods. Because of this research, she was a speaker at the University of Texas at Austin “The Black Home as Public Art” symposium in 2024 (5).
Awards and Honors
Densmore-Bey has won the 2012 Associates Award from the American Institute of Architects (6). While at Harvard she won a Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative Fellowship (7) and a John R. Meyer Dissertation Fellowship (8) from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.
References
(1) https://www.merrimack.edu/news/vpa-adjunct-spotlight-dr-aisha-densmore-bey/
(2) Design and Architecture High School - Wikipedia
(3) https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/2020/09/student-qa-aisha-densmore-bey-ddes/
(4) https://filmfreeway.com/ROOMFilmShort
(5) https://soa.utexas.edu/events/black-home-public-art
(6) https://info.aia.org/aiarchitect/2012/0120/newsletter/
(7) https://mellonurbanism.harvard.edu/people/aisha-densmore-bey-0