Design Unmuted Divine Ndemeye

Join us as  we unpack the stories behind our exhibition; Sustaining Apertures, currently on

view at the Or Gallery from March 7 to July 6, 2024. 

Together Colin and I share all about our collaborative journey and discuss food security in

relation to the land, intersectional conversations around environmental justice, place-

based design, and architecture in contemporary art.

Colin Berg Mbugua is a Kenyan-Canadian artist, researcher, and architectural designer. He holds both a

Masters and a Bachelor in Architecture. Mbugua’s practice, Kagvr, founded in 2021, engages multi-

disciplinary contexts that draw from traditional architectural practices while engaging experimentation

through collaboration and cross-cultural exchange.

You can watch a clip of this episode on the design_unmuted youtube channel here

Welcome to the Design unmuted podcast. I Am your host Divine, a landscape designer, artist, public speaker and social critic.
Design unmuted is a podcast that centers BIPOC voices and experiences engaging at the intersection of social justice and critical perspectives in Landscape architecture, design and art.
I started this podcast to create a platform to uplift marginalized voices and share stories that hopefully inspire you to expand your mind and heart. As an advocate for social justice, I engage in conversations on the many ways design and art can help us build equitable and beautiful communities.

If you want to learn more and support this vision, make sure to subscribe and follow me on my website at www.remeshadesign.com/designunmuted and on instagram at design_unmuted.
For speaking engagements and design and art project collaborations, please reach out on my website

Saba Farmand, a landscape architect,  talks about his passionate project that documents the boulevard gardens in East Vancouver and the stories behind the people who take over these public boulevard spaces and turn them into gardens. Through this project, Saba aims to build more urban literacy, environmental education and most importantly putting Landscape architecture into the community. This will be a great inspiration for those who want to have impact in their local communities in simple yet powerful ways.  

You can watch this episode on the design_unmuted youtube channel here

Follow Saba’s project on instagram at: eastvan_blvd_gardens

Recorded on: August 29th, 2023

I am happy to launch the first conversation of the podcast season TRANSFORMING with Patricia Algara and Jose Leal. In this conversation Patricia and Jose share the ways in which they engage with their design practices in a meaningful way, engaging their spiritual practices into their work as a means to restore balance, connections to the cosmos and to reclaim their own indigeneity and agency. Tune in to learn their about their practices and the ways in which you can connect and engage more meaningfully with your own work.

Patricia Algara is the Principal & Co Founder of Base Landscape Architecture and Founder of With Honey in the Heart . After working for a women’s rights organization on community empowerment projects, she earned a Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture in order to bring together participation and the built environment. Patricia is a shamanic counselor, a frame drummer, a landscape architect, a bee priestess

Jose Leal is  Principal, Landscape Architect Director of Native Nation Building Studio at MIG. José has a passion for truth-telling, considers humor to be good medicine. His Mexican and Indigenous heritage lead to Jose’s passion for Indigenous landscape architecture and celebrating how diverse Indigenous people have adapted to their natural environment. 

The production of this episode is supported by Anova Furnishings-who is on a mission to enhance landscapes and strengthen communities. They offer a variety of high-quality, functional outdoor site furniture products and styles to fit your project and budget. See more at www.anovafurnishings.com where you can shop online now or search for a local rep.

Announcement of the new podcast season called TRANSFORMING where I share about this theme and what you can expect over the next few months. I also tell you all about the new direction my Art and Design practice have taken this year.

In the second part of our conversation, Dr Diane Jones Allen talks to us
about her practice Design Jones LLC, and her work in designing and building
grassroots community driven projects. Diane shares the unique ways she has
practiced Landscape Architecture in a non corporate way. We talk about the
challenges that Black folks face in the profession; from being a student,
practicing in academia or in private practice. 

In this episode, I also share about my  Graduate Thesis project; Bujumbura
2050, where we used an Afrofuturistic approach to design the future of
vertical urban spaces in Bujumbura. 

Diane is currently working on her upcoming book "The Maroon Landscape: A
Cultural Approach to Climate Resiliency" to be published by the MIT Press
in 2024.

Tune in to also learn what Maroon landscapes can teach us as we envision a
more resilient future.

Dr. Diane Jones Allen is a principal landscape architect of Design Jones,
LLC, and  Program Director for Landscape Architecture, College of
Architecture, Planning, and Public Affairs, at the University of Texas at
Arlington.

 This episode was originally recorded in December 2020.