This intergenerational design event creates a platform for local and national creatives to gather and discuss pressing topics such as injustice in the built environment, design as a change agent, climate, equity, and belonging while cultivating lasting and meaningful connections. The visionary summit helps unify Chicago’s large and diverse design community while inspiring and creating opportunities for young people interested in pursuing a career in design. The Design Summit for Friends of Friends intends to broaden and challenge traditional architectural discourse by elevating diverse creative voices across the design disciplines and is infused with music, art, and culture.

Maya Bird-Murphy is a designer, educator, and the founder of Mobile Makers Chicago, an award-winning nonprofit organization bringing design and skill-building workshops to underrepresented communities. She is also a faculty member at Boston Architectural College. Bird-Murphy believes the design field must expand to include more people and perspectives through teaching and community engagement and hopes to make her mark on Chicago by making it a more equitable place to live. She was a 2024 United States Artists Fellow, was selected by Theaster Gates and the Prada Group as an Experimental Design Lab awardee, and was featured as one of 50 People Who Shape Chicago in Newcity Magazine.

Mobile Makers Chicago, founded in 2017, is a nonprofit organization that makes design education accessible to all people. Through youth design and skill building workshops, community engagement, public installations, and pop ups hosted out of a retrofitted mail truck, Mobile Makers encourages conversations about positive change in the built environment.