Bio:

The great designer, Katryna heads Neighborhood Design Center ’s Baltimore Community Design Works program, connecting passionate designers with dedicated neighborhood groups to advance community-based design solutions. She is an experienced project manager with a passion for using design & creative placemaking in service of social change. Katryna has over a decade of design experience, working across non-profit, commercial and government sectors. She holds a BArch degree from Howard University and a MID from RISD.

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How did you first learn about architecture and when did you decide that built environment profession was an area of interest for you?

A middle school art teacher admiring my collages suggested I explore architecture. I was hooked by age 12. I dove into architecture school in college, and my passion for culture and social justice led me to social impact design in graduate school.

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What do you do?

I am an interdisciplinary designer using my background in architecture, industrial design, and placemaking to support Black and Brown led spaces. At NDC, I connect visionary community groups with design services to revitalize Baltimore neighborhoods.

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What excites you in the work you do?

The most exciting part about my work is the synergy that happens in strong partnership and collaboration between community partners, designers, local government, and neighbors.

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Who or what inspires you professionally?

I am constantly inspired by the visionary community partners who push to see their neighborhoods and spaces as the thriving and beautiful places they can be. It is a joy to see that vision start to form in reality.

 

What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?

I take pride in the reach my work has with artists & in communities of color, from the harlemworld exhibition I supported at the Studio Museum in Harlem to the How to Do Creative Placemaking book I co-edited with the National Endowment for the Arts

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Featured Project Name: 

Community Design Works

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Featured Project Location: 

Baltimore, MD

 

Featured Project Completion Date: 

ongoing

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Role in Featured Project: 

Program Manager

 

Featured Project Description:

Through the Community Design Works program, pro-bono conceptual design assistance supports 30+ community-driven projects in the built environment each year in Baltimore. The program uses design to leverage participation, support, and investment for pressing community priorities. I manage this program, coordinating dozens of volunteer architects, scores of community partners, and engaging hundreds of community members in pursuit of equitable design and planning processes and outcomes.

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Photography Credit:

Captions: 1: Matthew Henson Community Plan adopted by Baltimore City Planning Commission. Design Team: Davin Hong, Cory Brown, Jeff Dube, Armstead Jones, Marcella Massa, Saad Moussamim, Riley Sullivan and NDC. 2: Conceptual design for community parks in Madison Park. Design Team: Unknown Studio. 3: Katryna Carter and volunteer architect Jonathan Kellogg take measurements at the Charm City Care Connection site. 4:Community organizers with Arch Social Club work with Katryna Carter at a site visit to discuss the pending preservation of a house owned by the Cab Calloway family, and addition of community convening spaces in the form of a museum, cafe and local business hub. 5: Community leadership from Rebuild Johnston Square, Regina Hammond and Jenny Guillaume, meet with Katryna Carter and Glenn Dellon, Ryan Cosgrove, and Zach Robertson on a community walk to discuss in detail ideas for community wayfinding and identity.