Bio:

For over 20 years, Tarisha has shaped community, health, and wellness through architecture as an act of care. A registered Architect and Interior Designer, she has advanced the role of interior architecture in practice while establishing immersive architecture and STEAM programs with local schools. Working alongside educators, she helps develop curriculum that introduces students to design early, building confidence, curiosity, and pathways into the profession.

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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?

As a child, I built things from whatever I found: boxes, scraps, blocks. I was fascinated by interiors: how a space felt inside versus how it looked from outside. I kept making models, experimenting with that inside-outside relationship.

 

What do you do?

I develop interior architecture as spatial ideas, not finish selections. My focus is inclusive placemaking for civic and public spaces-designing "third places" that shape lifelong community experiences, interaction, and a true sense of belonging.

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What excites you in the work you do?

What excites me is collaborating with communities to shape spaces, then witnessing people engage with the programs, connect with one another, and form relationships. It is architecture as an act of care - genuinely transforming how a community interacts

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Who or what inspires you professionally?

My inspiration isn't singular, it comes from everyone I've encountered throughout my career: mentors, collaborators, and the communities I've worked alongside. Each has shaped how I see this profession and why it matters.

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What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?

Setting up a formal outreach program at my studio, introducing middle and high school students to architecture and showing them this profession could be part of their own future, and how they can shape the cities that they live in.

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Featured Project Name: 

Princeton University Class of 1986 Fitness and Wellness Center

 

Featured Project Location: 

Princeton, New Jersey 

 

Featured Project Completion Date: 

2025

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Role in Featured Project: 

Interiors Lead

 

Featured Project Description:

The Class of 1986 Fitness & Wellness Center transforms Dillon Gym, a Collegiate Gothic structure at Princeton University, into a contemporary recreation and wellness hub that addresses accessibility, program gaps, and spatial inefficiencies while re-imagining the building as an inclusive centre of campus life.

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Photography Credit:

Scott Norsworthy