Architect and educator Kelly D. Powell, B.S. Arch ’95, has traveled worldwide, but her roots remain firmly planted at Taubman College.

Kelly D. Powell, B.S. Arch ’95, calls Detroit home.

But over the past 25 years, her creative work as a licensed architect, educator, and project lead has taken her to various locations in North America, the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.

“I’ve been very lucky to work in a wide variety of firms and institutions over the years,” Powell says. “These include the historic Fox Theatre in Atlanta, a university in Detroit, and several large-format architecture firms. I’ve also worked directly for global corporate firms, representing the client. The experience of working as both a designer and the client provided a greater appreciation of the complexities surrounding a project’s development.”

In September 2022, Powell stepped into a new role as director of space planning and design at The New School, a private research university in New York City.

“Currently, I’m immersed in campuswide planning and operational initiatives at The New School,” Powell says. “I love being in an academic environment again. Early in my career, I worked and taught at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture within its Detroit Collaborative Design Center. Working among people who are constantly in a mode of discovery and investigation is thrilling.”

Powell’s artistic inclinations were nurtured early in life. “My mother exposed me at a young age to the performing arts and design, and encouraged my interest,” she recalls. “In her professional network, she knew several Black architects in Detroit, so I had an early introduction to the profession. But I didn’t decide to pursue architecture until I decided to go to Taubman College at the University of Michigan instead of The New School’s Parsons School of Design to study fashion design.”

The academic foundation and faculty support Powell received during her undergraduate years at Taubman College helped her navigate the highly competitive professional landscape of architecture and design.

“Michigan, at the time, had a very rigorous program that prepared you for the large amount of work and coordination you encountered either at graduate school or after joining an architecture firm as a young designer,” Powell remarks.

One professor of architecture left a lasting impact on her. “Dr. James Chaffers was by far the most influential professor I’ve had across my undergraduate and graduate studies,” Powell says. “His courses taught me and others how to develop and investigate the larger contexts of projects, and the implications of our actions as future architects. He instilled the need to be conscious, to be vanguards, and to be disrupters, if necessary. He also taught us to know our worth and intrinsic value as artisans.”

I’m proud to be an alum of the institution [Dean Massey] is currently reshaping to be more diverse and inclusive, not only in thought but also in its community of staff, faculty, and students.

— Kelly D. Powell, B.S. Arch ’95

Several career milestones stand out in Powell’s mind. “Winning the prestigious Rome Prize in Architecture from the American Academy in Rome led me to teaching a design studio in Paris for my graduate school alma mater, the Georgia Institute of Technology,” says Powell, who later joined the American Academy’s board of trustees and became president of its alumni association, The Society of Fellows.

Other career highlights include working for the iconic Black architect J. Max Bond at the architecture firm Davis Brody Bond and spearheading an annual lecture in his honor while serving as president of the professional design association nycoba/NOMA in New York City.

She also worked internationally on Kuwait University’s College of Arts and College of Education and Dar Al-Handasah’s headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, while she was at the architecture and design firm Perkins + Will.

In 2018, Powell launched 222 East Society in New York City. “I started my own practice after working on the American Express account for CBRE Group Inc. because I wanted to get back into design since my role was heavily focused on strategy and operations,” she relates. “Unfortunately, just as I was gaining momentum, the COVID-19 pandemic started and hit my base (commercial interiors) really hard.”

Giving back to Taubman College is an important priority for Powell, who has served on the Alumni Council and supported the Architecture Student Support Fund. “I deeply appreciate Dean Jonathan Massey’s efforts to create a more welcome space for BIPOC and LGBTQ students,” Powell says. “Taubman College’s strength lies within its leadership and the direction the dean sets forth. I’m proud to be an alum of the institution he is currently reshaping to be more diverse and inclusive, not only in thought but also in its community of staff, faculty, and students.”

Powell has encouraging words for today’s students. “There are many paths in architecture besides working in, or starting, a traditional design firm,” she says. “Be it working in academia, for a developer, or directly for the client in an array of industries, our training and abilities are unparalleled.”

— Claudia Capos