Rap & Architecture: Increasing Diverse Youth Engagement

Michael Ford, AIA
Architect + Founder, The Hip Hop Architecture Camp

The Hip Hop Architecture Camp® positions Hip Hop culture as a catalyst to introduce underrepresented youth to architecture, urban planning, and design. In the U.S., black architects represent about 2% of all licensed architects (113,000) and black women represent approximately 0.3%. Leading architect and founder of The Hip Hop Architecture Camp®, Michael Ford, leads the youth-oriented camps across the U.S. to help raise awareness and ignite interest in the profession, and to show the next generation how they can be a part of shaping and designing the built world.