Architecture + Advocacy in L.A.’s Sugar Hill
A group of architecture students at the University of Southern California wants to do more than just design buildings. They want to work with communities to “un-design” spatial injustice and leverage the power of residents in shaping their neighborhoods.
In this episode, producer Willa Seidenberg talks with students Reily Gibson and Kianna Armstrong about L.A.’s Sugar Hill, a very important neighborhood cut in half by construction of the I-10 Freeway. A nonprofit they co-founded, Architecture + Advocacy, worked with neighborhood partners on a community celebration and a design-build project.
Reily and Willa walk and talk about Sugar Hill’s history and legacy of activism, and Kianna shares how a new generation of architecture students is using heritage conservation (even if they don’t call it that) to help neighborhoods affected by structural racism and gentrification.
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Architecture + Advocacy students in Sugar Hill. What are they spelling? Photo by Clyde Gillett, courtesy Architecture + Advocacy. 
Student volunteers canvassed the neighborhood, asking community members and businesses about their stories, memories, and vision for the area. Photo courtesy Architecture + Advocacy. 
Architecture + Advocacy (A+A) volunteers at the May 6 “Stories of Sugar Hill” event. Photo by Clyde Gillett, courtesy A+A. 
Flyer for the May 6, 2023 “Stories of Sugar Hill” community outreach event 
Cover, “Stories of Sugar Hill” walk guide (see link to PDF below) 
Inside, “Stories of Sugar Hill” walk guide (see link to PDF below) 
“Stories of Sugar Hill” neighborhood walk, May 6, 2023. Photo courtesy Architecture + Advocacy. 
“Stories of Sugar Hill” neighborhood walk, May 6, 2023. Photo courtesy Architecture + Advocacy. 
West Adams Heritage Association member Laura Meyers shares neighborhood history on the “Stories of Sugar Hill” walk, May 6, 2023. Photo by Clyde Gillett, courtesy Architecture + Advocacy. 
Rindge Mansion (Frederick L. Roehrig, 1903), 2263 S. Harvard Blvd. Photo from Wikimedia/Creative Commons. More info at Big Orange Landmarks. 
Hattie McDaniel Residence (Lester S. Moore, 1911), 2303 S. Harvard Blvd. Photo from waltarrrrr on Flickr. 
Architecture + Advocacy (A+A) volunteers talk with students at Amazing Grace Conservatory to learn about their community, discuss empowerment through art, and support their outreach work in West Adams. Photo courtesy A+A. 
Architecture + Advocacy (A+A) volunteers worked with students and staff of Amazing Grace Conservatory to collaboratively design wooden cubbies for much-needed storage space. Photo courtesy A+A. 
Students of Amazing Grace Conservatory (AGC) help design wooden cubbies for their space. Photo courtesy Architecture + Advocacy. 
Architecture + Advocacy (A+A) students building cubbies for Amazing Grace Conservatory. Photo courtesy A+A. 
Architecture + Advocacy (A+A) students display their handiwork, cubbies for Amazing Grace Conservatory, installed in June 2023. Photo courtesy A+A.
Show Notes
Architecture + Advocacy is a student-led nonprofit organization that empowers communities to un-design the spatial injustices affecting their neighborhoods.
Architecture + Advocacy Stories of Sugar Hill – Walk Guide
A May 6, 2023 event drew more than 80 people for a neighborhood walk, networking among community organizations, a poetry workshop, and an open-mic session in which community members shared knowledge of their neighborhood. The project team is working with Friends of Residential Treasures: Los Angeles (FORT: LA) to create an interactive map of Sugar Hill using the information they’ve gathered.
Secret Celebrity Renovation (CBS) — See the cubby design-build project (starts 20:00; big reveal around 35:00) in Niecy Nash’s AGC makeover for co-founder (and longtime friend) Wendy Raquel Robinson
West Adams Heritage Association
“Los Angeles: Sugar Hill,” Segregation by Design, 2023
“West Adams District in Los Angeles,” BlackNLA, 2020
“Beneath the Santa Monica Freeway Lies the Erasure of Sugar Hill,” All Things Considered, NPR, 2021
Center for City Design @USC School of Architecture
USC Heritage Conservation Programs
Featuring
Reily Gibson is an interdisciplinary designer and researcher currently completing the Master of Architecture program at USC. She grew up playing in the mountains and cultivating a deep appreciation for nature in Jackson, WY before earning a Bachelor of Arts from Johns Hopkins University in Economics with a focus in Sustainable Development and Public Space. In her work, she combines community research and place-based design to advocate for social, climate, and spatial justice in the built, unbuilt, and in-between spaces where we spend life. Reily is the Finance Director and Co-Founder of Architecture + Advocacy (A+A), a nonprofit organization in Los Angeles and New York that empowers communities to un-design spatial injustice.
Kianna Armstrong is a versatile artist and designer who is determined to use creativity to make social change and build community. She is currently enrolled in the Bachelors of Architecture program at the University of Southern California, where she is expected to graduate in 2026. She is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the organization Architecture + Advocacy, in which she uses her background in architecture to equip communities with the tools to design grassroots change in their own neighborhoods. Kianna has always been passionate about using architecture to un-design inequities that manifest in the built environment. She plans to use her education in architecture and social entrepreneurship to continue inspiring young people to be change makers with the power of design.
Podcast producer Willa Seidenberg taught audio journalism and podcasting at USC’s Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, while pursuing a Master of Heritage Conservation degree at the USC School of Architecture.
A 20-year broadcast journalist and an inaugural fellow with USC’s Center for Excellence in Teaching, Willa founded Annenberg Radio News, the university’s radio news operation; and Intersections South LA, a reporting lab and community website for South Los Angeles.
With photographer William Short, Willa created two oral history/photo projects: A Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam War and Memories of the American War: Stories From Viet Nam.
Credits
Episode produced by Willa Seidenberg
Original theme music by Stephen Conley (stephenconleymusic@gmail.com)
Additional music for this episode by Hattie McDaniel
Save As logo designed by Fern Vargas, USC School of Architecture
More about the Save As team on the About page
