Introducing Hannah Silver, Inclusive Design Facilitator

Holst is excited to welcome Hannah Silver as our new Inclusive Design Facilitator. She is a designer, educator, and community connector whose unique blend of experience will help ensure that Holst's buildings and design processes align with our goals for greater equity and sustainability in the built environment. Hannah will be a resource for project teams as they develop equitable community engagement strategies and adopt inclusivity best practices into their building designs.

Hannah is a passionate educator who looks forward to developing learning opportunities for staff and clients covering a wide range of critical design justice topics. As founder of her own design education and consulting firm, Informal/Function (I/F), Hannah conducted outreach and developed resources and workshops about fat-friendly design, accessibility beyond the ADA, best practices for library sensory spaces, and digital design accessibility. We look forward to learning from Hannah and other community members about the many ways that social justice issues connect to architectural design choices.

Between I/F work and her many teaching engagements, Hannah has led classes for everyone from 3rd grade students to consumer product designers. Her commitment to shaping inclusive educational experiences was recently honored with the title of “Outstanding Teacher of the Year'' at Portland State University’s Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning, where she is an adjunct instructor of urban design.

We are thrilled to have Hannah on our team and as an active member of both the architecture community and greater Portland community.

Header image: Hannah facilitating an inclusive design charette. Image captured by Michael Poley.