Activist architect brings passion for creative arts to at-risk youth in Brooklyn

Quardean Lewis-Allen (Architecture BS ’09), an activist architect who brings design education to at-risk youth, has been named to the 2017 Forbes list of 30 Under 30 — Social Entrepreneurs.

Lewis-Allen founded Made in Brownsville in 2013 to address the issue of minority underrepresentation in design and tech fields and youth unemployment in his native Brownsville, a troubled and crime-ridden section of Brooklyn. Made in Brownsville brings mentors working in creative fields in New York City to Brownsville to train teens in science, technology, math, art or design.

Working with Brownsville community leaders, participants are also given the opportunity to rebuild their community through projects in the neighborhood.

Prior to his work in Brownsville, Lewis-Allen worked for Perkins Eastman; developed affordable housing typologies for an eco-sustainable town in Anam, Nigeria, with the Chife Foundation; and studied social housing under Anne Lacaton in Paris and public art under Krzysztof Wodiczko. He earned his Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.