Maya Bird-Murphy (born 1992), is an American architect, and educator. [1] [2] She is the Founder and Executive Director of Mobile Makers Chicago, a nonprofit that focuses on making design accessible to underrepresented communities. [3] She has received awards and recognition from both AIA and AIGA. [4] [5] [6]
Maya Bird-Murphy was born in 1992 in Chicago, and grew up in Oak Park, a village near Chicago, Illinois. She attended Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, graduating in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture. [7] [1] [8] She completed a Masters in Architecture at Boston Architectural College (BAC), graduating in 2017. [7] Her graduate school thesis was Mobile Makers, a project centered on providing low-cost skill-building workshops and educational programming for low-income children ages 8–18. [1] [2]
Maya launched Mobile Makers Chicago as a nonprofit organization in September 2017 right before she graduated. [1] She retrofitted a UPS truck to be a portable studio space which hosts mobile workshops mostly on the South and West sides of Chicago. [2] The goal of Mobile Makers is to build community engagement and to provide young people with the tools and skills they might need in their future. [9] [1]
In June 2022, Mobile Makers was the recipient of the Bulls NBA 75th Anniversary Legacy Project, which funded the permanent space for Mobile Makers in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood. [10] [1] Mobile Makers Chicago received the 2022 Graham Foundation Grant. [11]
Since the conception of Mobile Makers Chicago, Bird-Murphy has simultaneously worked at a variety of other institutions and organizations. She has worked as Architecture Adventure Program Coordinator at the Oak Park Education Foundation (OPEF) and is a part-time faculty member at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. [12] [8]
Maya has received the following awards:
In 2018, she was named as an AIGA Design + Diversity Conference National Fellow. [5] The same year, she was featured in The American Institute of Architects' (AIA) Emerging Professionals Exhibition 2018 for Mobile Makers. [6] She was one of the ten who received the 2018 Jason Pettigrew Memorial ARE ( Architect Registration Examination) Scholarship from AIA. [17]
She was named in Newcity Magazine's 2022 list of fifty people who have shaped design in Chicago. [18]
Maya Bird-Murphy (born 1992), is an American architect, and educator. [1] [2] She is the Founder and Executive Director of Mobile Makers Chicago, a nonprofit that focuses on making design accessible to underrepresented communities. [3] She has received awards and recognition from both AIA and AIGA. [4] [5] [6]
Maya Bird-Murphy was born in 1992 in Chicago, and grew up in Oak Park, a village near Chicago, Illinois. She attended Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, graduating in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture. [7] [1] [8] She completed a Masters in Architecture at Boston Architectural College (BAC), graduating in 2017. [7] Her graduate school thesis was Mobile Makers, a project centered on providing low-cost skill-building workshops and educational programming for low-income children ages 8–18. [1] [2]
Maya launched Mobile Makers Chicago as a nonprofit organization in September 2017 right before she graduated. [1] She retrofitted a UPS truck to be a portable studio space which hosts mobile workshops mostly on the South and West sides of Chicago. [2] The goal of Mobile Makers is to build community engagement and to provide young people with the tools and skills they might need in their future. [9] [1]
In June 2022, Mobile Makers was the recipient of the Bulls NBA 75th Anniversary Legacy Project, which funded the permanent space for Mobile Makers in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood. [10] [1] Mobile Makers Chicago received the 2022 Graham Foundation Grant. [11]
Since the conception of Mobile Makers Chicago, Bird-Murphy has simultaneously worked at a variety of other institutions and organizations. She has worked as Architecture Adventure Program Coordinator at the Oak Park Education Foundation (OPEF) and is a part-time faculty member at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. [12] [8]
Maya has received the following awards:
In 2018, she was named as an AIGA Design + Diversity Conference National Fellow. [5] The same year, she was featured in The American Institute of Architects' (AIA) Emerging Professionals Exhibition 2018 for Mobile Makers. [6] She was one of the ten who received the 2018 Jason Pettigrew Memorial ARE ( Architect Registration Examination) Scholarship from AIA. [17]
She was named in Newcity Magazine's 2022 list of fifty people who have shaped design in Chicago. [18]