Deanna Van Buren — SPARQNOW

At-a-Glance

Named a 2023 United States Artist Fellow.
Co-founder & Design Director at Designing Justice Designing Spaces since 2015, an architecture and development firm addressing structural inequity and mass incarceration.
Co-founder of BIG Oakland (2017-2018), a co-working space for the building industry.
Leads design studios with incarcerated men and women and developed a prototype mobile resource village with a Rauschenberg Artist as Activist grant.
Serves on the national board of Architects Designers and Planners for Social Responsibility.
Alumnus of the Loeb Fellowship at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design; holds degrees from the University of Virginia and Columbia University.

Biography

Deanna Van Buren is an American architect and activist, recognized for her work in researching, formulating, and advocating for restorative justice centers. As Co-founder and Design Director at Designing Justice Designing Spaces (DJDS) since 2015, she leads an architecture and development firm dedicated to using the profession to address structural inequity and end mass incarceration.