We met a year ago at KU. I was visiting and at one point filling in for Jae Chang's design studio, where students were designing a food hall for the future of KC. I sat down with each student individually and asked them to look at me. Not the computer to show me their design because I want to hear them, look into the person who was designing first, not the computer or their creations.

That conversation with Drew and his classmates stayed with him. He came back a year later to talk about why.

Because here's what he discovered: architecture is really embodied. It's building space. It's locations for our bodies to exist, move, see, hear, and taste. And once you see that—once you actually feel it—you can't design the same way again.

Drew quilts. He's been quilting since he was seven. His mom, grandma, and great aunt, all quilters. He didn't understand the labor until he made one himself. The hours. The care. The intention is embedded in every stitch. That's when it clicked: this is what embodied work looks like. And it changed how he thinks about architecture.

We talked about AI. What happens when the data shaping our design tools carries bias? What does that mean for the spaces we build? But more than that, we talked about whose stories buildings tell. Whose are erased. Because architecture isn't neutral. It's deeply tied to gender identity, to race. It really is a humanities field now.

I shared a story about visiting land in the DR. One development, completely leveled and bare, I got sunburnt in minutes. Less than a minute away, totally different. Cooler. Softer. You could hear nature again. It's not just about cutting trees. But native soil develops over centuries. It manages water, supports root systems, and regulates temperature. When you bring in fill from outside, it doesn't know how.

Drew understood right away. He said something I needed to hear: we don't know better. We know differently.

That's the shift. That's what changes how you design. Not having all the answers. But respecting the other. Asking who this is for and who it's built on top of. Designing with communities instead of for them. That's the shift. That's the work.

Referenced:

• Citizen Architects: Other Ways of Doing Architecture — on citizen experts vs. expert citizens
• Bell Hooks — Killing Rage: Ending Racism (on rupture and transformation)
• Glenn Murcutt — architect drawing from Aboriginal Australian principles
• Phenomenology & biopolitics — frameworks for understanding how spaces encode power

📞 Connect with Drew:

Drew Graff is an architecture and design student exploring subversive spatial practices, phenomenology, and biopolitics. Portfolio: https://indd.adobe.com/view/1258482a-c0f0-450b-9132-f5bd295bd83e

🔗 Work with Rhayni: bio.site/rhayni