Yolande Daniels

Yolande Daniels is an Associate Professor of Architecture and Director of the Architecture and Urbanism program at the University of Southern California (USC). She is the founder of studioSUMO West in Los Angeles and co-founder of studioSUMO in New York, specializing in institutional, cultural, and housing projects worldwide. Her research investigates the spatial impacts of race and gender, focusing on marginalized narratives of resistance and autonomy in built environments.

Education: Columbia University (Master of Architecture), City University of New York (Bachelor of Science in Architecture).

Research Interests: Critical spatial practices, urban justice, and the intersection of race/gender with architectural design. Her work analyzes spaces overlooked by dominant systems, documented in publications like In Search of African American Space and exhibitions such as Black City: the Los Angeles Edition, featured in MoMA’s Reconstructions exhibition.

Awards: Rome Prize in Architecture (American Academy in Rome), MacDowell residency support, and Whitney Museum grants for cultural studies.

Teaching & Leadership: Taught at Columbia University, MIT, and University of Michigan. Held prestigious roles including Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor at Yale, Silcott Chair at Howard University, and Interim Director at Parsons School of Constructed Environments. Co-founder of the Black Reconstruction Collective.

Labs/Teams: Active in the Black Reconstruction Collective, which critiques and reimagines Black spatial practices through art, design, and scholarship.