The LOEB Fellowship

Katherine W. Swenson (Katie) is a nationally recognized design leader, researcher, writer, and educator. Katie’s work
explores how critical design practice can and should promote economic and social equity, environmental
sustainability, and healthy communities. She is a Senior Principal of MASS Design Group, an architecture and
design collective that leverages buildings, as well as the design and construction process, to become catalysts
for economic growth, social change, and justice.
A member of the second class of the Enterprise Rose Fellowship, Swenson founded the Design Initiative at Enterprise Community Partners and nurtured a diverse network of design leaders fostering community revitalization and affordable housing development and supporting the healing of diverse communities throughout the US. The fellowship has been showcased at the Museum of Modern Art, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the New York Center for Architecture, and the National Building Museum and been recognized by the American Institute of Architects for its groundbreaking work.
Swenson founded the Charlottesville Community Design Center and has received numerous design and social innovation awards, including the 2021 AIA Award for Public Architecture. She has written extensively about design activism and community design. Growing Urban Habitats: Seeking a New Housing Development Model, co-authored with Susanne Schindler and William Morrish was published by William Stout in 2018. In Bohemia, A Memoir of Love, Loss and Kindness and Design with Love: At Home in America was published in 2020.