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SHAKERA

KYLE

Architectural Designer

NOMA | Allied ASID | IDS Associate

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Thanks for visiting!

Shakera Kyle was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Shakera is a strategic junior architect focusing on a cross disciplinary collaboration between architecture, finance, and interior design. Shakera showed an early interest in the field of architecture and would go on to be mentored by architects, engineers, and contractors from her local community. Her involvement would later award her the Baltimore County Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Content of Character Award in 2010.

Shakera holds a Bachelor's of Architecture from Syracuse University. While at Syracuse she was involved with The American Institute of Architecture students, served as an editor for the student architectural review publication, and performed with Windjammers, a student vocal jazz ensemble.

Shakera is currently practicing architecture and interior design in New York City. As an emerging design professional her work experience includes institutional and commercial projects. When she is not working as a designer, she spends her time teaching others how to achieve financial wellness and apply it to their trades, businesses and personal lives. Shakera is actively working towards obtaining an architectural license, and combining her knowledge in financial services/resources to better the architectural & design profession.

Some more specific interests of hers lie in the areas of furniture design, product design, and shoe design. When she isn't working Shakera enjoys baking, participating in vocal choirs, staying up to date on the latest tv/movies/fashion, and exploring new experiences/places the world has to offer.

Shakera a child of God and everything she creates is to bring honor and glory to her Lord and Savior. To create is to follow in the footsteps of her Father, the Creator.

ABOUT

Feel free to browse through my collection of projects

PROJECTS

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MY WORK IS AVAILABLE

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Shakera Kyle Graphics

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PRINTS

Thesis

Baltimore City Housing Crisis:

Re-Designing Blighted Lots

For my senior architectural thesis I decided to focus my project on a topic that hits a little closer to home: Baltimore, MD. Baltimore is no stranger to blight and urban decay. The city has lost approximately one-third of its total population since 1950, and its 620,000 current residents live among more than 16,000 vacant properties that drag down property values and generate feelings of hopelessness in many struggling neighborhoods. These vacant properties are concentrated in areas with higher percentages of African Americans where there is one vacant house for every 15 occupied. The images below are all of Baltimore City.

THESIS

Thesis Statement

My thesis project will focus on Baltimore inner city housing and aim to foster economically responsible and safe neighborhoods. This thesis project will focus primarily on residential housing. Improving the living situations of the city’s inhabitants is simply the start: the spark to ignite the transformation of the city.

Nearby medical and educational facilities will serve as an anchor for mixed-use affordable housing in blighted areas. Such institutions provide necessary support to bring in people of various income levels, thus widening the tax bracket, bringing wealth back to the city. This will be a way to reduce concentrated areas of blight. I assert that architecture has the ability to provoke belonging and an improved quality of life. I will use the unique situation of Baltimore City to test this thesis.

The significant scale of vacant properties and land in Baltimore City will serve as a testing ground for my claim. I argue that architecture can intervene in the problem of vacant housing by initiating a design strategy that involves a mixed-use affordable housing scheme that allows for the incorporation of program from the nearby medical and educational facilities. This will be accomplished architecturally through densification by the creation of Apartments retrofitted into the common row house typology ranging in size from 2 bedroom units to micro-units.

Affordable housing is a vital component of every mixed use community. Allowing people to live in the same communities where they work and shop improves the quality of life, increases residents' sense of belonging, and reduces traffic congestion. Having employment, shops, and schools nearby significantly reduces commuting and transportation costs. Mixed use communities promote inclusion and diversity by incorporating housing for people of all income levels along with supportive housing for the elderly and people with special needs. Ultimately, mixed use communities foster a sense of connection that bolsters the health and vitality of a community and its residents.

Below is a preview into my thesis, which includes a series of images and diagrams produced by myself.