What does it mean to build an architecture practice designed for change? 👀
This Friday, FORA’s Leah Bayer and Gabriella Vaz de Freitas will be speaking at AI.26 — AIA Silicon Valley’s Architectural Intelligence conference — about the systems behind FORA’s fully distributed practice model 💥
We’ll be sharing how we’ve intentionally designed our practice around:
⚡ transparency
⚡ trust
⚡ flexibility
⚡ accountability
⚡ asynchronous collaboration
⚡ adaptability in a rapidly changing industry
This one feels extra special 💜 because nearly 10 years ago, Leah helped organize the very first Architectural Intelligence conference in Silicon Valley. Returning now as speakers feels like a meaningful full-circle moment.
Huge appreciation to AIA Silicon Valley and everyone who has helped grow this conference into a space for bold conversations around technology, practice, leadership, and the future of architecture 🌿
📍 AI.26 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA
📅 Friday, May 15
🎤 Resilient Practice by Design: Thinking Outside the Office
Architecture shouldn’t stop at move-in day. 🏡
We spend years designing affordable housing… but the industry rarely comes back to ask residents how those buildings are actually working once people are living in them.
That’s the power of post-occupancy evaluations (POEs).
Listening after occupancy. Learning from lived experience. Designing future housing based on reality.
💥 What spaces actually get used?
💥 Where do people gather?
💥 What creates stress? Comfort? Community?
💥 What would we change next time?
We’re really excited that FORA was invited by Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (@harvard_jchs ) to join a national conversation on this work alongside other incredible architects + housing leaders, with the discussion being featured in The State of Housing Design 2027 📘✨
Our own Jessica Goswick will be speaking about resident-centered POEs and what we’re learning through this process.
📅 Friday, May 15
⏰ 12:30–2 PM ET
🔗 Link in bio / stories to register
#AffordableHousing #HousingDesign #Architecture #ResidentCenteredDesign #HousingJustice #PostOccupancyEvaluation #ResearchInPractice
Mitchell Park Place is officially open! 💛
This one means a lot to us. It was the very first project FORA won under our new leadership team — before there was really a roadmap, before we fully knew what this next chapter of the firm would become. Just a lot of belief, trust, and a deep commitment to creating housing that genuinely supports people.
Now it’s real!💜
We’re especially grateful to our partners at @eden_housing for their vision and deep commitment to creating meaningful housing for the IDD community in Palo Alto. This project also helped spark the beginnings of Engage FORA, with Eden trusting us to lead both the architecture and community engagement process from the very beginning ✨
We’re incredibly proud to celebrate alongside everyone who helped bring this project to life.
📍 Mitchell Park Place
🗓 Friday, May 8
⏰ 12 PM
📌 525 E Charleston Rd, Palo Alto, CA
FORA is looking forward to seeing you at the grand opening, a @svathome featured event for #affordablehousingmonth. Come say hi!👋
🔗 to register in our bio. #AHM2026
Affordable Housing Month is here! 💛🏡
At Engage FORA, we work with communities to turn lived experience into real design decisions with real influence.
We’re hosting a virtual event sharing just how engagement can lead to meaningful, lasting impact ✨
📍 From Input to Impact: Engagement as a Tool for Lasting Change
🗓 Monday, May 18
⏰ 6–7:30 PM PDT (Zoom)
In conversation with our partners @eden_housing + @__justdesign 🤝
Come learn, share, and connect with folks who care about building housing that truly reflects the people who live there.
🔗 Link in bio to register
#AHM2026 #AffordableHousingMonth
🐝 We built a new experience… and you all showed up! 💛
FORA's booth was buzzzzzing all conference long - thank you to the hundreds of you who made a bee-line over to Build a Hive with us at Housing CA! We've got so many fun photos - it's hard to narrow it down to just 10...😄✨
Our first-ever FORA booth turned into something really special:
🌼 ideas shared
🐝 conversations sparked
🌱 new connections across the housing community
We heard loud and clear: community engagement needs to be better, earlier, and more meaningful, and we’re here for it! 💛
Now we’re busy behind the scenes gathering, distilling, and sweetening everything you shared into our Build the Hive Insights Report 🍯
Missed the booth? You can still join the hive:
🔗 link in bio
Thanks you to everyone who came over to Engage with us! 💛
#BeeInCommunity #BloomWithFORA #HousingCA2026
🌼✨ We’re headed to Housing California! ✨🌼
Buzz on over to Booth 404,
right by the entry door. 🚪
Come pollinate 🐝
and co-create
a hive where we all belong. 💛
There’s plenty of room
for you to bloom 🌻
with FORA.
👋 See you soon!
Come say hi to the ENTIRE FORA team at Housing California this week!
We’re exhibiting for the first time and bringing something a little different:
✨ a hands-on way to share your voice
🌼 a chance to help shape what gets built
🍯 and a few sweet surprises along the way
We can’t wait to build the hive with you. 🐝
#BloomWithFORA #BeeInCommunity #HousingCalifornia #HousingCA2026
🎉Sending MAJOR congratulations to Victoria Via, our first official Senior Associate! 💜
Victoria joined us in 2018 as EVIA’s first hire (before FORA even existed!) and has helped shape the firm every step of the way. Thoughtful, humble, and quietly powerful in her leadership, she brings deep care to our projects, our clients, and the communities we serve.
Watching her grow into a senior leader has been one of the greatest joys of building this firm. She truly makes all of us better architects and better humans. 😊
We’re celebrating this big milestone with Victoria’s Top 5 Favorite Moments at FORA! ⬇️
✨ Speaking at Autodesk University about FORA’s culture 📐 Becoming a licensed architect with support from the firm 🏡 Hosting a trauma-informed design workshop at her 1st FORA project, Solaire Apartments 🎥 Being featured in an Autodesk case study about our virtual practice 🚲 Seeing the Solaire bike room filled with residents’ bikes and mobility devices
Congratulations Victoria! 👏
We’re so grateful for you and excited for everything ahead. 🚀
🎧 Our episode of Practice Disrupted with Leah Bayer and Gabriella Vaz de Freitas is out!
The architecture profession talks a lot about the “pipeline problem.”
At FORA, we decided to do what we love to do: approach things a little differently and build a pipeline ourselves.
Several years ago we launched the FORAship: a year-long scholarship and paid internship designed to support students from underrepresented backgrounds entering architecture.
Gabriella was one of the first recipients. She moved from São Paulo to California, joined FORA through the program, and today she’s a full-time designer and our Technology Lead, helping develop AI-enabled design workflows while navigating the H-1B visa process as an international professional.
We’re a small firm, but we believe small firms can still make a big impact.
Architecture gets stronger when we make space for new voices, new experiences, and global perspectives — especially right now, when the world feels increasingly divided.
🎧 Listen to the episode (link in bio)
And if you know a student who might benefit from this opportunity:
FORAship applications close March 15 (in 6 days!).
Please share this with students who should apply 💜
Happy FORA Day! 💜
Five years ago, Sarah Vaccaro, Leah Bayer, and Kate Conley stepped into ownership of our then 40 year old firm. What followed wasn’t just a leadership transition, but a collective reimagining — one that empowered our entire team to shape what the next 40 years could be. ✨️ FORA was born from a commitment to further our emphasis on resident-centered and community-driven design grounded in care.
This anniversary isn’t just a single day for us. Throughout the year, we’ll be reflecting on the values that shape our work and sharing what FORA means to us today.
We’re deeply proud of the legacy we carry forward and even more excited about what’s ahead - designing housing that centers dignity, belonging, and long-term impact. Here’s to five years as FORA and to the many more years of learning, listening, and building together still to come. 🎉
At FORA, we believe an equitable profession starts with active support. The FORAship was created to uplift underrepresented architecture students through meaningful financial support, mentorship, and hands-on experience in a resident-centered, community-driven practice.
Each year, we award one FORA Fellow (year-long internship + scholarship) and multiple FORA Scholars (scholarships), expanding access, recognition, and opportunity for future architects shaping more just communities.
📅Applications due March 15 📍 Open to eligible architecture students across the U.S. 🔗Apply at architectsfora.com/foraship
Please share with students who should see this. Diversity makes design stronger, always.💜
Heads up: FORA is hiring! (…soon)
FORA is opening a rare one-week application window in early January to find a ✨stellar✨ designer who’s excited about resident-centered housing, authentic community engagement, and growing into deeper technical leadership over time. 🚀
We’re sharing this early so you’ll have time to prepare — especially those of you who already follow our work. 💜 So get ready and keep an eye out for the official announcement in the new year! 👀
📌 Applications will open Monday, January 5, 2026 and close Sunday, January 11, 2026 at 11:59pm PST.
