ColloqateDesign

Colloqate was founded in 2017 by Bryan Lee and Sue Mobley as a response to the continued oppressive practices of the Architecture and Design fields and need for community engagement through working with communities to build power and access. Through collaborating architecture projects in Portland, Bryan met Sophia and Karim. They were going to start their own design justice practice but the three decided to collaborate and in 2021 Colloqate Portland was started! With offices in New Orleans and Portland we primarily work in the southeast and pacific northwest regions where we partner with nearby like minded people and organizations who are active and engaged in their communities. #colloqatedesign

How do we make sure we are disrupting systems of power? By designing WITH communities. One of the core strategies Colloqate seeks to implement on all our projects is to hire a cohort of community members from the most impacted stakeholder groups (Primary Users & Priority Users) as part of our engagement and organizing team. The Community Design Advocate (CDA) program is created to deepen each project’s connection and responsiveness to the various communities the buildings serve. In order to truly design with communities, it is imperative for the design team to work with the expertise of community members in the process of making a building; assuring that the building is a reflection of the communities it serves. The program works with CDAs to develop an accurate narrative understanding of the relationship between the residents, the building and its neighborhood context. CDAs are part of the project team, as such, we ask that CDAs engage with stakeholders in the most appropriate manner possible, build on existing relationships and create new ones, and document those interactions to the best of their ability. CDAs met with the Colloqate team on a weekly basis to share out and work through the implications of the collective conversations. CDAs are asked to give their unfiltered feedback based on their conversations during the project without fear. Check out our website for more information! #colloqatedesign

Ever wonder what "Colloqate" means? Colloqate = Colloquial + Locate + Collocate col·lo·qui·al : adjective (of language) used in ordinary, informal or a familiar conversation; not formal or literary. Conversational. Informal lo·cate : verb 1. discover the exact place or position of. 2. Situate in and of a particular place. 3. place within a particular context col·lo·cate : verb 1. (of a word) be habitually juxtaposed with another at a frequency greater than chance. 3.place side by side or in a particular relation. Colloqate: a familiar design dialogue situated in and of a particular place. Considering people and place habitually juxtaposed with one another at a greater frequency than chance. Check out our website for more! #colloqatedesign

Friends, we need your help. We’re a little late in sharing this, but want to highlight some of our work from 2025. This video recap is a taste of what our team did last year, and we don’t want to slow it down. 2025 brought a convergence of challenges that hit our practice hard: several of our projects faced major delays; RFPs for mission aligned projects slowed down as institutions attempted to stay under the radar from anti DEI purges; tariffs and economic uncertainty took a toll on new projects; philanthropic funding has been spread thin. We have seen amazing support from our community already but were unable to fill our funding gap as a result of these challenges. As a result, we had to say goodbye to four of our coworkers this month. Although we are a smaller team and feeling the grief of parting with beloved team members, we remain committed to the work and are pressing ahead. Please show our team and mission some love in this moment and contribute if you can. You can visit colloqate.org/contribute or visit the link in our bio.

 And if you have a project that aligns with our mission, please contact us at [email protected]. No matter the size, if we can join you to make an impact, we want to hear about it. @mastodonte_la @curiousform @officialmediaisland @lafittegreenway @bvlbanchapublicaccess @imaginewaterworks

We love building rooms where power is shared. Through Metro’s Nature in Neighborhoods Community Choice Grants, neighbors aren’t reacting to proposals — they’re forming and shaping them. In partnership with Knot Studio @knotstudio.pdx , Multicultural Collaborative, and Community Design Advocates, we designed hands-on interactions that translate complexity, hold transparency, and equip community with the information needed to turn imagination into built outcomes. Ready to rethink how public decisions get made? Let’s talk. Follow along at the link in our bio. Join us if you are a Clackamas County resident! https://www.oregonmetro.gov/grants/nature-neighborhoods-community-choice-grants

Colloqate Design + Bvlbancha Public Access present: STORIA DELTA Community picnic Join us for the community opening welcoming picnic for the Storia Delta bridge project. Hear about the project from the designers and contributing artists, and be the first to learn about a new project announcement from BPA! Food and beverage will be provided. 1-3pm central, Sunday December 14 2025 Storia Delta bridge near Greenway Station Bulbancha / "New Orleans"

Exciting Announcement! Join us Sunday December 14, 1-3pm for a community opening picnic for our Storia: Delta project in collaboration with @bvlbanchapublicaccess learn more about the design of the project and hear from the contributing artists. The picnic will be at the Storia: Delta bridge near Greenway Station. Hope to see you there!

Djembe Pavilion, 2025. Corten Steel. Artist: @colloqate Djembe Pavilion is part of a unified network of 3 public cultural pavilions across New Orleans that address themes of displacement and belonging through architectural intervention. The 600 sf pavilion, inspired by the West African djembe drum, is designed to stake out civic gathering space that celebrates cultural resilience and community storytelling in the historic Tremé neighborhood. The structure features custom Adinkra symbols created by neighbors in the Tremé as part of a public workshop. A close-up view of a Corten steel panel with intricate laser-cut designs, featuring Adinkra symbols, which represents storytelling and cultural heritage. Curious Form was a design and fabrication partner in the initial stages, providing cost estimating, design development, feasibility studies, fabrication and installation.

The Center for Black Student Excellence (CBSE) is a Black- community visioned project in Portland, Oregon to address the education achievement gap for Black youth in Portland Public Schools. As a part of our work during the visioning process, we created a printed community newspaper that summarized engagement outcomes, celebrated student voices, and encouraged further engagement. We love using familiar and tangible modes of communication that reach everyday spaces to share project updates, reinforce feedback loops, and spark excitement for future engagement opportunities. We distributed the CBSE newspaper with the help of community members and partners in neighborhood places like schools, barbershops, corner stores, and community events. When was the last time you read a newspaper? @imagine_black_action @iammore_pnw @centerforblackexcellence @ppsinnovationstudio

Greenway Plaza bridge update: the new bridge (designed by Colloqate Design) connecting the Greenway Trail to Plaza is almost complete! Many of you have noticed multicolored glass at the landing of the bridge. This is recycled glass from Glass Half Full. It has rounded edges and is designed for this kind of use. The contractors will soon be adding a sealant to the glass which will create a solid surface (like terrazzo). To help keep the ‘glass gravel’ from scattering into the trail, we secured the edge of the landing on Friday afternoon. Also, in the coming weeks multicolored acrylic tiles will be hung from the mesh walls, which will flutter in the wind. See photo of bridge designer Bryan Lee, Jr installing test tiles, and explaining the design. 💚🩵💜🧡💛

Designed with guidance from Indigenous community members, an indoor Gathering Circle and outdoor Conversation Circle honor collective connection—in many Indigenous traditions, circles represent our relationship not just with each other, but with the broader world, reflecting balance, interconnectedness, and our place within larger systems of life. These spaces also respond to a shared desire from Midland’s diverse communities to center collective connection rather than individual isolation. Circles carry deep meaning across cultures: representing balance and interconnectedness, and wholeness and harmony. Inside, the Gathering Circle is framed by a mural from artist Kanani Miyamoto @mamakanani , created collaboratively through ink wash workshops with community members, making the artwork itself a reflection of collective creativity. The space has become a beloved hub for casual hangouts, joyful storytimes, staff gatherings, and conversations. Outside, the Conversation Circle is nestled within the reading garden, designed with features that orient people to the cardinal directions, grounding the space in place, relation, and reflection. Architect of Record- @bora_architects @multnomahcountylibrary Photo Credit: @joshpartee @place_studio

Are you attending NOMA 2025 or ASLA 2025 this week? Colloqate will be there! Our Design Director Bryan Lee Jr., NOMA President & FAIA, and Designer Bryan Bradshaw, will be at the National Organization for Minority Architects Conference in Kansas City leading a couple sessions over the weekend and Architect Natalia Revelo La Rotta will be at American Society for Landscape Architects (ASLA) in New Orleans co-presenting a session this Saturday.