Sameena Sitabkhan is a California licensed architect deeply committed to empowering the next generation of architects through an emphasis on spatial justice. Teaching at ArtU since 2014, she has served in the roles of Licensing Advisor, AIAS faculty advisor, and NOMAS faculty advisor. Since 2018, she has been directing B.Lab, the undergraduate department’s community-based design initiative. The student-designed and constructed projects have won numerous awards in recognition of the creative and empathetic ways of meeting the needs of underserved communities in the Bay Area through a robust participatory model with neighbors, local youth, city agencies, and nonprofits.
In her own practice, she has designed and managed projects spanning a range of public serving building typologies from schools and affordable housing to urban/art installations throughout the Bay Area since the early 2000s. She was previously an Associate at David Baker Architects, focused on housing for the formerly homeless and has completed ground-up charter and public school buildings throughout California. She founded Studio Sideproject in 2020, with two like-minded collaborators, to create at the intersection of narrative, design, and advocacy in the built environment.
