Power + Place

Bryan C. Lee Jr. is an award-winning architect, nonprofit founder, and leading national voice on anti-racist and socially just design. As Founder and Design Principal of Colloqate Design, Bryan spearheads the organization’s mission to intentionally design spaces advancing racial, social and cultural equity. This encompasses community-centered architecture and planning projects, youth education/mentorship initiatives, and advocacy campaigns confronting systemic exclusion in the built environment. Deeply committed to expanding opportunity in his home city of New Orleans, Bryan previously served as the Inaugural Director of Place + Civic Design for the Arts Council New Orleans from 2015 to 2017. In this capacity, he provided vision and program management for arts-rooted community development efforts citywide.

Nationally recognized as an influential thought leader, Bryan’s recognitions include being named on Fast Company’s 2018 Most Creative People in Business list as well as receiving prestigious fellowship designations such as Emerging Voices from the Architectural League of New York and United States Artists. As a Design Critic at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design since 2020, Bryan has brought his justice-oriented pedagogy to new generations of architects and planners. Bryan holds leadership positions with the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) and the Design As Protest Collective organizing against professional exclusion. Through his career and volunteerism, Bryan embodies his belief in design as instrumental for empowerment, healing historical harms, and expanding liberation across communities.

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