“What if the truest architecture of home is one that invites us to choose each other?”

As a young Black woman, a designer, and a student of architecture, I’ve spent the last year of my Masters Degree program deeply immersed in a question that has haunted not only my personal life but the lives of so many people in my generation: How can architecture reconnect young adults who feel lost—surrounding them with what I call a “village”—and empower them to take control of their own environments?

The Amazon rainforest is home to an incredibly diverse range of tree species, many of which are now considered endangered due to deforestation, climate change, illegal logging, and land conversion for agriculture or mining. While these are complex global issues, nearly everyone agrees: preserving the Amazon is vital to the health of the planet.