OCTOBER Student MEMBER SPOTLIGHT 2026

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT | Aviana Otieno

Aviana Otieno, NOMAS

DESIGNING THROUGH CULTURE, LANGUAGE, AND PLACE

Aviana Otieno is a Kenyan-American architectural scholar, designer, and visual researcher whose work explores the connections between narrative, memory, cultural identity, and the built environment. Currently studying architecture at Howard University with a minor in Swahili, Aviana is developing an interdisciplinary approach to design that reaches beyond the traditional boundaries of architectural practice.

Her work is particularly focused on East Africa and the African diaspora, where she investigates how architecture can respond to contemporary urban change while preserving the cultural knowledge embedded within communities. Through design, research, storytelling, and language study, Aviana explores how the built environment can become a vessel for belonging and cultural continuity.

This perspective has shaped an academic journey that is already extending well beyond the studio. From Washington, DC to Nairobi and Arusha, Aviana is intentionally connecting architectural education with immersive cultural experiences that challenge her to understand place not only through what is built, but through the people, languages, histories, and traditions that give it meaning.

RESEARCHING CULTURE THROUGH A GLOBAL LENS

Aviana’s growing body of research examines an increasingly important question: How can architecture respond to globalization and rapid urbanization without erasing the cultural identities that make places distinct?

Her pursuit of that question has taken her throughout East Africa. As a participant in the 2025 Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program, Aviana undertook intensive Swahili language study and cultural immersion in Kenya. In 2026, she was selected for the highly competitive Critical Language Scholarship Program, continuing her Swahili studies in Arusha, Tanzania. She was also awarded the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, which supports her continued study and research in East Africa during the 2026–2027 academic year.

Her research is also finding a platform within academia. At Howard University’s 2026 African Indigenous Knowledge and Languages Conference, Aviana presented research examining how architecture can serve as a vessel for cultural continuity amid globalization and urbanization. Her work considers language itself as a source of architectural knowledge, asking designers to listen more closely to the cultural systems and ways of understanding places that already exist within communities.

These experiences are helping Aviana develop a design philosophy grounded in cultural inquiry: one that recognizes architecture not simply as an object, but as an expression of memory, identity, and collective experience.

LEADING THROUGH SERVICE AND ADVOCACY

Alongside her research, Aviana has established a growing record of student leadership at Howard University. She currently serves as Treasurer of Howard University NOMAS, building upon previous roles as Vice President and Marketing Director. Across these positions, she has worked to strengthen the student community, expand professional development, and connect emerging designers with broader conversations taking place throughout the profession.

During her time as NOMAS Vice President, Aviana also helped organize student-led advocacy connecting architecture with issues of immigration and spatial justice. These efforts created opportunities for students to consider how policy, identity, and lived experience influence the spaces and communities designers are ultimately responsible for serving.

Her leadership extends across campus. As President of the Alpha Rho Chi Hemiunu Organizing Committee, Aviana helped lead the effort toward reinstating the chapter, securing the student participation needed to meet reinstatement requirements and helping establish a stronger foundation for the students who will follow.

Whether through NOMAS, Alpha Rho Chi, Engineers Without Borders, AIAS, or her other campus involvement, Aviana’s leadership reflects the same curiosity that drives her design work: a desire to connect people, learn across experiences, and create spaces where others can participate and grow.

CONNECTING DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT, AND COMMUNITY

Aviana’s professional experiences are further broadening how she understands the built environment. Through her work with Howard University Real Estate Development and Capital Asset Management, she gained exposure to campus development, asset utilization, facilities strategy, project management, and the broader decision-making processes that shape institutional environments.

That experience adds another dimension to her architectural education. Rather than viewing design, planning, real estate, policy, and culture as separate conversations, Aviana is learning to understand how each influences the way communities and cities evolve.

Her participation in the 2025 Charter Cities Institute New Cities Summit in Nairobi expanded that perspective internationally, exposing her to conversations among architects, planners, policymakers, researchers, and urbanists about the future of rapidly changing African cities.

Together, these experiences are shaping an emerging designer who understands that creating meaningful places requires more than technical skill. It requires listening, research, cultural awareness, and an understanding of the larger systems influencing the built environment.

DESIGNING FOR CULTURAL CONTINUITY

At the center of Aviana’s journey is a belief that progress and cultural preservation do not have to exist in opposition. Her work asks how designers can embrace change while protecting the stories, languages, traditions, and spatial practices that allow communities to recognize themselves within the places they inhabit.

As she continues her studies and research between Washington, DC and East Africa, Aviana is developing a perspective that is distinctly her own, one shaped by her Kenyan-American identity, architectural education, language studies, international experiences, and commitment to socially engaged design.

Aviana represents an emerging generation of designers who see architecture as more than the creation of buildings. For her, it is also a means of storytelling, cultural inquiry, advocacy, and connection.

DC NOMA is proud to spotlight Aviana Otieno and celebrate her continued growth as a designer, researcher, and student leader. Through her commitment to cultural continuity, global learning, and service, Aviana is demonstrating how the next generation of architects can honor the knowledge of the past while imagining more thoughtful and culturally responsive futures.