Michael Chavez

Principal & Co-Founder

Michael Chavez was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico and received a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Design with an emphasis in Landscape Architecture from the University of New Mexico (UNM). He earned his Master of Architecture degree from the Boston Architectural College (BAC).

Michael is a Registered Architect in Massachusetts and New Mexico and has also been an adjunct professor at the BAC since 2014 with all his classes focusing on the architect’s role in community engagement. Michael has been on the Board of Directors of Built Environment Plus, Massachusetts Workforce Alliance, and currently on Bridge the Aid Gap. Michael was also on the jury of the Harleston Parker Medal and is an active member in the Boston chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects.

Serving the community where I grew up.

From 2004 – 2008 in Albuquerque, he worked for the social-services nonprofit organization Hogares, Inc. as both a Clinical Milleu Associate and Program Supervisor. His responsibilities ranged from working with high- level at-risk youth involved in gang and/or drug activity in residential rehab centers to working with immigrant families new to the Albuquerque area. For his final two years at Hogares he supervised a program in Albuquerque’s southeast “Pocket of Poverty” zone that worked to strengthen immigration rights for youth and families, improve opportunities for job development, and provided respite services for at-risk youth ranging from 5-18 years of age.

While working at Hogares, he was also a Research Service Learning Program co-teacher at UNM’s School of Architecture and Planning. His class worked with the Martineztown Neighborhood to develop policy and design improvements to fix broken storm water and sewer infrastructure in the community. Then, from 2007- 2008, in his final year in Albuquerque, Michael worked with Citizen Schools as they established their first of two programs in New Mexico also located in southeast Albuquerque where he grew up.

Engaging Non profit organization through training and project implimentation

To combine his passion for community activism and architecture, Michael moved to Boston to pursue his Master of Architecture degree from the Boston Architectural College (BAC). During the BAC’s intensive 5-year concurrent program Michael worked at YouthBuild Boston (YBB), a Roxbury-based nonprofit focusing on job development in the building trades. Michael had various roles but was most recently the Project Development Manager where he was in charge of developing and managing projects that included affordable housing, design and buildouts for other nonprofit organizations, urban gardens and green spaces, and more.

Michael also oversaw the organization’s uBuild program which engages corporate sponsors with local nonprofits in need through community service.
Lastly, Michael oversaw YBB’s Designery program which is YouthBuild Boston’s high school architecture program.

Upon graduation from the BAC, Michael was selected for the prestigious Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellowship where he worked with the Fairmount/Indigo Line CDC Collaborative (FIC) to spearhead a sustainable, smart growth agenda along the 9-mile Fairmount commuter rail line in Boston, MA. The line runs through some of Boston’s most impoverished yet culturally diverse neighborhoods in Dorchester, Mattapan
and Hyde Park. The FIC, consisting of three different Community Development Corporations, seeks to bring more amenities to these communities without displacing residents. Michael’s work focused on increasing the FIC’s capacity to engage neighborhood residents in the design process of the proposed new Transit-Oriented Developments while emphasizing the positive impacts of holistic design on low-income neighborhoods to funders and policy-makers. When the fellowship ended, he was invited to return to YBB to continue overseeing the development and design of affordable housing, the uBuild service events, designing and launching the state’s first registered Facilities Maintenance Apprentice program, and increase YBB’s external relationships with organizations like YouthBuild International, Girl Scouts of America, Boston Society of Architects,
and many others.