About

Global Leaders Committed to Eliminating Forced Labor

In the fall of 2020, Grace Farms Foundation’s CEO and Founder Sharon Prince launched the Design for Freedom movement to design and build more humanely. Design for Freedom reimagines architecture by raising awareness and inspiring responses to disrupt forced labor in the building materials supply chain.

Within a short time, Design for Freedom and its Working Group has raised global awareness, with noted recognition from Fast Company (Most Creative People in Business 2022) and Connecticut Green Building Council (Trailblazer Award, November 2022), and created institutional responses through media, high-level events such as the Design for Freedom Summit, and international Pilot Projects including the Black Chapel by Theaster Gates (21st Serpentine Pavilion, U.K.) and Nina Cooke John’s Harriet Tubman Monument (Newark, NJ).

This select group of more than 100 leaders is spearheading a radical paradigm shift and mobilizing the full ecosystem of the built environment.

In 2024, Grace Farms joined the United Nations Global Compact, reinforcing our commitment to aligning our strategies and operations with universal principles on human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption.

 

Grace Farms Foundation
Partners
Working Group
The Hummingbird
Grace Farms Foundation Partners Working Group The Hummingbird

Comprising nearly 80 acres of natural landscapes in New Canaan, CT, Grace Farms is free and open to the public six days a week for indoor and outdoor activities for intergenerational audiences. Opened in 2015, Grace Farms is home to nature trails, restored meadows, and a diverse natural habitat that invites exploration and reflection. Additionally, it is the site of the internationally recognized, architecturally significant River building, designed by the Pritzker-prize winning firm SANAA. The River building, which is nestled into the landscape, features five separate glass-encased volumes that create stunning 360-degree views as well as diverse opportunities for visitors to experience the spaces. The volumes are the venue for public programs all year long that highlight and deepen connections to the work we do here. At Grace Farms, visitors can explore nature trails, come together for a meal, enjoy a moment of peace, and appreciate the architecture of the River building, all in a single day.

Design for Freedom Summit 2025 Sponsors

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in-kind sponsors

promotional partners

2024 Media Partners

Design for Freedom Working Group Members

(as of March 2025)

Jane Abernethy | Humanscale, Chief Sustainability Officer

Keith Amann | Related Companies, VP, Sustainability

Iwan Baan | Photographer and Published Author

Lindsay Baker | Living Future, CEO

Barbara BatShalom | BuildingEase, Founder & CEO

Kai Uwe-Bergmann, FAIA | BIG, Partner

Deborah Berke, FAIA, LEED AP | Yale School of Architecture, Dean, and TenBerke, Founder

Phillip Bernstein, FAIA, RIBA, LEED AP | Yale School of Architecture, Associate Dean and Professor Adjunct

Rebecca Best | Material Bank, VP Sustainability & Market Engagement

Annie Bevan | Mindful Materials, Executive Director

Paul Bradley | Ventia, Sustainable Energy & Supply Chain

Frances Bronet | Pratt Institute, President

Victoria Cabanos | Stuart Lynn, Managing Principal/CEO

Amb. (ret.) Luis C.deBaca | Former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons

Paul Clemence | Architectural Photographer and Author

Rick Cook | COOKFOX Architects, Founding Partner

Jill Crawford | Type A Projects, Founding Partner

Michael Crosbie, Ph.d, FAIA | University of Hartford, Professor 

Curtis Clay | US Dept. of State, OBO, Director of Architecture

Diana Darling | The Architect’s Newspaper, CEO, Co-Founder, and Publisher

Tanya De Hoog , CEng, FIStructE, MIEAust | Aurecon, Chief Engineering, Eminence and Innovation Officer

Dirk Denison, FAIA, MCHAP | Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), College of Architecture, MCHAP Director and Professor

Angel Dizon | Northwestern University, Senior Associate Vice President of Facilities

Graham Dodd | ARUP, Director

Jennifer Downey | Turner Construction, Director Environmental Social Governance

Anna Dyson | Yale Center for Ecosystems in Architecture (CEA), Founding Director

Rand Ekman | HKS, Principal and Chief Sustainability Officer

Louis Fusco , PLA ASLA | Louis Fusco Landscape Architects, Principal

Julia Gamolina  | Madame Architect, Founder & Ennead, Associate Principal

Jared Gilbert | COOKFOX Architects, Associate Partner

Lisa Goodwin-Robbins, RA, LEED AP | Kalin Associates, Associate Principal

Meredith Gore, PhD. | University of Maryland, Associate Professor

Jay Gorman | Sciame Construction, Assistant Vice President

Brad Grant | Howard University, Professor, Vice Chair, Department of Architecture

Michael Green, AIBC, FRAIC, AIA | MGA, President and CEO

Conor Grennan | NYU Stern, Dean of MBA Students

Elizabeth Grennan | McKinsey Digital, Global Managing Counsel

Gabe Guilliams, PE | BuroHappold Engineering, Partner, Lighting Specialist

Joanna Hall | US Coalition on Sustainability, SustainChain, Executive Director

Pete Hamill | Turner Construction Company, Senior Vice President and Regional General Manager, New England

Felix Heisel | Cornell Circular Construction Lab, Director

Eric Höweler | Höweler + Yoon, Co-founder & Principal

Florian Idenburg , RA, AIA-IA | SO – IL, Founding Principal

Nina Cooke John | Studio Cooke John Architecture + Design, Founder and Principal

Susan Jones | atelierjones, Founder, Architect

Diana Kellogg | Diana Kellogg Architects, Founder

Leslie P. King, Esq. | Cozen O’Connor, Member

Andrew Klemmer | Paratus Group, President & Founder 

Florencia Kratsman | FX Collaborative, Interiors Practice Lead

Evelyn Lee | Slack Technologies, Head of Workplace Strategy and Innovation and Practice of Architecture, Founder and 2025 President, American Institute of Architects

Vivian Lee | Gensler, Design Director

Jing Liu, AIA | SO – IL, Founding Principal

Shawn MacDonald, Ph.D. | Verité, CEO

Jennifer McCadney | Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, Special Counsel

Sammy Medina | New York Review of Architecture, Editor

Vardhan Mehta | Acelab, Co-founder & CEO

Peter Miller, AIA, LEED | Palette Architecture, Founding Partner

Joseph Mizzi | Sciame Construction, President & COO

Amy Musanti | Assa Abloy, Director of Sustainable Building Solutions

Tateo Nakajima, FRSA FIOA | ARUP, Fellow

Patricia Saldaña Natke, FAIA, ALA, NCARB | UrbanWorks, Founding Partner and President

Signe Nielsen | MNLA Landscape Architects, Principal

Eddie Opara, AIGA | Pentagram, Partner

Nat Oppenheimer, PE | Silman, EVP, Senior Principal

Debbie Propst | President, Global Retail, MillerKnoll

Alan Ricks, Int FRIBA | MASS Design Group, Founding Principal and Chief Design Officer

Antonio Rillosi | ExtraVega, CEO & Founder

Yiselle Santos Rivera | HKS, Principal, Director of Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

Christopher Sharples, AIA | SHoP Architects, Founding Principal

Hayes Slade, AIA, IIDA | Slade Architecture, Co-Founder & Principal and AIA NY 2019 President

James Slade, FAIA, LEED-AP | Slade Architecture, Founder Partner

Raphael Sperry | ARUP, Associate Principal and Global Social Equity Leader

Franca Trubiano, Ph.D. | University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design, Architect and Associate Professor in Architecture

Brian Ulicny, Ph.D. | Raytheon BBN Technologies at Raytheon Intelligence & Space, Associate Director, Research; Analytics and Machine Intelligence Group

Claire Weisz, FAIA | WXY architecture + urban design, Principal-in-Charge

David Wildman | Bloomberg LP, Global Head Facilities, Sustainability Ops and MEP Infrastructure

Yumiko Yamada | SANAA, Partner and AIA Japan, President 

Kim Yao, FAIA | ARO, Principal and AIA NY 2020 President

GRACE FARMS

Sharon Prince | CEO and Founder

Chelsea Thatcher | Chief Strategy Officer and Founding Creative Director

Nora Rizzo | Ethical Materials Director

Brigid Abraham, AIA | Design for Freedom Project Manager

Toshihiro Oki | Architectural Advisor

Adam Thatcher | Co-Founder Grace Farms Foods

Elizabeth Rapuano | Chief Communications Officer

Ashley Sikora | Director of Marketing

A symbol of freedom across time and cultures, the Design for Freedom hummingbird emblem embodies the spirit of survivors and our role in safeguarding them. The hummingbird’s vibrant colors, piercing gaze, and uplifted wings exude a relentless energy and optimism. A silhouette forms from the shape of the hummingbird and poignantly reminds us of the modern slavery that has been hidden in plain sight for too long.