Scholar since
2022

Scholarship received
2022 AIA Large Firm Roundtable ARE Scholarship

Current occupation
Designer at Chasm Architecture

Education

Georgia Tech (B.S. Arch, certificate in Psychology)
University of Michigan (Architectural Design/Urban Design and Human Psychology)

Hometown
Hampton, VA

Christian Coles has a passion for designing for minority communities particularly the African American community and examining the human experience of architecture and urban design through incorporating psychological principles into the design process. He studied within the schools of architecture and psychology concurrently at Georgia Tech receiving his Bachelor of Science in Architecture with a certificate in Psychology in May 2016. Upon graduating, he continued his education at University of Michigan studying the connections between architectural design/urban design and human psychology. Christian’s thesis addressed a history of racially restrictive urban planning practices within Newport News, Virginia and how these have created challenges for the African American community present there today and movements forward to reconcile.

He has previously taught two studios at Kennesaw State University concerning Cultural Efficacy Through Design and Regenerative Urban Design for the neighborhood of Sweet Auburn in Atlanta. In addition to currently working at Chasm Architecture in Atlanta, GA, a diverse firm working on projects that bridge from architecture to community planning and urban design, he also teaches a course on African American Design and Aesthetics through CPDI Africa and undergraduate design studio courses at Georgia Institute of Technology.