Wekeana Lassiter

Bio

Wekeana Lassiter is a Project Specialist with Kahler Slater. Her expertise is in building envelope enclosure design and detailing, master planning and Interior Design. Wekeana’s project typologies include Healthcare, Higher Education, Workplace and Laboratory.

Wekeana’s design philosophy centers around creating place: spaces that encompass the complete human experience. To her, architecture is rooted in the phenomena of “creating place from thin air”- an intangible idea transformed into the built form through the design process. Architects are encouraged to dream; we must also convert those dreams into reality.

While working toward her BSAS at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), Wekeana was a founding member for the student chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA). A decade later, she is a founding member of the Wisconsin Chapter of NOMA (WiscoNOMA). She believes diversity enriches design. Infusing diversity into our experiences, evolves the solutions we can produce, shaping holistic human focused designs.

The study of the human experience led Wekeana to pursue a degree in Interior Design at the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) where her capstone project focused on Flexible Spaces: Designing for Change Over Time.

In addition to being a frequent lecturer at UWM’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning (SARUP), she is also a design critic and adjunct studio professor. Wekeana has spoken at Women in Design Milwaukee’s 2021 Spring Speed Presentation and 2019 Black Girl Magic Conference. She was on the design team of The Center for Innovation Drug Research that won the 2021 Facility of the Year Award for Operational Agility: COVID-19 Impact Award.

Wekeana is a Graduate Studio Professor for the Kahler Slater Studio at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and UWM’s SARUP.