Fellow Profile

Katie Swenson

“The heart of my fellowship focused on the Page Street Neighborhood Initiative. Working house by house and getting to know the building industry were incredibly important. The Rose Fellowship provided the support system that allowed me to grow my skills and ground my work in holistic community-based design.”

— Katie Swenson

Fellowship Host:
Piedmont Housing Alliance
Charlottesville, VA

Katie Swenson’s fellowship work included taking on one of the Piedmont Housing Alliance’s most ambitious projects to date. Katie helped manage the design and construction of the 10th and Page Street Neighborhood Revitalization Project, adding 30 new and restored, affordable homes to a rapidly changing neighborhood sandwiched between the University of Virginia and downtown Charlottesville. And, while it assured a voice for the current residents, the project achieved a milestone as the first affordable houses in the EarthCraft Home Pilot Program for Virginia.

Other project accolades included an EPA Energy Star Award as one of the top five, green, affordable building developments in the nation and an “Honorable Mention” in the Home Depot Foundation Awards for Excellence for Affordable Housing Built Responsibly program. Katie continued to make a difference for the Page Street area during her fellowship, most notably initiating a collaborative design process with residents, non-profits and local schools for the Hope Community Center.

Katie is co-founder and executive director of the Charlottesville Community Design Center. The co-author of the soon-to-be-released Growing Urban Habitats, she holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Art from the University of California, Berkeley. Katie’s numerous awards include the Eldon Field Woods Design Professional of the Year Award from the Charlottesville Planning Commission, a Commonwealth Environmental Leadership Award from the Charlottesville Waldorf Foundation and the Sara McArthur Nix Fellowship for Travel and Research in France. A former member of the Charlottesville Board of Architectural Review, she currently serves on the boards of the Association for Community Design and the Village School. As of September 2006, Katie has become the new Director of the Rose Fellowship Program.

Enterprise Community Partners