Design
Fall Fellowship
500 Acres Fall Design Fellows
The Fall Fellowship marks a defining phase for 500 Acres Foundation — the Design Phase, where ideas become systems and sketches evolve into blueprints for how future communities will live, work, and build together. Over twelve weeks, a team of emerging thinkers, designers, and researchers from across the world are shaping the foundation’s physical, digital, and narrative infrastructure — laying the groundwork for how 500 Acres designs, documents, and communicates its mission of social repair, housing innovation, and generational belonging.
Each fellow brings a distinct perspective but contributes to a shared goal: turning the 500 Acres vision into something tangible and replicable — a model that can be built, lived in, and learned from. Together, their projects form a cohesive ecosystem of design, research, and storytelling.
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Jayanna D’Silva
Jayanna D’Silva is a business and management student at Wheaton College (MA) with a minor in Visual Arts, bringing a rare blend of operational discipline and creative design thinking to her work. A Posse Foundation Scholar and recipient of multiple leadership and creativity awards, Jayanna has a proven track record in community engagement, marketing strategy, and organizational systems. Her professional experience spans social impact marketing and operational management — from streamlining data systems for a Pilates studio to supporting compliance and engagement for 190+ nonprofits at a Rhode Island impact firm.
At 500 Acres, Jayanna’s Fall Fellowship Project — Building the Backbone: Organizational Structure & Fellow Support Systems — focuses on strengthening the internal framework that supports fellows, mentors, and staff across the foundation. Her project merges nonprofit development, HR systems, and communication design to create a scalable operational model for future cohorts.
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Isadora Leviton
Isadora Leviton is an education researcher, curriculum designer, and community organizer studying Education Studies and American Studies at Wesleyan University, where she earned high honors and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa distinction. Her work explores how young people experience learning, purpose, and belonging — especially in environments where traditional education systems fall short.
With experience as a student researcher, sexual health educator, and curriculum developer, Isadora has led over 100 peers in statewide education initiatives, conducted in-depth qualitative research with teachers and organizers, and designed equity-centered curricula for high school students. Her academic and professional path reflects a deep commitment to educational justice, teacher joy, and student empowerment.
At 500 Acres, Isadora’s Learning and Belonging Fellowship Project — What Gen Z in Boise Need to Feel Purposeful, In-Community, and Successful in a Changing Landscape — investigates how local Gen Z youth define success and what learning environments best support their growth.
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Lauren McGinn
Lauren McGinn is an anthropologist, writer, and researcher pursuing her Masters in Anthropology, Art, and Perception at the University of St. Andrews, following dual honors degrees in Philosophy and Anthropology from the Catholic University of America and extended research terms at Oxford. Her work sits at the intersection of phenomenology, aesthetics, and social repair — exploring how built environments, sustainability movements, and aesthetic narratives shape belonging and exclusion in modern communities.
At 500 Acres, Lauren’s project centers on developing the Social Repair Index, an interdisciplinary framework that measures how spaces — particularly housing and community projects — contribute to social, economic, and aesthetic repair. Her research blends philosophical anthropology with visual and sensory ethnography to study sites like the Olympic units, focusing on how architecture, gardening, and green infrastructure can either reproduce or resist gentrification and displacement.
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Rocío Loberza
Rocío Loberza is an Argentinian-born architectural designer whose passion for building began early, working alongside her father — also an architect — to sketch, design, and imagine new spaces. That lifelong fascination with how form meets function now drives her work at 500 Acres, where she blends creativity, precision, and purpose to help design the physical spaces that define the foundation’s movement.
As the Architectural & Design Fellow, Rocío leads the translation of conceptual ideas into buildable realities. Her work focuses on developing the foundational design systems and models that will guide 500 Acres’ housing and community-building efforts.
Rocío’s work fuses architectural storytelling and practical innovation — bringing structure to vision, warmth to form, and human intention to every beam, wall, and space she designs.
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Denisse Rojas
Denisse Rojas is an urban planning student and emerging designer based in New York City, currently studying at Hunter College with a strong academic record and a passion for sustainable, community-centered design. Her work combines creativity, structure, and collaboration — shaped by leadership roles in design teams and a disciplined background in athletics, where focus and precision are essential.
At 500 Acres, Denisse’s Fall Design Fellowship focuses on visual mapping, environmental storytelling, and spatial communication — helping translate the foundation’s architectural concepts and community-building efforts into clear, compelling visuals.
Denisse brings a young designer’s vision and a planner’s mindset — connecting people, place, and purpose through design that tells a story, fosters belonging, and brings the 500 Acres vision to life.
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Yuchun “Yuki” Zhang
Yuchun “Yuki” Zhang is an urban designer, narrative researcher, and visual storyteller whose work bridges architecture, social impact, and public storytelling. Yuchun holds a Master of Science in Advanced Urban Design from Cornell University, Yuchun previously earned both a Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Architecture from Tsinghua University, where she graduated in the top tier of her class and received multiple national.
Her professional and academic work focuses on translating spatial research into public narratives, blending data visualization, ethnography, and design thinking to make complex urban issues accessible. She has presented and published internationally — from research on queer spatial belonging in NYC to policy studies on urban housing equity — and has created zines, digital maps, and interactive storytelling tools that connect design with lived experience.
At 500 Acres, Yuchun’s Fall Fellowship Project explores how Gen Z can reimagine belonging through design — using architecture and storytelling to bridge the gap between social research and spatial practice. Her project asks how housing and physical spaces can foster a sense of community and identity for a generation often disconnected by digital culture.
Yuchun’s fellowship merges rigorous urban analysis with deeply human storytelling — turning architecture into a medium for collective imagination and cultural renewal.