Selina Martinez | Keynote Speaker

Selina Martinez, is a member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and Xicana born and raised in Phoenix, AZ. She is currently an architect in training at Childers Architect pursuing her architectural license. In 2024, she was awarded the United States Artists Fellowship, an award honoring a cohort of 50 fellows and their rich contributions to the cultural fabric of the country. In 2023, she cofounded HEKIU: An Indigenous Artist Continuum. The purpose of HEKIU is to create accessibility for O’odham, Piipaash, Yoeme, and indigenous creatives to gather and connect through creative and artistic opportunities. In 2022, she led architecture studios at the ASU Design School, integrating the use of 3D laser scanning and indigenous/bioclimatic desert design responses. In 2020, Selina was a recipient of the Radical Imagination grant from the NDN Collective, establishing the seed funding to create Juebenaria, a project focused on providing an evolving collection of a plurality of Yaqui lived experiences through digital media.In 2019, Selina cofounded Design Empowerment Phoenix, a program of the Sagrado Galleria in South Phoenix that creates opportunities for community to engage in design tools and processes.

Danielle Willkens

Danielle S. Willkens is an Associate Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Architecture. She is a practicing designer, historian, and FAA Remote Pilot, as well as the author of The Transatlantic Design Network: Thomas Jefferson, John Soane, and Agents of Architectural Exchange (2024) and Architecture for Teens: A Beginner’s Book for Aspiring Architects (2021). She has extensive experience in archives, community-engaged research, and the digital documentation and interpretation of heritage sites. Her research has been supported by the Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation, the International Center for Jefferson Studies, the American Philosophical Society, Dumbarton Oaks, the American Institute of Architects, the National Park Service, and the National Center for Preservation Training and Technology. She holds a PhD in architectural history and theory from UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture, a M.Phil from the University of Cambridge, a Graduate Certificate in Historic Preservation from Savannah College of Art and Design, and a M.Arch and BS from the University of Virginia. She is on the Board of Trustees for the Atlanta Preservation Center and the Penn Center National Historic Landmark District, and she currently serves as the secretary of the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians. 

Karen Gravel

AIA, LEED AP

Karen Gravel, AIA is a Principal & Director of Historic Preservation at Lord Aeck Sargent. She graduated from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky with a bachelor’s in history in 1993 and a master’s in architecture from Georgia Tech in 1999. She spent a year in between studying art history in Erlangen, Germany.  

She has worked on various projects for the Fox Theatre, Georgia State Capitol, David T. Howard Middle School, Georgia College, the Georgia Tech Hinman Building, recently led the GT Campus Historic Preservation Plan Update and is now finishing the Bell Building for Georgia State. 

She also volunteers with non-profit groups focused on stewarding old buildings like Fox Gives and Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.  She was involved heavily in the early days of the Beltline advocacy through her husband, Ryan.  They live on the Beltline and have two amazing children. 

While her career is centered on her love for and reuse of old buildings, she has advocated for equity and inclusion by teaching a class on Women in Architecture in 2011 for Georgia Tech and implementing programs like fully paid maternity and paternity leave at Lord Aeck Sargent.

Kristen L’Esperance

Kristin L’Esperance is a licensed Landscape Architect and Senior Associate at TSW, who graduated from the University of Florida, and has 14 years of experience in the field.  She is passionate about creating places that honor history and natural ecology, emphasize storytelling, and foster a sense of place. Kristin focuses on sustainable practices and works a broad range of project types and scales, with a wholistic process being a unifying feature. She collaborates closely with clients and the community in both public and private sectors to achieve their vision. She values detailed oriented design, understanding people scale and prioritizes the impact of culture and individuality in the creation of memorable places.

Victoria Walsh

AIA, LEED BD+C

Operations Director, Senior Associate at Perkins & Will

Victoria thinks of herself as a tactician, whether she is overseeing operations of the Atlanta studio or managing a complex reuse project such as the Goizueta Stage for Youth and Families at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta’s Arts District. Process is the foundation of good design as she practices it, prioritizing consensus, simplicity, and economy. "How we work together and with our clients is as important as what we make,” she insists. On any given day, she is laser-focused on working with project teams to create an exceptional experience for her clients and partners.

A child of Alabama’s Gulf Coast and a lover of fine art and public sculpture, Victoria’s design education and early career took her north to New York City. There she developed expertise in preservation projects that reinterpret and adapt existing environments to contemporary needs. As the head of her own architecture firm, she also honed her ability to see a clear path through complex problems and act on decisions quickly. When the South called her back, she brought her tactical know-how to the abundance of transformational projects happening all over Atlanta. She is drawn to complicated civic and cultural projects and relishes the opportunity to make a difference in Atlanta’s historic cityscape.

Adara Naui | Moderator