Taylour M. Upton is an Architectural Designer from Toledo, Ohio who is currently a Designer II at Cooper Carry. She has primarily gained experience in commercial and planning projects and is working towards becoming a licensed Architect. After placing in several AIA Toledo High School Design Competitions, Taylour knew that architecture was her destined career. Ms. Upton acquired her Master of Architecture from the University of Cincinnati (DAAP) in 2020 and her B.S. in Architecture with a minor degree in Women’s Studies from The Ohio State University in 2015.
Her M.Arch Thesis, The Un-site: by Black Women, for Black Women, focuses on spatial design from a Black feminist perspective. Check out the full publication of The Un-site at https://issuu.com/taylour_upton/docs/the_un-site.
One of Taylour’s first interactions with NOMA involved attending the 2019 Conference in Brooklyn and meeting countless other architects/designers of color. This eye-opening experience further encouraged her to co-found the revitalized Univ. of Cincinnati’s NOMA student chapter: UC DAAP NOMA(S). Inspired by The Un-site and NOMA, Ms. Upton continually works to promote and implement #designequity as a lifelong pursuit in the profession and built environment (be sure to follow her Architectural Designer Instagram account @t_m_universal). She frequently collaborates with other organizations such as the AIA and the Black Women in Architecture (BWA) Network (as the architecture field has recently only attained 500 Black women licensed architects) to further EDI initiatives.
