Public Health Interior Design

Location:

Brooklyn, NY

Posted:

July 29, 2025

Contact this candidate

Resume:

SERENA

STEDEFORD

724-***-****

***************@*****.***

New York, NY

Relevant Experience

Profile

Education

Masters of Science in Critical, Curatorial, and Conceptual Practices in Architecture Across all architectural work, emphasized narrative design, stakeholder communication, and civic impact Writer, researcher, and spatial strategist committed to transforming carceral systems through narrative, public storytelling, and institutional critique. With a background in architecture, curatorial research, and justice-based collaboration, I produce longform writing, podcasts, exhibition texts, and visual research to challenge punitive paradigms and surface abolitionist alternatives. My work engages public memory, cultural institutions, and cross-sector teams to reshape how systems of control are seen, understood, and dismantled. Bachelor of Architecture, Minor in Interior Design, Graduated with Honors Recognitions:

• Top Honors, B. Arch Degree Project (Pratt Institute, 2021)

• Winner, Michael Hollander Drawing Excellence Award, 2021

• Nominated, Pratt School of Architecture Social Justice Award, 2020 Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation 2025 Pratt Institute 2021

• Led two full-scope architectural projects from design visioning through construction.

• Integrated narrative framing and historical context into design briefs and stakeholder materials.

• Produced accessible visual documentation and oversaw consultant coordination.

• Managed adaptive reuse and preservation-focused residential projects in NYC.

• Crafted zoning narratives and project documentation; emphasized site-responsive storytelling.

• Produced fire safety documentation for 35+ commercial and mixed-use buildings.

• Translated regulatory codes into accessible visual and written formats for stakeholders and engineers.

Founder & Designer

Architectural Designer

Project Technician

Serena Stedeford Designs 2024 – Present

JAM Architecture 2022 – 2023

Croker Fire Drill Corporation 2023 – Present

• Authored thesis The Prison-Museum Complex, analyzing how decommissioned U.S. prisons aestheticize punishment through architecture and museological spectacle.

• Conducted fieldwork, archival research, and site interviews; produced a longform thesis and a critical guidebook aimed at public education.

• Presented research at interdisciplinary justice seminars and exhibitions.

• Produced and narrated "Emergency Loss of Rights," a podcast exploring incarceration as a public health crisis.

• Translated policy frameworks and personal narratives into emotionally resonant, accessible media.

• Co-developed "Geonarratives for Video Mitigation," a research initiative supporting immigrant defense cases.

• Mapped socio-legal contexts using QGIS, oral history, and spatial storytelling; co-authored digital publications for advocacy use.

Graduate Researcher

Podcast Co-Producer

Project Contributor

Columbia University GSAPP 2023 – 2025

Law & Public Health Policy Seminar 2024

Center for Spatial Research 2024

Selected Publications & Media

• Alcatraz’s Continual Oppression, Indigenous People, Prisoners, and Minorities Deserve Better. Difference and Design, December 2023. Available at: https://rb.gy/acq8uh

• NO NEW JAILS - HUMANITARIAN JAIL IS AN OXYMORON. Difference and Design, December 2023. Available at: https://rebrand.ly/vqjtk01

• Reviewing Exhibitions: Focusing on Trauma Representation in the Built Environment. Colloquium I, December 2023. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/5aaspb4s

• Photographs as Martyrs. Colloquium II, May 2024. Available at: https://shorturl.at/K7qrf

• The Prison-Museum Complex. Thesis, May 2025. Available at: https://bit.ly/40jZbHp

• Cole, J., Emerson, B., Stedeford, S., Geonarratives for Video Mitigation: Contextualizing Immigrant Cultural Norms and Domestic Violence. Conflict Urbanism, May 2024. Available at: https://centerforspatialresearch.github.io/conflict_urbanism_sp2024/2024/04/28/ColeEmersonStedeford.ht ml

Professional Development (Selected)

Skills

• Difference and Design - Developed speculative work on Alcatraz, Indigenous land reclamation, and counter-monuments.

• Writing & Editing: Editorial strategy, op-eds, longform research, storytelling, interviews, podcast scripting

• Research & Synthesis: Oral history, archival research, QGIS, policy translation

• Project Management: Team coordination, stakeholder engagement, Asana, Notion, Microsoft Office

• Design (Secondary): Adobe Suite, Rhino, Revit, SketchUp, AutoCAD, Lumion (for narrative visualization)

• Law and Public Health Policy - Mass Incarceration - Co-authored podcast and briefs addressing incarceration as a public health crisis.

• Flashing Arcs and Crater-Clouds (Italy) - Field research on cultural memory and speculative mapping in post-disaster zones.

• Advanced VI Studio Clinic: Transitions - Trauma-informed design strategies for reentry and care-based infrastructure.

Bylined essays, longform narrative research, and editorial collaborations across carceral justice, cultural memory, and public policy.

• Borders, Surveillance, and Rights - Interdisciplinary study on biopolitics and carceral infrastructure.

• Politics and the U.S. Carceral System (2025) – Seminar on legislative and ideological roots of mass incarceration