ABOUT THE CREATOR

Mackenzie Sims 

creator, designer, author

Mackenzie Sims is passionate about learning and designing for creativity and health in an ever-changing education climate. She strives to bridge research, education and design in her work and believes high impact, positive change is possible in a collaborative environment where all voices that are impacted are heard. 

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She is an Architectural Designer and Project Coordinator, specializing in educational spaces and environments for children that enhance and promote creativity and learning, currently practicing in San Diego, California. During her time in Washington State, she worked on community based projects including master planning with the Tulalip Tribes. Her work has always centered around positive impact on the community.

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She holds a Bachelors of Arts in Architectural Studies from the University of Washington, and a Masters of Architecture with a concentration in Neuroscience for Architecture from NewSchool of Architecture and Design. Her work exploring creativity, childhood development, and the built environment, has gained recognition with the American Institute of Architecture (AIA) Los Angeles 2x8 competition, AIA San Diego Student Design of the Year and NewSchool Thesis of the Year in 2018.

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Mackenzie is also an enthusiastic volunteer, teaching high school students about Architecture and guest lecturing at NewSchool about design process, research methodologies and graphic design. She believes the future of school design will be based on research, multi-discipline collaboration, implementation of ideas at multiple scales, and critical evaluation of the impact of learning environments on the users.